Robots, Roller Coasters, Coding
FOURTH-GRADERS PREPARE FOR DISTRICT STEM COMPETITION
Fourth graders at Noel Elementary are learning about robots, roller coasters and coding.
They are preparing for STEM-APalooza, a district-wide, all grade levels STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) competition.
According to fourth-grade science teacher Hannah Drake, “In fourth grade, we have a STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, math) unit built into our curriculum, so it gives us the perfect opportunity for all students to get involved.”
She continued, “The students have choices of which project they would like to do: Coaster Wars (roller coaster for a marble out of card stock), robots (Jimu robots with instructions on an app) or coding on the website Scratch.”
Students work on their projects in class and then the entire district will come together for STEM-APalooza on Feb. 11 when they will be tested within their grade levels.
“Students are learning right away about group work and how to plan, build and collaborate as a
team,” Drake said. “They are also learning about the engineering design process that engineers and scientists go through when studying a topic, almost like a modernday scientific method. All projects involve technology for instructions, visuals or coding. Our fourth graders are pretty familiar with phone and tablet technology, so this pushes their knowledge to try and create something with those tools.”
She added, “Students love this project. We had a field trip to Crystal Bridges (recently), and some students were disappointed that they would not get to go to science class.”
Students chose their groups for the projects.
Two groups were working on robot projects. Drake said they can control the robots with an iPad through Bluetooth.
Neiring Atty said, “We’ve been building our robot since two weeks ago.”
The robot’s name is Tank Bot.
Auhnesti Bostater said, “We’re missing some parts, and it was supposed to have a neck, but we made some improvements.”
In another group of several students, Daesha Solomon said her group’s robot’s name was Buzzbot.
“It’s kind of fun,” she said, noting the hardest part was removing one of the extra components from each piece.
“We have to use our teeth,” she said.
Regarding the upcoming competition, she said, “I actually want to (compete) because I like challenges. If I lose, it doesn’t matter. Having fun is what matters.”
Several individuals were sitting at a table using laptops working on their coding projects. One student had established a scene with characters and wanted to create the sound of a mother yelling at a daughter because the mother found out the daughter had been hiding a pet dragon.
Isabelle Whitely was among those working on coding. She was creating a story called “Dragon Power.” She was thinking of two dragons that play a game, she said.
Grayson Zachary said, “You can make your dragon move around.”
He said he was trying to make his squirrel go into a tree.
Whitely said, “There’s a lot of characters and backdrops and sounds that you can choose and put in your code.”
Maylor Makphi and his group were working on a roller coaster called the Dobre Brothers Roller Coaster. They already had several card stock parts taped together and taped down to a paper foundation. He said putting the roller coaster together was more difficult than he thought it would be.
Jacob Davis was part of the Super Fortnite Team 2019 group. Many card stock pieces were lying on the table, waiting to become part of the roller coaster.
“Right now I’m making a funnel for the marble to go in,” he said.
Drake was making the rounds, helping students as needed.
“It’s one of my favorite units within science because it’s so hands-on. You see kids succeeding in different areas,” she said.
“Students love this project. We had a field trip to Crystal Bridges (recently), and some students were disappointed that they would not get to go to science class.”
Hannah Drake Fourth-Grade Science Teacher, Noel Elementary