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LSU alumna Morgan Decuir teaches STEM to kindergarten through fourth grade at Caneview K-8 in Port Allen, Louisiana. By winning the Shell Science Lab Regional Challenge last year, Decuir was able to leverage the expertise she gained at LSU to engage elementary students—including these first graders—in using new technologies, thus broadening the talent pipeline to some of the most high-paying careers from an early age.
– Photo by Elsa Hahne/LSU
LSU alumna Morgan Decuir from Erwinville, Louisiana, is a first-generation college graduate. She leads STEM education for kindergarten through fourth grade at Caneview K-8 in Port Allen in the same community where she attended elementary and middle school. In 2022, she won the Shell Science Lab Regional Challenge, bringing more STEM learning opportunities to her community and to Louisiana students.
“The Shell Science Lab award has allowed me to purchase supplies to teach the Next Generation Science Standards and provide more hands-on learning opportunities for the five different grade levels that I teach,” Decuir said. “My district has invested in many different technology tools, such as Bloxels, Bee-Bots and Indi, which help students develop the critically important computational thinking skills they can build on in middle school, high school and college.”
Decuir uses Bloxels to teach students how to create backgrounds and characters using pixels and make them behave in different ways as part of a simple video game (think Space Invaders or Pac-Man).
“We also just received a kit to learn how to create a mobile app, and this is just the first step,” Decuir said.
In her sunlit classroom, groups of first graders are rotating through stations. At one station, students use their imagination to build shapes using colorful blocks. At another station, they are using tablets to learn the basics of coding.
“This is an Osmo,” Decuir said, helping one of her students adjust the programming block for a character.
On the floor and on tables, other students are learning how to program large plastic bees on wheels to make them move in various directions.
“Those are Bee-Bots, and the students use them to create a sequence of code to program the bees to move from point A to point B,” Decuir said. “I use them to teach my students there are different ways to solve a problem. When a sequence of code doesn’t work, I’ll say, ‘Let’s think of a different way.’”
“Something else that’s really important to me is giving them the opportunity to show me they’re learning in different ways,” Decuir added.
One thing is non-negotiable in Decuir’s classroom, however. The students must work together in teams.
“That’s something I learned as a student at LSU that helped me immensely throughout college,” Decuir said. “Working in teams helped me develop communication skills and gain lifelong friends.”
I try to lead others how I’d want to be led. To me, leadership involves always listening to everyone’s point of view and being willing to collaborate toward a goal.
In my classroom, I have a sign that says, ‘Today is a great day to learn something new!’ I enjoy implementing new and innovative technology tools in my classroom that provide students with hands-on opportunities to learn computational thinking skills.
Decuir was a student at LSU from 2011 to 2015, at which point she graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education. She went back to LSU from 2016 to 2018, graduating with a Master of Education in Curriculum and Instruction. However, being an educator wasn’t her original plan.
“Growing up, I always wanted to be an oncologist,” Decuir said. “That was my goal, but during my senior year of high school, I had to visit at least two programs as part of the kickoff event they held at LSU. I chose biological sciences and education. When I walked into Peabody Hall and saw the classrooms set up like at an elementary school and projects decorating the hallway, my dad asked, ‘You want to be a teacher?’ I responded, ‘Well, yes!’ Ever since that moment, I knew this is where I needed to be. I needed to be an educator.”
Before the start of the 2011 fall semester, Decuir joined the LSU Summer Scholars program, a bridge program for minority students.
“Summer Scholars truly impacted my life,” Decuir said. “I don’t think I’d be where I am today if it wasn’t for that program. It helped me learn how to be a successful college student and allowed me to be part of a community. It set me up for success.”
After Summer Scholars, Decuir became an LSU Ambassador.
“Being an LSU Ambassador taught me how to assist students and help others,” Decuir said. “One summer I was a parent orientation leader, which allowed me to learn how to communicate with parents and families. I also made calls at the call center, helping to advise potential students, talking to them about LSU and answering any questions they had. Being an LSU Ambassador really helped me learn how to do things for my school and for my community; how to present and represent.”
On the other side of the classroom, the small robotic car called Indi takes off.
“Indi responds to colored tiles, and the students learn how to use the colors to program the car,” Decuir said. “Each color makes it do something different. When I introduced Indi to my students, I didn’t tell them what the colored squares meant or how to make the car go. They had to problem-solve and try different sequences to figure it out. I’m just here to guide them. Hearing the students discuss and collaborate together as they learn is the best part of my day.”
First graders in Morgan Decuir’s STEM classroom at Caneview K-8 in Port Allen, Louisiana, are encouraged to work in teams to solve problems. “Teamwork is something I learned throughout my college experience at LSU that has really helped me as an educator, and that’s something I’m passing on to my students.”
– Photos by Elsa Hahne/LSU
