Unless you have been out of touch recently, you undoubtedly have heard of what happened to Ahmed Mohamed when he brought a home made clock to school this week. I feel like this situation relates to my STEAM class. Ahmed's story is worth exploring. He built something that is not unlike things that I like my students to make. He says that he likes to tinker, build, and create. Many of my students like to do the same thing. I talked to the younger students about the importance of asking questions, creating, building, making, and inventing. I presented Ahmed's story to 2nd through 5th graders. When the older students and I spoke, I told them the facts of the story as I have understood them from news reports. I asked the students questions about what they thought about what happened. Many students had similar ideas and there were a few ideas that were not like the rest of the class. I'm proud of each student for stating what they believed. I proud of the listening students for respectfully hearing another point of view. I was moved by their mature conversations. Many adults could learn from these exchanges. Some students brought up things that I hadn't even thought about yet. I learned from them. We discussed stereotypes of people based on what they look like or what religion (if any) they practiced. We discussed sensitivities in the world based on other current events. Some students believed that Ahmed was treated the way he was because of his race and/or religion. Others thought that anyone would have been treated the way Ahmed was if s/he brought in that type of device because they thought that we as a society are too sensitive to things being a bomb. Some students faulted the faculty at that High School for not checking into the clock more before they called in the police. Some brought up the fact that his parents weren't notified early enough in the whole ordeal. Some were deeply bothered by the story because they could relate to Ahmed. They said that they, too, like to build neat things and show them off. Most every student said that if this happened at our school, it would have not turned out like this. They said that if Ahmed brought that to show off at our school we would celebrate it for a cool thing, not freak out that it might be a bomb.
I certainly have opinions about this incident. When students asked what my opinion was, I told them that I was more interested in what they thought about it. I told them that it was my job to bring them ideas and help them form critical opinions based on the facts. I did share with them that I was very upset by this story and very moved by the support globally that Ahmed has gotten. We discussed the hashtags #IStandWithAhmed and #EngineersforAhmed. We learned of all the public figures and technology leaders who have said that they support him. I hope that each student goes home this weekend and talks to their families about this issue.
We made clocks out of paper plates, pipe cleaners, and markers. Our clocks show that we support tinkering, building, innovation, inventing... We support Ahmed and students like him who enjoy these things, too. We want to be the creators of the next cool thing in the world. I believe our students here at UTES can do that. I believe that they have the passion, the drive, the grit, the knowledge, the empathy, and the imagination to achieve those goals.
Here are some photos of our clocks
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| Kinder |
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| PreK |
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| 2nd grade |
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| 2nd grade |
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| 4th grade |
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| 4th grade |
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| 1st grade |
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| 1st grade |
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| PreK |
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| 3rd grade |
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| 3rd grade |
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| 5th grade |
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| 5th grade |
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