DCS STEM Class

Our 5th and 6th grade students have been working on hard on designing and creating soft circuits. Soft circuits combine sewing and electronics to yield delightful creations. Soft circuits use conductive thread to allow electricity to flow from a sewable battery holder to LEDs. Take a look at the whimsical creations from our first batch of projects. The moment the LEDs first lit up on these projects truly exemplified the awesome feeling that comes from engaging with "hard fun!"

Over the past several weeks, PreK students have been exploring parachutes. In our first investigation session, students experimented with different ways to attach their Lego figure to their coffee filter parachute. Our first investigation then prompted a follow-up study, to see whether the length of the strings influenced how quickly or slowly the parachute descended. Our data trend was that parachutes with shorter strings yielded smoother, slower flights to the ground for our Lego figures. In another exploration, students built pathways out of our Keva planks. Then, using a straw, students had to try to blow a lightweight Keva ball and a marble through their pathway. Through this experience, students were able to identify properties of both the ball and the marble that made them easier or more difficult to steer through the maze. While the lightweight ball took less air force to move, it tended to bounce and roll all over the place. The marble, while more difficult to get ...

For the past several weeks, our first graders have been working hard on growing their computer programming skills. After completing our "unplugged" coding activities (read more about that here ), students began programming a physical object -- our BeeBot robots. Students spent time in small groups exploring how their BeeBots work, and then programming it to complete challenges, such as making it perform the steps in a "bug dance." The students used movement cards to help them plan, discuss, and execute their algorithms. After working with their BeeBots for a few classes, students transitioned to coding using a block-based language on our computers. In their first set of puzzles, the students needed to create algorithms that would help to move the Angry Bird to reach the pig character. Students are excited and demonstrating excellent persistence as they work through these increasingly-challenging puzzles.

  Several times each year, our school specialist team works together to create integrated units of study, where students explore a common theme through each of our content areas -- art, music, library/multimedia, PE, and STEM. Our 7th and 8th graders recently completed a Winter Carnival themed unit, where they worked on creating products or performances to showcase during a special carnival event for students in grades PK-2. In STEM class, students designed, built, and improved automata, which are mechanical devices that generate motion through a series of spinning cams, axles, and cam followers. Image Source: Adafruit The following success criteria guided the work for our 7th & 8th grade students: The automata must have a winter theme. The automata must feature at least one element that spins, goes up or down, or moves side to side. The automata design must include at least 10 different materials. Additionally, students were challenged to create a...

After learning about hibernation, students in kindergarten constructed "hibernation stations" that would create ideal conditions for an animal to slumber through the chilly winter months. Students discussed the importance of creating spaces that were dark, quiet, and safe and then set out to construct a hibernation station suitable for their chosen animal. The photos below demonstrate the wide variety of shelters constructed for this challenge!

In first grade STEM class, our computer science work has officially begun! Students are starting our exploration of coding with "unplugged" activities, which are tasks that illustrate programming concepts without the use of a computer. Our activity this week introduced "loops," which allow programmers to easily repeat portions of their code. Our unplugged lesson revolved around a book that we've been reading, Hello Ruby , and taught loops through the creation of dance routines. Check out the routines that students created below -- we learned not only about loops, but that repeating a dance 8, 9, or even 20 times can be exhausting!