bringing it all together
Implementation day finally arrived. Three months of planning, hard work and learning was finally going to be put to the test. The Grade 5 class was anxiously awaiting the time to show the Grade 6 class their castle and get started with planning and implementing a security system for their society. The Grade 6 class was anxiously awaiting the time to show and teach the Grade 5 class how to program robots and drones. Then the two merged. Without having to say a word or give any kind of instruction (other than how the morning was going to unroll) every student got in role and began. There was a buzz in the place and positive energy flowed from each student. |
Trying to program the drone to fly over the castle to provide air security. Problem solving and communication at it's finest.
Throughout the morning, students decided for themselves what they wanted to work on. Giving them this choice allowed them to engage in what interested them and learn at their own pace. The Grade 6's became natural leaders as they taught the Grade 5's how to use the iPads and the various apps to program the robots and drones. It was amazing to see how quickly and fluently the Grade 5 students caught on to the language of programming. At the end of the day, the Grade 5 students were flying the drones and programming the robots to complete various challenges to meet the security requirements of the society.
Grade 6 students explaining how to build and program the robot to the Grade 5s to provide ground security to the society.
The overall success of this day demonstrates the pure power of STEAM. STEM, a curriculum based on the idea of educating students in four specific disciplines — science, technology, engineering and mathematics — in an interdisciplinary and applied approach has found much success in Catalina Elementary. Now we have introduced STEAM, which incorporates the “A” for the arts , we have opened a whole new level of learning and excitement that will run over into the coming years.
As we end this project, we are already thinking ahead into next year and are planning ways to continue to incorporate and implement STEAM into our daily classrooms. We have learned the importance of the arts in the math and science classroom and see it as an enhanced opportunity to engage students in ways that were not possible in the past.
As we end this project, we are already thinking ahead into next year and are planning ways to continue to incorporate and implement STEAM into our daily classrooms. We have learned the importance of the arts in the math and science classroom and see it as an enhanced opportunity to engage students in ways that were not possible in the past.