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In December, we had the awesome opportunity to take industry tours to Quixotic and Roberts' Tool and Die. Quixotic is an organic tilapia fish farm where we learned about indoor fisheries, maximizing profit, not leaving waste, and more. At Roberts' Tool and Die, we learned how companies make die cuts with half million dollar machines as well as through hand-crafted dies made by artisans. We also got to see women in STEAM fields at Roberts.
We get questioned a lot for our application materials, so here they are:
We're excited to have Mrs. Peoples join us this year as an instructor, so we can expand to include sixth grade. Therefore, we are up to 39 students now -- three from each grade 4th, 5th, and 6th. We spent the first week working with our grade levels to explore three teacher stations about STEAM subjects. Engineering with Legos and famous landmarks with Mrs. Chambers. Solving math brain teasers with Mrs. Beck. And studying aerodynamics with a paper airplane contest with Mrs. Peoples.
The next three weeks, we stayed with our grade levels to explore more STEAM activities including mass, volume, and density through tin foil barges holding pennies with Mrs. Peoples. Multi-step Rube Goldberg machines with Mrs. Beck. And designing art to make the world a happier place with Mrs. Chambers. Because we get the question a lot, we have found funding through the following sources:
Recently, some of our STEAM Punks joined us at a Teacher In-Service. Through rotations, they helped teachers explore with a number of areas we had been working on in STEAM Club. Some taught the challenges and movements of Dash and Dot, the extreme awesomeness that can be completed through a Makey Makey, and how to create your own character through Bloxels. What great leaders!
We spent all of second semester exploring independent studies. We have students inventing a dust accumulator for a combine, coding Dash from Wonder Workshop, building and coding with Lego WeDo, creating the board game Operation with MakeyMakey as well as the game DanceDanceRevolution with MakeyMakey, designing holiday decorations for the needy, building entire worlds in video game creator Bloxels Builder, engineering and coding Meccanoid robots and dinosaurs, sewing log cabin quilts and row fence quilts, hand sewing stuffed animals, sewing dresses and pillows, building a robotic softball bat, and developing student websites about honeybees and endangered animals.
While there was a lot of organization on the teachers' parts for purchasing all the needed supplies, there was far less needed from us during the actual student work time. Because these projects were the students' main interests as well as their choice, they really took the learning and ran with it. Mrs. Beck and I kept looking at each other feeling guilty that we weren't doing more, but that's a true sign of authentic learning, right? We did make a giant push the last two weeks to make sure all projects were finished for the community event, but other than that, everything happened at the students' pace. With all the new tools we had to learn and the number of students we have, it worked best for us to break into stations for November and December. Kids got to explore www.code.org, Goldiblox, K'Nex, MakeyMakey, Bloxels, Dash & Dot, 3D Printing, sewing, Legos, and more. Each week, they tried a different tool for an hour. This will help students know what they are most interested in for independent studies second semester.
Our STEAM Punks Club has partnered with professors from MU to build and foster a love for Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math within our makers. Today, we were visited by one of our partners. Mrs. Annie Arnone from NASA discussed the world of engineering. We learned that engineers are regular men and women who want to make the World great! Our mission for the day: Solve a life problem through the use of magnets.
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Sophie C.This is the log of our adventures with the Chilli STEAM Punks! Archives
June 2019
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