South Fayette students STEAM ahead
Educators seem to enjoy acronyms, and one that’s at the academic forefront these days is STEAM.
For those who have been out of school since the days of reading, ‘riting and ‘rithmetic, STEAM education entails the teaching of science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics.
Fourth-graders at South Fayette Township Intermediate School had the opportunity to exhibit what they’ve been learning in the STEAM realm, during a Nov. 24 Electric Community Showcase.
“They’ve been building community buildings, and they specifically brainstormed buildings that use electricity, and they were able to create these buildings and electrify them with some robotics kits,” Stephanie DeLuca, the school’s STEAM coordinator, explained.
Visitors in various professions around the township had a close look at the projects while students explained how they constructed desktop-sized models made of household-type products. They put together the likes of libraries, doctor’s offices, farms, post offices and even amusement parks, all powered by Hummingbird robotics kits, developed at Carnegie Mellon University.
The fourth-graders also answered questions posed by visitors, such as how they learned to work in teams, which they admitted in some cases was not the easiest of tasks.
Nonetheless, the projects demonstrated students’ abilities to integrate all the STEAM disciplines in a fun and productive manner. According to DeLuca:
• Science – “Our students were learning about electricity and circuits in their science class, so their robotics kits incorporate the use of those circuits.”
• Technology – “They then have to program those robotics kits.”
• Engineering – “The students built the community buildings that they made, and they had to figure out how to do that in the best way.”
• Art – “They also had to decorate those buildings and make sure that everything looked aesthetically pleasing and appropriate.”
• Mathematics – “We talked about the difference between using an incandescent bulb, which is what they used when they learned in science class, and the LEDs that their robotics kits used. They had to calculate the cost savings for one building using LEDs vs. incandescents, and then an entire community.”
And that number, according to their calculations, adds up to about $33 million over 15 years for a community of 5,000 buildings.
One of those buildings might be a mini-amusement park, as conceived by Mia Brewer and some of her classmates.
“We actually needed a net for the slide, because we don’t want anyone to kind of fall off. We have a zip-line, and we have a very lively green tree,” she said, continuing her description to reflect the teamwork her group used to come up with the design.
“We all compromised on a tower, and we all thought we could connect the tower to something. So we connected it to the slide,” she explained. “You can kind of climb up, go down this zip-line, go onto the slide and go down, and have the time of your life.”
All thanks, in theory, to the power of STEAM.