STEM Class updates Oct. 31st-Nov.4th, 2016

Hi friends! Here's an update of what's happening in Mrs. Athearn's STEM Class:

Grade 5: 3D Printing and Tinkercad
I'm super excited to announce that Mr. Johnson and I got one of our 3D printers up and running last week! We've been making test prints to find the right dimensions for printing student designs for our 5th graders as they continue to learn 3D modeling in Tinkercad. Mrs. MacKenzie's class also got to help us out with test printing last week. 3D printing is a wonderful way to engage the students in learning, because they are so motivated to see their imaginations come to life in 3D form, however due to the time and cost associated with 3D printing, it is important to scale designs down to a small size to ensure that all students can print at least one project this year. I'll try to post some pictures of our designs as we print them.

To see what your child is creating, have them log on to their Project Ignite account from this url:

https://projectignite.autodesk.com/


Grades 3 and 4: Earthquake Engineering
Last week, students in grades 3 and 4 learned about the the need for earthquake engineering and the 2010 earthquake in the island country of Haiti. We learned that Haiti was hit by a 7.0 magnitude earthquake and most buildings, large and small, were completely destroyed. We also learned that part of why Haiti was so devastated was because construction codes, or safety rules for building, were not being enforced. Students also got to experiment with a shake table. Engineers use shake tables to test if buildings will survive an earthquake or not. Students will use shake tables again this week to test model structures and collect data about what types of building designs will be the most earthquake resistant. Students will use this data to come up with their own model construction codes that will be used to build a final earthquake resistant structure in a few weeks.

To see a life-size shake table in action at the University of California-San Diego, click on the link below:

https://youtu.be/duzcOkzwpDo?list=PLyy_4z9b5NrwmJYv2wBWuJT2DEsZwwUqn


Happy Halloween Everyone!
-Mrs. Athearn :)

STEM Question of the Week: Week 4

This week's topic is: Earthquakes in America

This week's question is: Where and in what year did the strongest recorded earthquake in the United States occur? It was recorded as a 9.2 magnitude earthquake on the Richter scale!

Check out these research tools from our Learning Commons to find your answer:

https://sites.google.com/a/scarboroughschools.org/wentworth/learning-commons/online-resources

https://kiddle.co

-Mrs. A

STEM Question of the Week: Week 3

This week's topic is: Astronomy Current Events

This week's question is: What annual meteor shower peaked last week firing up the night sky with dust from Halley's Comet?

Check out these research tools from our Learning Commons to find your answer:

https://sites.google.com/a/scarboroughschools.org/wentworth/learning-commons/online-resources

https://kiddle.co

-Mrs. A

STEM Question of the Week: Week 2

Hi friends!

It has been such a busy week in the STEM classroom. Between curriculum planning and having two sick children at home, I completely forgot to post the STEM Question of the Week here on my blog! My sincerest apologies!

The STEM Question of the Week was posted Monday on students' Google Classrooms, so remember you can always find it there too!

Here you go!


Q: In computer science, what does CPU stand for?

Here are some resources to research the question:

https://sites.google.com/a/scarboroughschools.org/wentworth/learning-commons/online-resources
http://kiddle.co/

-Mrs. Athearn

STEM Class updates 10/17-10/21, 2016

Hi students, teachers, and families,

After attending the ACTEM (the Association of Computer Technology Educators of Maine) conference last Friday, I am feeling energized and excited to share new technology resources with my students and colleagues of Wentworth. I was especially excited to attend a learning session on cad design and 3D printing. I learned that the 3D design tools we are using here at Wentworth are the optimal programs for student 3D design and printing. I also gained new insights into how we can utilize this amazing technology for student learning---more info to come in the future!

Grade level updates:

Third and Fourth

This week I will be trying out a new interactive lesson tool called Peardeck with third and fourth graders as they are introduced into the field of Earthquake Engineering. Students will also explore use of a special tool that earthquake engineers use called a shake table.

Fifth

This week, fifth graders will begin a lesson in Project Ignite (our cad learning portal) called "Let's Learn Tinkercad". Students will be able to practice their 3D design skills in Tinkercad by learning how to: navigate shapes on x,y,z axes, use shape menus, and scale, rotate, group, and manipulate shapes.

Stay tuned for Monday's STEM Question of the Week.

-Mrs. Athearn

STEM Question of the Week

Participation is completely optional. Research the answers with your family or during STEM class if you finish your work early. Post your answer to the STEM Question of the Week in the comments of this blog post, on your child's Google Classroom, or bring a written answer to Mrs. Athearn in B101--Green STEM lab

Answers will be accepted until 2:45 on Friday. Winner will receive a certificate and pencil from Mrs. Athearn.

This week's topic is: Women in Computer Science

This week's question is: What is Ada Lovelace best known for?

Check out these research tools from our Learning Commons to find your answer:
https://sites.google.com/a/scarboroughschools.org/wentworth/learning-commons/online-resources

-Mrs. Athearn

STEM Class Updates for Oct.10-Oct.14

Hi students, teachers, and families,

3rd, 4th, and 5th graders did a great job last week setting up their Digital STEM Notebooks in Google Slides. Digital STEM Notebooks will be how students record and represent what they learn in STEM class this year. The notebook is digital so students can receive feedback and comments from me, share and collaborate on entries with classmates, and have a completely paperless, polished portfolio of STEM learning by the end of the year.

3rd and 4th graders will use their digital notebooks this week as they investigate what makes something a technology.

5th graders will be working on setting up their Project Ignite accounts this week, Project Ignite is a student and teacher portal for Tinkercad---the 3D modeling program that we use to create designs and prototypes in our CubePro 3D printers. 5th graders will be learning the ins and outs of 3D designing in Tinkercad for the next several weeks. Students will use their skills for a special design project for our school garden---more on that in the future!

Check out Project Ignite here: https://projectignite.autodesk.com/


-Mrs. Athearn