Technology

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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Easton Middle School Students to Present at Statehouse Learning Showcase

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

For Immediate Release

Wednesday, May 29, 2019

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

Easton Middle School Students to Present at Statehouse Learning Showcase

EASTON — Superintendent Lisha Cabral is pleased to share that four Easton Middle School students will present videos they created using green screen technology at the State House this June.

Four students, sixth grader Anthony Rhodes; seventh grader Antonia Saade; sixth grader Robert Dobbin; and seventh grader Isabel Domenico, will give presentations to legislators at Education Evolution, a learning showcase, in the Hall of Flags at the State House on Wednesday, June 5. The students will be accompanied at the showcase by Jessica Garbowski, a media specialist at Easton Middle School, and Jeanne Baxter, a sixth grade teacher.

The showcase is being held by Massachusetts Computer Using Educators (MassCUE), a Massachusetts affiliate of the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE).

Students will give presentations at the showcase about projects and coursework they’ve completed with the assistance of various technologies. The goal of the event is to highlight the technology available to support children and teens in the classroom as they become global citizens. Groups of between two and four students were selected to present after an application process earlier this school year.

All four Easton Middle School students will present projects they created in their sixth grade social studies class under the guidance of their teacher, Jeanne Baxter. The students used a “Think Tank,” an innovative classroom space with flexible furniture, collaborative devices and state-of-the-art technology including iPad Minis with tripods, Chromebooks, Chromecasts, a Promethean Interactive panel, green screens and six smart TVs, to create videos about topics such as Ancient Greece and early man. The students researched their topics for their videos, wrote scripts, created storyboards, acted and edited their videos.

“These students are thrilled to have the opportunity to present their projects to their representatives and explain how this technology enhanced their learning of these topics,” Garbowski said. “Integrating this technology into their studies has allowed them to be creative and brought their analysis of these civilizations to another level.”

Across the state, 40 student groups were chosen to present in the showcase.

“It’s an honor that our students were selected to share some of the work we’re doing here at Easton Public Schools to bring technology into the classroom to supplement and augment student learning,” Superintendent Cabral said. “It’s also thrilling to see how excited our middle school students were to use this technology to create these projects and elevate their studies.”

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Hull Memorial Middle School Receives Grant from Lowe’s to Create Makerspace

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Hull Public Schools
Michael F. Devine, Superintendent
180 Harborview Road
Hull, MA 02045

For Immediate Release

Wednesday, May 22, 2019

Contact: Jessica Sacco
Phone: 617-993-0003
Email: [email protected]

Hull Memorial Middle School Receives Grant from Lowe’s to Create Makerspace

Memorial Middle School recently received a $5,000 Lowe’s Toolbox for Education grant to create a makerspace. Back row, left to right: Dillon Simpson-Sliney, Kaelyn Burke, Brandon Sullivan, Hailey Putnam-Resnick, Oliver Szabo and Meghan McDonald. Second row, left to right: Emma Driscoll, Tallula Clancy, Aalina Colon-Silverman and Marie Marois. Front row: Max Day. (Courtesy Photo Hull Public Schools)

HULL — Students at Memorial Middle School will soon have a new place to explore their creativity thanks to a $5,000 Lowe’s Toolbox for Education grant.

Hull middle school is one of 545 schools across the U.S. to receive one of the awards for improvement projects. The funding will be used to create a makerspace — an area where students can gather to create, invent, tinker and discover new ideas using a variety of tools and materials.

The makerspace will enhance the school’s engineering/technology courses by adding two wifi-enabled 3D printers that will meet Massachusetts science frameworks. The makerspace will be installed in the engineering-technology suite for the start of the 2019-2020 school year.

“The Lowe’s Toolbox for Education program delivers on Lowe’s commitment to improve the educational environment for students across the country,” said Maureen Ausura, chairwoman of the Lowe’s Charitable and Educational Foundation. “We’re honored to work with Memorial Middle School to support the needs of our local students, teachers and families.”

The Hull Parent Teacher Organization presented the grant to the school and engineering/technology teacher Brandon Sullivan on May 16.

“Receiving this grant is an example of the partnership between the PTO, Lowe’s and the Hull Public Schools to expand our engineering program and provide unique learning opportunities at the middle school,” said Hull PTO Co-President Amy Hyde. “New technology purchased with the grant money will give students another opportunity to write computer code, learn about the engineering design process, and in doing so, utilize the latest technology.”

Since its inception in 2006, Lowe’s Toolbox for Education has provided nearly $45 million in grants to more than 10,000 schools, benefiting more than 6 million schoolchildren. Grants are available to U.S. public schools for a wide range of improvement projects. Schools may be eligible to receive Toolbox grants up to $100,000. For more information, visit ToolboxForEducation.com.

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