New STEM Classroom

Funded Nov 5, 2022

Thank you for your generous donation and providing this technology to Cushing Middle School's first ever Robotics/STEM Program. We are forever grateful. The students have absolutely loved getting to learn about and use Dash the robot and the 3D Printer.

The Technology we received like Dash the Robot with Wonder Works has allowed students to quickly and easily learn block coding. Block coding is where you drag and drop blocks of code to make Dash do what you want it to. The kids learned how to code Dash to get through an obstacle course autonomously. Which means they built the code, pushed a button and Dash went through the obstacle without any other controls. The 3D printer has been used to learn how a program can take a 2D image and convert it into a 3D image and physically print it. The students have found this concept very interesting and can not wait to print more things to use in our STEM class.

Our students have been excited about every part of our Robotics/STEM program as this is all their first time in a club like this. They have been most excited about learning new STEM skills and concepts. Even with all the different robotics programs we've introduced them to this year, they still get so excited when we get Dash out. Dash has so many different skills and attachments it can use. The students really loved drawing with Dash. It has an attachment you put on the bottom of the robot and place different markers in. You can program the robot to draw certain pictures or letters. The kids have done this and also drew with him freely. This involves driving around Dash with the drive controls and trying to draw pictures. For a simple introduction robot, Dash has taught the kids a lot about robotics and coding.

We have one 8th grader who wants to be an engineer when he grows up. He has been extremely interested in every part of this program. His critical thinking and problem solving skills are outstanding. When the 3D printer came in it was in a box and needed to be put together. We asked all of the students if they knew what the filament was for and this student immediately knew. He was extremely excited and couldn't wait for us to get the 3D printer put together and up and running. Having access to this has really made him and a lot of our students more excited about STEM.Again, thank you from all of us involved in Cushing Middle Schools first ever STEM/Robotics Program.”

With gratitude,

Mrs. Waterson