Tech is talk of local schools
3-D printing, robots, solar power are among the highlights at state education showcase, demonstrating the growth of STEM programs
At education showcase, schools show off work in STEM
LINCOLN – Hunched over and complaining of an aching back, Samantha Baako felt disoriented as she walked the halls of Davies Tech, and she asked where Claudia was. Claudia was walking right next to her.
Baako’s back and vision are usually fine, but she was five minutes into wearing an age-simulating suit. Baako and Claudia N. Tomczyk are both health careers students at Davies Tech.
Baako explained that on her suit, the goggles impair her vision, the gloves hinder her abilities to touch, and the weights make her back hurt.
She said of her teachers, “They wanted us to experience how the people feel, so for us, we have to take care of the elderly.”
This was one of many demonstrations of student learning and achievement on display at Davies Tech on Monday afternoon. Ahead of Rhode Island Education Commissioner Ken Wagner’s State of Education address, students and teachers from 11 schools across the state showcased their work in the bustling atrium of the career and technical education school.
Also from Davies, machine technology students displayed technologies like 3D printing and CNC simulation. The emphasis of the biomanufacturing technology program was on drug manufacturing.
Electrical students highlighted their knowledge of solar technology, while preengineering students demonstrated their ER4 Scorbot Robot.
“We began in mid-October and ended in mid-March,” Daniel Reyes said of building the robot, “but it begins with planning, getting an idea of the rules and what’s expected, and from there you put it together, test it.”
The students participated in the Urban Search and Rescue SkillsUSA challenge in March. The point of the competition is to control the robot to return blocks, which represent bombs, to a safe place, Reyes explained.
Central Falls High School students discussed their involvement in the Barcoding Life’s Matrix program, the world’s largest biodiversity genomics project.
David Upegui’s AP Biology students got their own individual bees and set about barcoding bee DNA, explained Stephanie Aldana, one of his students. The process involves breaking down the tissue to get to the DNA, purifying it and getting the DNA isolated.
The process took at least eight weeks, Aldana said, and the students uploaded the information to a registry that indicates information like who collected the information and the age of the bee.
“By this, taxonomists can identify all kinds of species,” Aldana said. “Our part was getting the data so that anyone who wants to use it later on can have that access.”
Students at Lyman B. Goff Middle School showcased the robots they made to complete different missions for the First Lego League Robotics Competition.
“There may be one where we have to pick up a bee and put it on a hive so something comes out of it,” sixth-grader Audrey Saben gave as an example of a mission. “In another we might have to put a shark on a box.”
The only elementary school students at the exhibition were from JJM Cumberland Hill School, and they displayed three different student projects.
The first was a wooden bench – with plants on either end – that students designed by making measurements and then using 3D imaging.
Jillian Clapprood and Zachary Lizotte – who are in fourth and fifth grade, respectively – stood in front of a poster that detailed the work of student government. This includes participating in a canned food drive, used book drive, Toys for Tots and more.
Other Cumberland Hill students talked about their use of Scratch, an animation program. They use it to give a visual representation of what a typical school day is like.
“We draw most of the characters on it and then we import photos too, so it’s basically just showing how things work at our school,” said fifth-grader Gauri Rajesh.