Month: March 2019

STEM Kits for Kids

What’s all the buzz with STEM? STEM is a curriculum based on the idea of educating students in four specific subjects. Students are taught science, technology, engineering and mathematics and how they work together in the real world.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the bulk of STEM careers will be in computers, engineering, and sciences hence proving the importance of STEM in schools. With the technology world continuously growing, STEM gives students the opportunity to develop a passion with what might be their future career. Making math and science fun with STEM show kids how they might pursue a future job in one of these fields.

STEM is not only the teacher’s responsibility. Parents and after-school programs must contribute in encouraging kids to learn STEM and pursue an interest in STEM activities. Knowing the importance of STEM, BEST has created our STEM Backpacks for Kids program.

STEM Backpacks for Kids

The program begins with a fun ice breaker, followed by a series of activities and challenges. Teams will earn visits to the “store” to collect items for inclusion in the student backpacks. Some of the items include Super Science Magnet Kit, Math Flash Cards, Discovery Kits and more. Kids from ages 5-10 years old, will learn the importance of these subjects for their future success.

In recent years, there has been popular in including “Arts” making the acronym STEAM. Art is incorporated to encourage creative thinking. Students gain an understanding of problem-solving, presentation skills and more.

Science, technology, math, and engineering is everywhere around us. When kids experience STEM programs, they hopefully spark a passion for their future career. Children can see that what they are learning now is pertinent to their future and the future and create an interest in learning new concepts that they will be able to use in the “real world”.

Daylight Saving

This weekend marks the start of Daylight Saving Time. DST is some people’s favorite time of year due to the added daylight that is gained each day. People will move their clocks forward one-hour beginning Sunday, March 10th. Summer days are longer, leaving more time to do the things you love outdoors. But how and why did this practice of changing the clocks start?

Where it began

Benjamin Franklin’s “An Economical Project,” written in 1784, is the earliest known proposal to “save” daylight. He wrote this in an effort to save on candlelight.

William Willet is also noted as the first true supporter of the idea. Mr. Willet noticed in London that hours of daylight were wasted each year and wanted a solution to this problem. It began by putting clocks ahead 20 minutes each of the four Sundays in April. Then the reverse of this by putting clocks back each Sunday in September.

During World War 1 the government wanted to conserve coal used for heating homes. Germans were the first to make these changes, followed by Britain who changed their clocks to an hour ahead from May to October. The United States joined in 1918 when Congress passed the Standard Time Act. President Woodrow Wilson asked voters for this time change in an effort to have more hours of light to work in the day. He cited this change would improve the economy. Many farmers objected the change, sighting they were forced to work outdoors in the dark in order to accomplish all the chores on their farms.

It ended in 1920 and then reappeared during World War 2 when clocks were once again set one hour ahead to encourage saving on fuel. Since the war ended in 1945, Daylight Saving Time begins being used on and off on different days in different states.

After many bills and acts of legislation, Congress passed the Energy Policy Act of 2005, which went into effect in 2007. As a result, most Americans now spring forward (turn clocks ahead and lose an hour) on the second Sunday in March and fall back (turn clocks back and gain an hour) on the first Sunday in November

Sources:

https://www.almanac.com/content/when-daylight-saving-time

https://www.timeanddate.com/time/change/usa/new-york?year=2019

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