STEM Showcase benefits students, teachers

Educators gain computer savvy at kids’ competition.

Grandparents of children now in school may remember the space race that began in the mid-1950s. Competing with Russia to be the first with a man on the moon, the United States pushed for more math, science and technology courses. While there may be no comparable quest to lure the best technological minds nowadays, just about every coun- try, state and city realizes its future depends on how well it integrates computer technology.

To help metro Atlanta in that endeavor, the Honeywell company partnered with Georgia Tech’s Center for Education Integrating Science, Mathematics, and Computing (CEISMC) to host the 2020 Honeywell STEM Challenge Showcase. The competition is for students, but a goal is to increase the number of certified computer science teachers in the state.

Students were tasked with solving a problem or disaster, man-made or natural. One of Jennifer Killian’s teams from Trickum Middle School won first place for a project designed to defend the Global Seed Vault near the arctic by monitoring for meltwater and alerting people to its presence. Called Micro:Bit Seed Vault Defender, it won the students a trophy and Micro:Bits controllers for their class.

“We wanted to make sure it would last forever,” said 12-year-old Damian Moss. “With global warming, there are hurricanes and tsunamis that are raising the sea level much farther inland.”

Nodding their heads, his schoolmates agreed they didn’t take their task lightly.

The STEM Challenge is a part of Tech’s STEM Teacher Leadership Program spon- sored by Honeywell to offer advanced teaching techniques to metro Atlanta mid- dle and high school teach- ers. Teachers participated in intensive four-week summer professional development focused on computer science principles and were paired with a mentor from Honeywell who provided guidance and support throughout the school year.

“Having more teachers qualified to teach children this next level of technol- ogy is a win for everyone whether they’re working for Honeywell or some other big STEM company,” said Marti Skold-Jordan, senior man- ager of Global Communications at Honeywell.

CONTRIBUTED BY CHRISTINA MATACOTTA Trickum Middle School students Munira Ali (left) and Steven Zhou (right) talk to an attendee about their project during the Honeywell STEM Challenge Showcase on Jan. 29.