The teacher and students of our STEM classes are SO EXCITED to be back in person this year. We have been learning hands on and collaborating, which makes it so special!
6th grade students have recently been working on a coding project on a site called Scratch. We learned basic programming vocabulary, practiced color coding with some Ozobots, and just finished our own “Catching Games” on Scratch. In these games students created their own little game scenario where the main character has to catch things falling from the sky. They programmed each object to fall from the sky, make a sound when caught, and gain or lose a certain amount of points to add/subtract from the total. The main character was also coded to move left and right with the arrow keys. And finally, the code to end the game when a certain amount of points were reached. It was a big task but with much effort and collaboration- they have succeeded! Ask your a student (if they had STEM already) or go to Ms. D’Amato’s teacher page to try out some of our 6th grade Catching Games!
In addition, 7th grade is learning about assistive technologies! We have discussed hearing, seeing, walking, sports, communication and many other needs for assistive technologies. They are working on creating a device using a Makey Makey circuit board and the same Scratch coding site. This device will help a person communicate by pressing certain buttons. They were able to choose a specific profile of a person in need of this type of assistive technology. These devices are still in the works, but are looking great so far!
Last but not least 8th grade has been working on creating a maze for our Sphero robots. This maze has to have certain criteria like make at least 3 turns, change colors, have a sound, and it has to have a theme! While they are creating this maze they are also working on the code to program the robot to go through their own specific maze.
Lots of teamwork, determination, and innovation is happening that we are excited to continue!