DCS STEM Class

This week, Pre-K created snowflakes out of different building materials. Their bright creations are bringing some holiday cheer to the STEM Lab!

For the past two months, second and third grade students participating in our after school Technology Club have been using the block-based coding tools in Scratch to create animations. In the club, students tinkered with graphic design, sound, and coding to bring their ideas to life. Check out some photos of their designs!

Over the past several weeks, the second grade classes have been collecting materials and creating plans for fairy houses. We learned that fairy houses are a tradition that began in Maine and that fairy houses can only be built using natural materials. Last week, we headed outside to finally construct our homes!

4th graders have been working on building and learning how to program Lego NXT robots. Groups are now working together to accomplish various challenges with their robots, such as programming it to go up and over a bridge, to score a goal, and to pick up an object and deliver it to a target area.

In Kindergarten STEM this week, our challenge connected to the popular poem, "5 Little Pumpkins." Check out an animation of this poem here. Students used a variety of materials to construct a fence or a gate that would hold up five pumpkins. Here are some photos of our work!

For the STEM component of the 7th & 8th grade social risk unit, students participated in a rapid prototyping project that challenged them to imagine, develop, and create an idea for a product that could help address a problem faced by students in grades Pre-K to 4. Teams created a prototype of their inventions, a slide deck designed to persuade potential investors to support their products, and a product pitch. Take a look at their projects, which address a range of challenges faced by younger students, including getting lost, not being able to reach things, having difficulty making friends, and challenges with focus and motivation.

For their computer science module, third graders have been exploring making Minecraft "Mods" using LearntoMod. In this application, students work through coding badges that require them to create strings of code that cause alterations to game play in Vox-L, a Minecraft simulator. The puzzles are very challenging and have required students to practice embracing challenges and persistence!