Elementary students at Northport Public School will be able to utilize a new, dedicated science, technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) lab launched this year.
Karen Trolenberg, elementary STEM lab facilitator, hopes the classroom and its shelves of resources, the first of its kind for the district, can help make it easier for teachers to offer engaging science activities to kids in grades K-5 going forward.
“My hope is that it will just enrich their science opportunities. They’re pretty excited about it and so am I,” Trolenberg said. “It’s for experiences, activities, games… and I’ll just tailor that to the teacher’s feedback and input and adjust it to exactly what they need or want. Maybe they’ll want to opt out, but if I can help in any way, I would like to do that.”
Trolenberg has been a leader for science initiatives at Northport, notably serving as the mission advisor for the group of five middle schoolers that participated in the NASA 2024 Artemis ROADS II National Challenge earlier this year. She has also hosted a science club at the school for the last three years, using the same classroom for the STEM lab and resources. This semester, the science club is offered after school, freeing up afternoons during the school day for teachers that need to use the space and tools there.
“I can help the teachers set up and plan if they want, organize, execute and then clean up the project and then they just send the kids back to their room,” she said. “My goal is to make it easier for them to include interactive hands-on science… So by making it easier for them (teachers), I think they’ll be able to include it more often.”
Trolenberg is applying the “Next Generation Science Standards” (NGSS) in the STEM lab, which are K-12 science standards to help set expectations for what students should know and be able to do. NGSS was developed by states to improve science education for all students, utilizing standards that are research-based. The classroom space will allow for kids to learn about different concepts through modeling what’s happening in an activity to show understanding.
“NGSS wants the kids to not only have the experience and reach an understanding of what’s happening, but then to be able to model what’s happening,” she said. “So the entire focus of the next generation science standards is doing science rather than learning science.”
In addition to the classroom, kids can also check out various science kits in stock at the school library, sponsored by the Leelanau Township Community Foundation and the nonprofit Newton’s Road, which is dedicated to STEM-related learning for all youth in the region. The kits are interactive and handson, whether it’s something about bug identification or a kit on how magnets function, it’s another tool for kids to learn about science, even at home.
If there’s anything a teacher is looking for that is not in stock in the STEM lab, Trolenberg said she can utilize the services at the Regional Educational Media Center (REMC). The statewide organization provides classroom, technology, and educational resources, as well as professional development for educators if they are in need of something that they don’t have in their respective classrooms.
Science has always been a subject of interest for Trolenberg, who said she wishes there was more time allotted for the subject when she was growing up and in school. With more resources now available for young students to partake in at Northport, she’s aiming for them to have the chance to explore through observation, trial and error, and having fun in the process.
“This is just sort of how young kids learn, through experimentation, through investigating…” she said. “I want the kids to have really good science experiences.”
