Welcome to District 50's STEAM program, I'm Mr. Poole the instructor of these courses. Here at Beverly Manor, we have researched and constructed one of the most adaptive and innovative STEAM programs in the area. Students have the opportunity to foster skills in the areas of Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, & Math, but from a very real-world perspective. Each grade level focuses on key topics and skills, ranging from the standard keyboarding and digital citizenship to the engaging topics listed below. If you have any questions or possible suggestions that we could utilize to further grow our program, please contact Mr. Poole at jpoole@d50schools.com.
4th Grade: Lego Robotics
Our 4th graders begin their coding journey through an application called Lego WeDo 2.0. This drag-and-drop interaction allows students to create unique code that connects their Lego robot to their Chromebook via Bluetooth. This hands-on approach to coding gives students immediate feedback on what their code does and how to make necessary improvements.
5th Grade: Coding With Sphero & App Creation
Our 5th graders continue what they began last year through a new and more adaptive robotic interface, Sphero. Sphero is an encased spherical robot that allows users to program through a variety of experience levels, such as drawing, drag-and-drop, or written script. We use those methods to put Sphero in challenges such as mini golf, obstacle courses, shape regeneration, and my favorite bowling. For more information about what Sphero can do, just go to https://sphero.com. Additionally, towards the end of the year, students will dive into the world of how programmers code and create apps for devices such as Android or iPhones using a program through Steamcopes. Students use templates as starting points to write scripts and program their apps to do just what they want them to do. It's exciting to see what they can create.
6th Grade: Media Center Creation
The process of preparing students for the jobs of tomorrow is not a simple task. Laying a solid foundation in the areas listed below is essential if students are to be competitive in today's global market. The goal of this activity is for students to excel at the following skills through the exploration of an unfamiliar topic using: Creativity / Innovation, Communication, Research, Information Fluency, Critical Thinking / Problem Solving, Digital Citizenship Skills, & Tech Operations / Concepts. During this process, students will think outside the box to develop a useful product, that theoretically could be brought to market, to help someone with a specific disability or handicap. Student will be divided into small groups and assigned various roles within their company. Each group will be competing to be backed by a panel judge. To impress this year's Shark Tank panel, students must pitch their idea in the form of a podcast or green screen production. The stakes are high and the competition will be fierce. Let the competition begin!
7th Grade: 3D Printing & CAD Design
Once in 7th grade, students get to participate in one of the most popular STEAM projects: CAD design and 3D printing. Students begin by learning Tinkercad, our online-based CAD software. Here students learn the basics: making the classic name keychain, then designing their own holiday cookie cutter, mastering the digital caliper, and recreating intricate gears. Finally, they learn problem-solving skills, where students are posed with a challenge or problem and have to design something to solve that need. Students then have the opportunity to print their designs on any one of our Creality Ender 3 S1 Pro 3D printers.
8th Grade: CAD Design & Structural Engineering
This year, our upperclassmen have the opportunity to learn basic structural engineering. Their journey begins with discussions about key terms and definitions, exploring how each relates to our current project and competition. Videos help solidify concepts, and as groups draw up plans of their bridge, discussions often lead to logical considerations and design improvements. Students then navigate our bridge engineering software, bringing their design(s) to life by virtually running a testing simulation. Once groups have a viable and effective simulation, students can then print their blueprints, which they will turn into SVG files and laser cut their components using our OMTECH machine. Group members will then glue and assemble their bridge and prep for testing day, where each group will use our custom weigh station to simulate weight using a winch and pulley system. If done well, they may be the best in their class as structural engineers. So far, the school record has held over 600 lbs of exerted weight. Will this year's students have what it takes?
T-Shirt & Hat Production Club
Students in this club use marketing & design skills to manufacture D50 shirts for school clubs, activities, sports, and general purposes. Students learn the basics of business and marketing while using software to create logo designs for our various hat patches and t-shirt prints, which are later used in conjunction with our heat press machines to create products that can be distributed to our clients.
Podcasting Club
With the growing interest in tailored media consumption, podcasting has taken on many forms through various fields, expertise, and genres. Our in-district channel, entitled Remixed EDU, allows students to interview guests, discussing a wide variety of topics, simply by using:
A cellphone
Rode mics
Editing software
A professional-grade mixer board that takes a cellphone call, allowing us to communicate with our interviewee, giving control of the volume for individual mics, the volume of the interviewee, the volume of our headsets, and giving the studio technician access to hotkeys that play custom audio files ranging from applause to custom intro and outro tracks. Click the image to the right to hear a sample.
Signage (Tv Commons) Club
This club is our 5th grader's entry into our STEAM program. Here, students use their Google Chromebooks to edit a shared Google Slide Show. Students add and edit a variety of topics, ranging from administrative requests to teacher announcements, visual posters, lunch menus, and more. Edits are then immediately seen on tv sets in our commons area, where students each have breakfast and lunch and where our clubs and various activities meet. It is through this application that our students and staff can be reminded of important events and information.
Multimedia Club
Our multimedia team's job is to create a green screen media broadcast for clubs, staff interviews, school activities, announcements, and administrative/teacher requests. Our team comprises a director, executive producer, production manager, sound technician, slate operator, software specialist, teleprompter, and actors all work in junction to create a one-of-a-kind green screen video. At the request of our choir and band department, we put together this work shown on the right.
Stop Motion Animation Club
Stop-motion animation is an advanced flipbook-style form of animation. It involves photographing and then physically manipulating objects within your frame. As each frame is played in sequence, the technique creates the effect of an object moving itself. Our STEAM group utilizes storyboarding techniques to lay out key points of their film, by carefully considering available Lego figures, props, constructed backdrops, sound effects, transitions, and anything else students want to incorporate. Once approved, students can then begin filming and manipulating their sets. Filming is done on Samsung Galaxy Tablets and our Stop Motion Studio App. This app is very robust, allowing students to create endless possibilities and even share their creations with the rest of the world.