We are in a Title I school, with about 70% of our students getting free and reduced-price lunch. That said, they are so excited to come in every day and explore and learn! Because of that, the staff here is extremely motivated to provide them with every opportunity we can!
The drive for learning and exploration in our students is indisputable as you enter any room in our school, and the excitement is infectious!
I'm lucky enough to facilitate some of their exploration through our STEM class, which students have helped in building and expanding on our new curriculum through student voice! In my room, students have been able to dive in and innovate to solve problems through project-based learning, which means that they lead a lot of the exploration and learning instead of a teacher talking at them. Our kids have loved the new responsibility they've been given, and have shown even more engagement to research and innovate to problem solve!
My Project
Our students are incredibly excitable and ready to take on a challenge, and so when I introduced our current LEGO WeDo Robotics kits, they were pumped! Students were building and programming with these kits to learn how their digital coding can affect physical world objects. Our fifth and fourth-grade students had become so strong with these kits, they are now able to teach and facilitate younger student exploration! While this is incredible, it does leave them without a challenge or a next step. That's where Mindstorms come in.
These LEGO Mindstorms kits will give our older students the challenge and progression they deserve, and help them see how far their coding skills can flourish!
This year, we're revamping a project where students measure a "Mars course" and program a human rover to be able to explore the course while blindfolded and taking specific step commands that were written out before entering the course. This was an amazing experience to show how much effort and precise coding goes into real world challenges such as space rovers and manufacturing robots, as well as systems worldwide. With this technology, we could take that a step further and have them actually code a robot to explore the course! This opportunity will help prepare them for the challenges they will face in a STEM magnet middle and high school.
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