Building the Future: How Valley City STEAM Empowers K–6 Learners

Graphic Defining STEAM Education

Valley City Public Schools offers hands-on, authentic learning experiences with their K-6 STEAM class. Students in STEAM are offered relevant projects, opportunities, and experiences while attending STEAM. STEAM stands for science, technology, engineering, art, and math. With the help of STEAM, students build various skills, including the following. 

Early Exposure 

Introducing STEAM concepts early on helps students develop confidence and curiosity around subjects that might seem intimidating later on. It empowers kids to see themselves as scientists, engineers, artists, or inventors. Teaching programming as young as kindergarten provides students with early exposure to the step-by-step thought process of what goes into programming. 

Critical Thinking and Problem Solving

STEAM challenges require students to ask questions, test ideas, and learn from failure. These experiences build resilience and real-world problem-solving. One 4th grade class worked with the Valley City Good Life Campaign and created solutions to problems they saw in Valley City. The students created an artifact and a presentation to report to the Valley City Good Life group. These solutions included flower boxes and wildflowers in areas full of overgrown grass, hotels with better swimming areas primarily for use during winter months, a river boat rental business at one of the parks, and more walking trails. 

Creativity Meets Logic

The "A" in STEAM (arts) encourages imagination and innovation. Combining the creativity of the arts with critical thinking helps kids design unique solutions and express complex ideas visually and creatively. First-grade students designed and drew art components of a video game, including who and what the character would be, background scenes, hazards, enemies, etc. The 1st graders then gave their artwork to 6th-grade students, who used a program to bring their ideas and work to life and create a video game they could play together. 

Collaboration and Communication 

Many STEAM activities are project-based, encouraging teamwork and communication. Students learn to listen, contribute, and build on each other's ideas. Fourth-grade students are creating a Welcome to Washington Tips and Tricks Guidebook for 3rd grade students. The 3rd graders will be joining Washington School next year. With that change, there are always many nerves along with it. Each 4th-grade team is responsible for one page of the book. The book will include information about teachers, maps, events throughout the year, and, most importantly, tips from the perspective of a 4th grader. 

Relevance to the Real World

STEAM education connects learning to real-life applications. This relevance increases engagement and helps kids see the value of their learning. Students at Washington Elementary are always aware of how the weather will be during recess with the help of the Recess Weather Report given by students. Students have designated days to stop by the STEAM classroom and collect weather data from our digital weather station. They take that data and report it on the intercom so students know how to prepare to go outside for recess. 

Future Ready Skills

Future jobs will rely heavily on STEAM skills, tech literacy, creativity, and adaptability. Early exposure gives kids a head start and helps close opportunity gaps. Students in 3rd grade learn how to create augmented reality and how to use it for a purpose. In STEAM, students create augmented reality that they can hold in their hands with the help of a Merge Cube. On iPads, students retell their favorite story on each side of the cube. They then hold their creation and present their augmented reality story cube to the class.  

Makes Learning Fun and Meaningful

STEAM brings subjects to life through hands-on activities, experiments, and design challenges. It nurtures a love of learning by making school exciting and engaging! This year, 6th-grade students got the opportunity to participate in the global Plant the Moon Challenge with the North Dakota Space Grant sponsorship. Students worked towards helping NASA create a solution to growing food on the moon. Students worked together to conduct an experiment that would produce the best lettuce while using lab-created moon regolith (moon soil). Students selected percentage mixtures of potting soil and moon regolith. They created a schedule for collecting data such as height, photo documentation, number of leaves, soil PH and moisture levels, and watering schedule. The data was collected weekly and submitted back to the Plant the Moon Challenge organization. At the end of the 8-week growing period, students created a final report and submitted their results. 

STEAM class isn't just about teaching engineering or programming—it's about encouraging creative thinkers, creators, and problem-solvers. By blending curiosity with creativity and critical thinking, STEAM lays the foundation for a lifelong love of learning and prepares students to thrive in a rapidly changing world. When we introduce STEAM early, we encourage students to imagine boldly, explore fearlessly, and build the future with confidence.