By BOB COUPLAND
WARREN - Pre-kindergarten students at the Trumbull Community Action Program's Head Start program are getting an early lesson in engineering as Trumbull Career and Technical Center students introduced them to the careers of the field.
Todd Schnulo, math-science coordinator for Head Start, said the engineering technology students from TCTC brought robots and different items to present hands-on learning activities and demonstrations for the children, who enter kindergarten in the fall.
"This is a way to introduce the children to more technology, engineering and science than what we do in the classroom," Schnulo said.
Different stations were set up in the Head Start gym to resemble a mini-science fair.
Engineering instructor Terri Fleming said activities included puzzles, patterns and remote controlled robots.
"This introduces them to a new kind of learning at a young age," Fleming said.
Schnulo said more STEM learning principles are being used in classrooms to prepare children for kindergarten.
TCTC students Michael Wildman and Kyle Yeager said there was so much for each child to do and see while having fun and learning.
Fleming said the goal of the program is to introduce STEM principles to pre-kindergarten students in a way they can understand using shapes, color patterns and building activities.
Each child took a turn using remote-controlled robots.
Azaria Ware, 4, said she like playing with the robots.
"It's fun to get to move the robots, " she said.