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The world has slowly begun to unfreeze from this pseudo-ice age. As our events have returned to in-person, people have embraced the learning experiences. Seeing children participate in events and launch drones for the first time all over again sets precedence. We can work to increase critical thinking in children through STEM exposure. Children love to learn and they are perfect sponges for it. During a recent event learning about the cardiovascular system one of our attendees, a 6th grader, was nervous about doing a dissection of a pig’s heart. He ran off to the bathroom when the hearts were brought out and returned ready to join. The children were prompted with questions and his answers were spot on. Halfway through the event, he was excited to show me the incision he made revealing a valve in the heart. His reluctance had turned into an embrace of the science he was engaging in. By the end of the event, I asked him if he enjoyed learning about the heart. He told me that it was really gross but that he learned a lot and it was the first time he had done a dissection. Then he asked me if we could learn about drones again. Sometimes it is important to crawl out of our comfort zone to truly embrace learning especially if that means getting messy.
