(by Don Meador, Allen County Schools)
Students and educators have a big day planned for Thursday, March 24 at the Allen County Intermediate Center (ACIC). Multiple activities are scheduled to showcase student learning and spotlight the many ways learning science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) impacts life. STEM Night at ACIC will be from 5:00-6:30 p.m. and caps a day in which students will explore STEM-related learning opportunities. .
“We are working in collaboration with the teachers at ACIC,” explained District Learning Coach Dr. April Craft. “They always have a science showcase night displaying student work and achievement so we are doing STEM Night as an extension of that.”
STEM Night will include community partners on hand to give students a closer look at how STEM relates to their business or industry.
“We have North Central, Tri-County, J.M. Smucker, Halton, Sumitomo, and the Medical Center coming in to set up booths and show kids what they do,” Dr. Craft said. “For example, North Central will bring in their VR goggles and their fiber splicing trailer to let kids see how that works. Tri-County is going to bring their safety trailer and do a demonstration on circuits. The others will also have things on display.”
Not only will students see science and engineering at work through insightful real-world examples, the educators will be using a book series to spotlight STEM topics as well.
“Activities will be centered around a book series called the Questioneers,” Dr. Craft noted. “The books are all about characters who have different jobs in STEM. One is called Iggy Peck, Architect, one is called Ada Twist, Scientist, and another is called Rosie Revere, Engineer. The teacher will read the book aloud and the students will do an activity associated with the book. For example, with the architect book, the activity will be building a Lego structure. For Ada Twist, the students will make slime and for Rosie Revere, the students can make paper airplanes. We also have a maker-space set-up where families can make something together.”
The night also includes displays of student learning with the STEM theme as the backdrop.
“Fourth grade students will be a science fair where they will do a presentation or demonstration,” Dr. Craft said. “Fifth graders will be doing a wax museum. The kids choose a famous person related to STEM to research and portray.”
For sixth graders, their STEM Night activity is a take-off on an idea birthed from a youngster in California several years ago---an idea that led to the idea of cardboard challenges.
“The Cardboard Challenge started with a kid in California named Caine,” Dr. Craft said. “His father owned an auto parts store and Caine was at the store and bored during the summer. His dad said go build something. So Caine built an arcade out of cardboard boxes. It was an inspiration on how to take something and make something new. That led to cardboard challenges where people are challenged to build from cardboard. So our sixth grade teachers took the cardboard challenge idea and challenged our students to create a representation of what they have been learning in science and social studies. Mrs. Minix and her team’s rooms are creating a cardboard replica of Egypt. They are building pyramids, torches, and all things Egyptian. Mrs. Willoughby’s team’s students are doing space themed creations. Mrs. Graves' team has students recreating ego systems. Rooms will be set up like a rainforest, another one like tundra, and another room set up like the ocean. The kids are building food webs and food chains and animals they will display. Everything will be made out of cardboard or recyclable objects.”
The STEM Night will close a day in which ACIC students will focus more in depth on STEM topics.
“The community presenters will actually be here all day,” added District Learning Coach Jennifer Tatum. “The kids at ACIC will get to move around and see the presentations from the ones coming in. Also, the kids will have interaction with other grade levels so the classes can move around and see what other grades have down. We knew that 5:00 until 6;30 would not be enough time and we knew that some kids couldn’t come at night so we are also offering opportunities during the day.”
The day and night includes additional collaborations
“The AC-SHS Science Olympiad students are going to the fifth grade science classrooms that day and will be running a Science Olympiad event and then that night, the Science Olympiad kids will also have events that kids can also complete,” Dr. Craft said, adding that a higher education group is also scheduled to be on hand. “A group from Western Kentucky University engineering will be here to talk to the kids about their bridge projects,”
STEM door prizes will be given away as well as children’s literature at the event---an event that all Allen County students and parents and community members can attend.
“Everyone is welcome,” Dr. Craft noted. “The activities will be targeted toward intermediate kids but everyone is welcome. This night is a family engagement event so any student in the school district and their families are welcome.”