engineering

Weymouth Public Schools Invites Families to Full STEAM Ahead Demonstration Event

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Weymouth Public Schools
111 Middle St.
Weymouth, MA 02189

For Immediate Release

Monday, Dec. 9, 2019

Contact: Benjamin Paulin
Phone: 781-428-3299
Email: [email protected]

Weymouth Public Schools Invites Families to Full STEAM Ahead Demonstration Event

WEYMOUTH — Superintendent Jennifer Curtis-Whipple invites parents and families of the Weymouth Public Schools to a Full STEAM Ahead event later this week.

WHEN:

Wednesday, Dec. 11, from 5 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.

WHERE:

Weymouth High School gold cafeteria, 1 Wildcat Way, South Weymouth

WHAT:

The event is a celebration of the Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics happenings that take place in the Weymouth Public Schools on a daily basis.

Dozens of demonstration stations representing all grades at WPS will be on display, focusing on a variety of areas. The presentations will showcase Weymouth’s new technology and the activities students partake in each day

“There are so many ways we incorporate STEAM into our education, and our students have been hard at work to put their stations together,” Superintendent Curtis-Whipple said. “This will be a great opportunity for families to see up close the ways we incorporate technology into our curriculum in fun and engaging ways.”

The event is presented by the Weymouth Public Schools STEAM Team.

Some of the stations include:

Ozobots: Code an Ozobot machine to tell a story, follow a path or even dance.

Chromatography: Write a secret message using invisible ink.

Snap Circuits: Be an electrician and create different tasks that require electricity and circuitry.

Boat Building Challenge: Put your boat building skills to the test to see how many pennies it can hold.

Cup Stacking Challenge: Work collaboratively to create a pyramid or tower of cups.

Mouse Trap Cars: Check out what some Weymouth High School students are building to understand physics.

Be a Meteorologist: Try your hand at telling the weather and create your own weather report for the community.

Pipette Art: Looking to become a scientist? Try using a pipette to build a masterpiece.

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Pentucket’s Bagnall Elementary School Hosts 2019 STEM Week Activities

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Pentucket Regional School District
Superintendent Justin Bartholomew
22 Main Street
West Newbury, MA 01985

For Immediate Release

Thursday, Oct. 24, 2019

Contact: Kelsey Bode
Phone: 617-993-0003
Email: [email protected]

Pentucket’s Bagnall Elementary School Hosts 2019 STEM Week Activities

GROVELAND — Principal Emily Puteri is pleased to announce that Bagnall Elementary School students are participating in a variety of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) workshops this week as part of a statewide initiative to promote learning in each field. 

Bagnall Elementary School is participating in Massachusetts’ second annual STEM Week this week, an effort started by the Baker-Polito Administration to support students’ interest in STEM education. 

“STEM Week is a wonderful opportunity to spark excitement and curiosity among our students about the incredible array of fascinating, challenging STEM fields out there,” Principal Puteri said. “Our students are excited about the opportunities they’ll have this week to learn about a range of topics, many of which have to do with sustainability and the environment.”

STEM Week activities at Bagnall Elementary School were organized by Brooke Welch, Pentucket Regional School District’s Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts and Mathematics (STEAM) coordinator. The week’s activities are being funded by a STEM Week grant from the Merrimack College Northeast STEM Network, a group that helps connect educators and supports schools as they organize their annual STEM Week activities. 

“Each activity we’ve planned for this week encourages our students to hypothesize about possible solutions, test their ideas, learn more about these topics, use their creativity and discuss possible solutions,” Welch said. “Students will also collaborate and will gain an understanding of how these topics — from the importance of reducing trash waste to removing microplastics from water — have a tremendous impact on the world they live in.”

Leading up to this week, kindergarten through second grade students at the school have been learning about food waste, composting, recycling and reducing their “foodprint.” Third through fifth grade students have been learning about novel energy solutions, unintended consequences and prototyping a way for the school to use a cleaner energy source. Sixth grade students have been studying the impact of microplastics on the environment, animals and the human body.

Over the course of this week, the school will host five workshops to support student learning and interest in various STEM topics. On Tuesday, students in kindergarten through second grade learned about trash and waste, upcycling and sustainability through an interactive “Children’s Museum” operated by educators in the small gymnasium at the school. 

On Wednesday, third and fourth grade students took part in two workshops. In one program, students learned about the impacts of an oil spill and acted as environmental engineers to test different methods for effectively cleaning up an oil spill. In the second workshop, students visited the school’s makerspace and brainstorm how to make their school more sustainable and environmentally friendly. 

Fifth and sixth grade students will also take part in two workshops on Thursday. In one workshop, students will learn about the amount of plastic that has been disposed of in the ocean, and will design and build a filter to remove pieces of plastic from an ocean model. They will also discuss possible solutions to reduce and remove plastic from the ocean. In the second workshop, students will gather in the school’s makerspace to create a procedure to remove plastic microbeads from a provided commercial personal care product, such as a facial cleanser or body wash. 

The school’s STEM Week events will culminate in a school-wide presentation on revision energy on Friday by Elizabeth Rose, an advocate and Groveland resident who builds ecobrick structures in Guatemala for school children to show students alternative ways to build houses and structures from Plastic bottles and bags, known as ecobricks.

