The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
TECHE CLUBS BUILDING STEAM
District doing what it can to promote technology
It’s a technical world. So to better prepare students for high-tech jobs in Lorain County, Elyria City School District added gears and circuits to creative toys.
The high school also added an ImaginEering Hub this year.
From tiny preschoolers playing with Code-A-Pillars and Little Bits to seniors in high school building whatever they can imagine in a maker space, tech is a popular pastime for boys and girls.
“Brian Kokai is my TechE guru,” said Ann Schloss, associate superintendent of Elyria City Schools.
“We feel very strongly that we have a lot of students who may go down that technology pathway,” Schloss said. “It’s not for us to decide who may go down that pathway. It’s for them to explore and decide for themselves if that’s the pathway for them.”
Director of technology operations, Kokai added, “The goal is about exploration, and getting them interested in taking that next step leading to vocational school or a two-year
“Not every student is going to be an English or math major. It’s not just this technology. We’re always looking for new ways to reach kids.”
— Ann Schloss, associate superintendent of Elyria City Schools.
degree. We start as early as preschool. They’re all doing the same things, but it’s a degree of difficulty. The older they get there is more challenge. The idea is the same: just let them explore on their own with no preconceived notion of what they should be building.”
Preschool and kindergarten students learn technology through Tinker Town, he said.
“They’re playing in a portable maker space with age appropriate items such as Lincoln Logs, Tinker Toys, play dough, and Code-A-Pillar,” Kokai said.
Cindy Tobel, a technology implementation specialist, is filling a programming gap for first and second graders, Kokai said.
“It ties technology to curriculum,” Kokai said. “She teaches teachers, and she is a teacher.”
In grades three through five students access Tinker Carts which include Bloxels.
“That’s a game that allows you to create a video game without knowing how to really program,” Kokai said. “They get a game going quickly. They also have Legos, electronic circuit kits, and robotics.
“None of this is mandatory,” Kokai said. “They come to the club and pick what they want.”
The clubs are set up purposefully, Schloss said.
“We’re setting up opportunities for exploration that are age appropriate, so students can explore their likes and dislikes.”
To encourage skill development, the students earn badges, or E-chievements, which can culminate in a physical lapel pin to wear or to attach to a bookbag, Schloss said.
“That’s to show their accomplishment, and they go crazy about them,” Schloss said. “As we started talking about this, we wanted these opportunities to go across the board — male, female, and all age groups. It’s very important to us that they all have that exposure to opportunity. You want to see more women get into engineering.”
Kokai researched Lorain County and found technology jobs are plentiful, with not enough people to fill them, she said, adding they are not just computer jobs.
The district’s grant writing partners wholeheartedly supported the boost in tech-related opportunities, Schloss said. The district received grants from Nordson Corp., the Stocker Foundation, Bendix, Ridge Tool, the Community Foundation, and Parker Hannifin, among others.
“One of the things we truly believe in is the partnership,” Schloss said. “The grants do not pay for salaries. Our part of it is to put the right people in place to support it. In order to sustain the work, we have to have people in place to carry on. If you train and leave it, you’re not monitoring the success. We’re going a step further. We now have a high school and a middle school maker space teachers.”
There also are 10 TechE Club advisers, and a robotics coach at Elyria High School. This school year, the middle school adds a robotics team, she said.
Beyond tinkering, Kokai said, robotics is very focused, with specific rules and challenges and team responsibilities, and it’s competitive.
“TechE Club is you come in and you work on whatever you want, but you need to work,” Kokai said.
“So much of what we do in this big project is to address 21st Century skills,” Schloss said. “It’s the critical thinking, shared inquiry, collaboration. It happens every day using these things.”
The district provided six TechE workshops in the spring, working with a total of 125-150 students, she said.
“We filled up every time within 24 hours,” Schloss said.
More students attended one of four weeklong summer camps with about 25 students in each one, she said.
Also, Camp Invention served another 220 students, Schloss said.
“The Community Foundation paid for Camp Invention for our kids,” Schloss said. “That’s over $200 each. Nordson gave us $130,000 a year ago, but they since have given us some sponsorships for our robotics team. Stocker gave us the maker space. Parker Hannefin gave to the (science, technology, engineering, arts and math) class. Ridge Tool was all about the maker space. Bendix helped out with robotics. And a group of engineers from Ridge Tool came over and expressed an interest in coming in the future to work with our students.”
Kokai said a success story is the robotics team.
“They’re not who you would stereotypically pick for a robotics team,” Kokai said. “I don’t believe it’s filled with honor students, and some of them are struggling a lot in their regular classes, but when you put them in this environment and they like it, they’re engaged. Some students were thinking about dropping out. They were bored with school. They’re very intelligent. You get them into this environment and they flourish. They love it.
“You wouldn’t expect them to be calling us all summer and saying, ‘Hey, can I come in and work?’ ” Kokai said.
“It’s the power of leading students into a pathway that is meaningful to them,” Schloss said.
“Not every student is going to be an English or math major. It’s not just this technology. We’re always looking for new ways to reach kids.”
Kokai said while students are in the maker spaces or playing with Tinker Tubs, they’re learning math and physics without realizing that is what they’re doing. He makes them figure out problems themselves and with each other, rather than giving quick, easy answers.
“I think the most powerful thing I’ve learned is that failing is very important in this learning process,” Schloss said. “Failing forces you to explore and through that exploration to delve deeper than you ever thought you could. And this wasn’t just a start up operation. We planned this for two years before we even started on it. In Elyria we don’t do things without a lot of thought and purpose, because we always want to do what is best for kids. We wanted to make sure we trained our staff, not just the students.”
So far, four buildings have not tried the TechE Clubs or Tinker Tubs, Kokai said.
“This is the first year we are going districtwide,” Kokai said. “There are only so many (Cindy Tobels) to go out and implement it.”