STEAM is a huge passion of mine. I enjoy finding ways to integrate Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math together into real life application.
For the past four years I have had the privilege to create the STEM camp of my dreams. Working alongside brilliant professionals, we at Sheridan County School District #2 have created 7 Problem Based STEM Summer camps. I have also taught 7 years of after school programs centered around the STEAM principles. I would love to help your district do the same! Read below to learn more. |
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STEAM Summer Camps: #1 Aquatic Challenge
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Where SCSD2 STEM Camp first began:When I was first approached about putting on a STEM camp, I became really excited. We knew we wanted this camp to incorporate Problem Based Learning as well as bring in the community. We also knew that it would be most effective to have it be a real problem that had meaning in our community.
After a month or so of throwing around ideas we finally decided on an Aquatic Center Challenge. Sheridan has a few different pools around town, but none of which are large enough to satisfy our community. Currently our YMCA has proposed the idea of taking over a few of the current soccer fields and transforming that area into a new Aquatic Center. |
Summer time + swimming pools = excited kids!
Our "campers" were incoming 5-8 graders that had to apply to join the camp. They were randomly assigned to teams of 6-7 and given a challenge to complete in a weeks time.
As the students first arrived we challenged them to various team building exercises to get them comfortable working together. Next we had a guest speaker, the YMCA planner, come and introduce the challenge to the students. The excitement grew as we then showed them the drones that the winning team would receive at the end of the week.
Over the course of the next 5 days students were taught new skills in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math, and had team work time to create their projects. The final project requirements were:
At the end of the week we had some exhausted kids and some amazing projects. We invited in judges from our community to meet with each team and use our rubric to grade each team in the STEM categories. In the end they had a very tough decision to make but did a great job making it. We were proud of all of our teams! We were funded through Wyoming 21st Century Community Learning Centers grant. This was an amazing experience.
Check out the videos that two of our teams made below!
Our "campers" were incoming 5-8 graders that had to apply to join the camp. They were randomly assigned to teams of 6-7 and given a challenge to complete in a weeks time.
As the students first arrived we challenged them to various team building exercises to get them comfortable working together. Next we had a guest speaker, the YMCA planner, come and introduce the challenge to the students. The excitement grew as we then showed them the drones that the winning team would receive at the end of the week.
Over the course of the next 5 days students were taught new skills in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math, and had team work time to create their projects. The final project requirements were:
- Science: Create a model working water feature
- Technology: Design and engrave a logo for your aquatic center on using the laser engraver
- Engineering: Build and program a robot to clean debris from the bottom of the pool
- Math: Research and draw scaled blueprints of your aquatic center design
At the end of the week we had some exhausted kids and some amazing projects. We invited in judges from our community to meet with each team and use our rubric to grade each team in the STEM categories. In the end they had a very tough decision to make but did a great job making it. We were proud of all of our teams! We were funded through Wyoming 21st Century Community Learning Centers grant. This was an amazing experience.
Check out the videos that two of our teams made below!
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After School Programs
Teaching after school programs are where my creative ideas were really able to flourish. With no standards or expectations, I was able to teach the students whatever I wanted. Unlike in my classroom, where the content is dictated to me. My favorite STEAM class to teach was littleBits. LittleBits encourages students to invent, construct, design, and bring to life their creations. Check out some of the links below to see littleBits in action or to access my presentation on littleBits that I presented at Roadmap to STEM last year.