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I got to spend the last day of school at Helmsburg Elementary. Seniors come back for some festivities, then the elementary has a fun learning day (shouldnt they all be????). The classes rotated every 20 minutes through a variety of stations. I was with the STEM teacher. We did different things with different ages. The… Read more »

I finally got to spend a whole day with a STEM Coordinator (one of their hats) from a school in the region. We talked about STEM/Maker ideas for them. We also spent a good amount of time getting them comfortable with their XTool laser and Cricut. They even made a retirement present for a colleague…. Read more »

Recently we did a couple of little things. We hosted 55 6th grade students from Lakeview Elementary before they toured the Art Museum. Adam Scribner and I split them in half for two 45 minute sessions. Adam ran a STEM activity with them. I spoke with them about makerspaces and maker mindset and tools. They… Read more »

Headed up to the east side of Indianapolis to work with four 4th grade classrooms. They had some recent discussions about inventions, so we thought students could design and prototype an invention of their own (in groups of 2 or 3, though a few wanted to work alone). They mad drawings, then got some cardboard… Read more »

We lasered some models of birdhouses (a glowforge pro file that MCCSC shared). Then went to Lakeview to help 3 classes assemble them. They also decorated them with some sharpies as well as some stamps and good earth tone colors. It is only a model of a birdhouse for several reasons : 1) it its… Read more »

I got to spend the morning with 4 3rd grade classes at Eastern Greene Elementary. They are studying Forces & Motion and we talked about why things move or why they stop. They shared about pushes and pulls and gravity, I talked about balanced and unbalanced forces. We even got in a little bit about… Read more »

Unionville Elementary had their annual Earthfest celebration. Games, maker stations with seed bombs and potting a plant (& other stations), snacks, giveaways. It was great weather this year, warm, sunny, slight breeze. There was good attendance, over 100 kids and 50 adults. We set up next to the STEM to Them bus again. They were… Read more »

A school wants to do some Oobleck & slime, so I thought it was time to play with recipes (oobleck works pretty simply, 1 cup cornstarch, about 3/4 cup water) Slime has some variations with glues and activator. I purchased Elmers Glue All multi-purpose Extra strong formula (white){$5 for 16 ounces} and Elmers Washable Clear… Read more »

I was able to help with a teacher PD workshop about Artificial Intelligence. AI Goes Rural is a 3 year project at IU School of Education about co-designing curriculum for MS/HS STEM teachers. They have done several teacher PD’s, been in the classroom, and had a summer camp. This is the last workshop before the… Read more »

Helmsburg Elementary in Brown County had a Community Night for their school. They had outdoor games, a guitarist and singer, and a cookout. I was there to provide some #STEM activities. WE had PVC construction (random parts for random build, stomp rockets, battery & bulb, coffee stirrer & pipe cleaner construction, and 3D printing demonstration…. Read more »