Oklahoma STEM Teacher Wins Top Award With No-Desk Classroom

Walk into Kasey Bennett's classroom and you won't find a single desk or chair. Instead, there's a long work station where elementary students are building electrical circuits, coding robots, and designing 3D shapes with their hands.

That unconventional approach just earned the Durant Public Schools teacher Oklahoma's 2026 Teacher of the Year award. Bennett has spent four years turning Northwest Heights Elementary's STEM classroom into what she calls "one giant makerspace."

Every student from kindergarten through fourth grade visits her room at least once a week. Even students with severe disabilities get specially designed STEM lessons that meet them where they are.

"I want them to have confidence in themselves that they can do hard things," Bennett said. Her classroom has just two rules: You can do hard things, and mistakes are how you learn.

The results speak for themselves. When a third-grade teacher panicked because students didn't understand 3D shapes weeks before state testing, Bennett pivoted immediately. That same day, kids started cutting, designing, and building shapes with their hands.

Bennett designs every curriculum herself, making sure students never realize they're learning because they're too busy having fun. No worksheets appear in her lesson plans. Instead, kids get tangible experiences with science and math that reinforce what they're learning elsewhere.

Principal Taylor Downs said the investment in Bennett's classroom impacts every child in the building. After 14 years in Durant Public Schools, Bennett will spend the 2026-27 school year as an ambassador for teaching instead of working in her classroom.

The Ripple Effect

Bennett's platform comes with an unexpected twist. Despite teaching technology, she plans to advocate against putting too many devices in young children's hands.

She calls her message "unorthodox" for a STEM teacher, but she's tapping into a national conversation about screen time in schools. After teaching virtual courses during COVID-19, Bennett has witnessed how excessive device use affects hand-eye coordination, fine motor skills, and social interaction in elementary students.

Oklahoma already banned personal cellphones during school hours. Bennett wants to take it further by limiting screen time in elementary classrooms, giving kids more time to build, create, and learn through touch.

Her approach proves that technology education doesn't require constant screen time. Sometimes the best way to prepare kids for a high-tech future is letting them solve problems with their hands in the present.

Every student who leaves her classroom carries more than STEM skills. They leave believing they can tackle hard challenges, knowing that mistakes are just part of learning something new.