stem week

Medway Students Participate in Massachusetts STEM Week Challenge to Eliminate Plastic Ocean Waste

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

For Immediate Release

Friday, Nov. 15, 2019

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

Medway Students Participate in Massachusetts STEM Week Challenge to Eliminate Plastic Ocean Waste

MEDWAY — Superintendent Armand Pires is pleased to share that Medway students recently celebrated STEM Week and participated in the Massachusetts STEM Week Challenge, which tackled real-world zero waste problems.

Teams of Medway students spent the week practicing mini-challenges and working on their zero waste challenge prototypes. Students were challenged by Mass STEM Hub and Project Lead the Way (PLTW), an inquiry-based science and technology curriculum resource, to design a device to help remove microplastics from the ocean to work toward the goal of zero waste.

On Friday, Oct. 25, three teams of Medway students attended the STEM Week Challenge Showcase where they presented their prototype to engineers, state government employees, researchers and college employees.

Matt Montana, grade seven, and Alex Montana, grade eight, built a prototype of a boat that would pull a filter through the water behind it, gathering and filtering microplastics out of the water. They used recycled plastics, such as coffee cups and water bottles, and other materials such as duct tape, coffee filters and a motor-powered propeller to build the prototype.

Victoria Bullard and Brayden Caldwell, both grade seven, used two motorized fans and part of a plastic water bottle to make the product float and move on its own in the water. The team also used metal washers as weights to balance out the prototype. The filter was constructed with a plastic lid and duct tape and was attached to the water bottle with a string to simulate dragging it along the bottom of the ocean.

Claire Mullen, Colleen Layton and Abby White, all in sixth grade, made two products to help pick up microplastics from the surface and floor of the ocean. The first product was designed to be used in storm pipes to catch both microplastics and bigger plastics before they reach the ocean. The second product was designed similar to a moon rover to pick up microplastics from the bottom of the ocean floor.

Approximately 60,000 students from over 400 schools across Massachusetts tackled real-world zero waste problems for Mass STEM Week. All of the materials used during the week were donated by PLTW.

As part of STEM Week, Leslie Knight, grade five through 12 Science, Technology/Engineering and Computer Science Curriculum and Instruction Leader, as well as science, technology and engineering teachers from Burke-Memorial Elementary School, Medway Middle School and Medway High School, attended the annual PLTW conference on Oct. 21 at Worcester Polytechnic Institute.

At the conference, Medway High School was awarded the High School Achievement Award, which is given to high schools where at least 25 students earned a score on a PLTW end-of-course assessment qualifying them for college credit. The district was also recognized as a 100 percent Access District. This recognizes school districts that offer PLTW classes in every public school in their district. Medway is one of only four districts in the state to receive this distinction.

“We are proud to be a recipient of the High School Achievement Award and of our recognition as a 100 percent Access District,” Superintendent Pires said. “We are happy to be able to provide our students with high-level STEM learning and are proud of them for taking advantage of this special opportunity to brainstorm and present solutions to a real world problem as part of the STEM Week Challenge.”

About Project Lead The Way

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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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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