From STEM to STEAM, Rain Garden Offers the Gamut

Taking elementary school children outside of the typical classroom setting is a surefire way to energize any lesson.

Changing the educational backdrop can also provide an opportunity to introduce cross-disciplinary objectives—and that’s why parents and teachers of the students at feel they’ve hit a home run with a new project that centers on the construction of a rain garden on Lees Avenue.

Ground was broken on the site April 26; the rain garden is scheduled to be completed by the end of the school year.

With financial and material sponsorships from Rutgers University, the Subaru Foundation and the Perkins Center for the Arts, the nearly $30,000 initiative integrates science, technology, engineering, art and math—known to educators as S.T.E.A.M.

A statement from Perkins Center describes the rain garden project as an opportunity for students to investigate “themes of water, life renewal and regeneration as part of the design process," and indeed, non-faculty educators involved with its development represent disciplines varied as the project itself.

The environmental and land-management aspects of its construction were overseen by an expert from the Rutgers Cooperative Extension. Mosaic artists will work with children to create handmade tiles that will decorate benches and stepping stones for the garden. Science lessons will teach children how the project will help divert storm water from flooding the area or overflowing local storm drains.

According to Rob Lewandowski, a parent on the Zane-North PTA, the rain garden represents “a laboratory for learning that’s going to bring science, the environment and art together for kids from pre-school to fifth grade.”

The Zane-North PTA is still fund-raising to defray the $3700 for which it was responsible to complete the project. Donations are being accepted on its website or through PayPal.