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Easton Middle School to Host Massachusetts STEM Week Professional Development Training

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Easton Public Schools
Dr. Lisha Cabral, Superintendent
50 Oliver St.
North Easton, MA 02356

For Immediate Release

Friday, June 7, 2019

Media Contact: Benjamin Paulin
Phone: 781-428-3299
Email: [email protected]

Easton Middle School to Host Massachusetts STEM Week Professional Development Training

EASTON — Superintendent Lisha Cabral is pleased to share that approximately 120 educators will attend a professional development Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) training at Easton Middle School this June.

On Monday, June 17, and Tuesday, June 18, at Easton Middle School, approximately 70 Easton educators and 50 others from nearby communities will attend an i2 Learning training in preparation for the second annual Massachusetts STEM week this October.

The first Massachusetts STEM Week was held in October 2018 in an effort by the Baker-Polito Administration to support middle school students’ interest in STEM education.

i2 Learning is an organization that works to offer students hands-on, immersive STEM learning opportunities by providing professional development, project materials and online support to schools, free of charge. The organization’s services are funded entirely by donations from corporations, local foundations and other organizations including Vertex, Mathworks, State Street, Lynch Foundation, Shah Family Foundation, Boston Foundation and the Massachusetts Life Science Center.

“We’re thrilled to be offering this professional development opportunity to educators from Easton and neighboring communities,” Superintendent Cabral said. “STEM week is a wonderful opportunity for schools to really submerge students in STEM topics and projects, and i2 Learning’s programming and assistance will really bring this October’s events to the next level.”

Educators at the June training will review the engineering design process and project-based learning principles. They will then take on the role of their students and participate in the activities their classes will be tasked with this fall.

“Our staff is looking forward to this opportunity, and the exciting STEM lessons our students will be engaging in this fall,” Superintendent Cabral said. “Thank you to i2 Learning for providing us with the resources and support to give our students a STEM week experience that will fully submerge them in these topics.”

This summer, i2Learning will offer 12-15 workshops and train upwards of 700 Massachusetts educators for this year’s STEM week.

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Medway Middle School Students Win Award for Designing Adaptive Children’s Toy

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Medway Public Schools
Armand Pires, Superintendent
45 Holliston St.
Medway, MA 02053

 

For Immediate Release

Friday, June 7, 2019

Media Contact: Benjamin Paulin
Phone: 781-428-3299
Email: [email protected]

Medway Middle School Students Win Award for Designing Adaptive Children’s Toy

MEDWAY –Superintendent Armand Pires is pleased to share that a group of Medway Middle School students won an award this Tuesday for an adaptive toy they designed for the annual Project Lead the Way Children’s Hospital Design Showcase.

Seventh grade students Kelsea Anderson, Lily Bariteau, Ellie Copeland, Caitlin MacNeil, Emma Reardon and Bella Vallieres were among 110 students from 16 Massachusetts schools that attended Mass STEM Hub’s second annual design showcase for Project Lead the Way on Tuesday, June 4, at the Merck Research Laboratories in Boston.

Student groups were challenged to design, test and build an adaptive toy for a child with cerebral palsy for the showcase using their knowledge of the engineering design process, critical measurement and mathematical modeling, computer-aided design and cerebral palsy. Students learned about these concepts in a Design and Modeling Project Lead the Way (PLTW) unit earlier this school year.

At the showcase, students presented their projects to doctors and patients of the cerebral palsy unit of Boston Children’s Hosptial. Gov. Charlie Baker and Boston Children’s Hospital CEO Sandra Fenwick also attended the showcase and met with students in the competition.

“This showcase was such a wonderful opportunity for our students to challenge themselves,” Superintendent Pires said. “They created incredibly thoughtful, useful projects, and it’s so exciting to see them using the knowledge they gained this school year to create something meaningful.”

Anderson, Copeland, Reardon and Vallieres were awarded the Practitioners’ Pick award at the showcase, which is given to the project with the most real-world promise at the competition each year. The four students built a multi-functional fidget contraption for the competition, which they designed to support cognitive, sensory and physical therapy for children ages one through 12 with cerebral palsy. The toy features matching, spinning, listening and drawing games for patients to play independently or with an occupational therapist. These features of the toy were designed to engage the cerebral palsy patient’s imagination and senses while strengthening eye-hand coordination.

MacNeil and Bariteau partnered to build a “Toys for Kids Fruit Matcher” toy for the showcase as well, which tasks the patient with matching a soft, squishy “fruit” to a cup the same color as that fruit. MacNeil and Bariteau designed the toy to provide cognitive, physical and sensory therapy to children with cerebral palsy during occupational therapy, and to help patients stretch their finger and hand muscles.

“Project Lead the Way has done a wonderful job of engaging our students and making them excited to learn about STEM topics,” said Medway Middle School Principal Craig Juelis. “This showcase gave students an opportunity to see first-hand how the topics they’re learning about in class can be applied to help others and make an impact in the world, and that’s truly incredible. Congratulations to each of these students on a job well done.”

Project Lead The Way is an initiative of Mass STEM Hub, an organization providing access to and support for premier STEM programming. Project Lead The Way aims to make STEM part of students’ regular school day. The program offers K-12 curriculum in engineering, computer science, and biomedical science that engages students in problem-solving, critical thinking, collaboration and communication.

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