IN Bethel Park Winter 2016 | Page 63

TEAM 7A INCORPORATES STEAM PROJECTS INTO TEAM BUILDING EXERCISES

TEAM 7A INCORPORATES STEAM PROJECTS INTO TEAM BUILDING EXERCISES

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staff goal at Independence Middle School is to foster a love of community service within their students .
The staff understands the importance of nurturing wellrounded students , and helping them to realize that the value of giving back to others is an essential part of their success .
The teachers on Team 7A couldn ’ t wait to begin this process , so during the first week of school , they got their students thinking about what kind of a year-long service learning project they would like to participate in .
This year the students will focus on underprivileged pre-school aged children and doing what they can to help them to develop a love of reading . Throughout the year they will conduct what they term an “ amped-up book drive ,” that includes not only collecting children ’ s books , but also recording some of their favorite stories on CDs and giving them to an organization that works directly with these children .
The students spent a morning working collaboratively in small groups to brainstorm some slogans for their campaign . They decided on “ Turn A Page To Endless Possibilities ” and had fun designing t-shirts on their Chromebooks to illustrate their slogan .
Later that day , they continued to put their team-building skills to the test by working on two STEAM ( Science , Technology , Engineering , Art and Math ) -themed activities .
For the first activity , students worked in small self-selected groups and were given a bag of balloons and a roll of tape , and asked to see how high they could build a free-standing tower of balloons .
When the time was up , the students brought their colorful towers into the cafeteria and they learned that the tower built by Sean Burns , Anthony Celletti , Thomas Halligan , Jacob Narr and Aiden Sexton was the tallest , standing at seven feet , three inches high .
For the second activity , the students worked in groups preselected by their teachers . They were given 20 pieces of dried spaghetti , one yard of tape , one yard of string and one marshmallow , and they were asked to build a free-standing tower as high as they could .
This activity posed a greater challenge for the students than the balloon tower , with the team of Taylor Arnoni , Max Blanc , Keiton Pegher and Olivia Underwood constructing the tallest tower at 25 inches .
At the end of the activities , the students talked as a group about how things went when they worked with the people they selected versus the people they were assigned to work with . Some of the students were surprised to learn that they actually worked better with people they did not choose , for a couple of reasons . First , they tended not to goof off as much with the assigned group , and second , they were able to listen to new ideas from people they might not normally interact with .
Math Teacher Elisa Scheuerle was impressed with the way the students worked together . She explained that throughout the entire school year , the students on 7A would be working together as a team — learning together and helping one another .
“ What the students experienced today was a brief snapshot of the way we would like them to collaborate throughout the entire school year ,” Mrs . Scheuerle said . “ You could see there were a couple of ‘ ahha moments ’ when the students realized that there is value working with others who might not be in their immediate circle of friends . “ As teachers , we are excited about this group of students and the enthusiasm they showed for these two simple projects . It is our hope that they will carry that enthusiasm for inquiry and learning throughout the school year .”

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BETHEL PARK SCHOOL DISTRICT
Colan Saffer works to blow up more balloons to add to his team ’ s tower .
These girls did a great job working together to build a balloon tower .
Winning the Balloon Tower Challenge were ( left to right ): Sean Burns , Jacob Narr , Anthony Celletti , Aiden Sexton ( behind the balloons ) and Thomas Halligan .
Olivia Underwood holds her breath when she checks to see if her tower will stand .
The students worked collaboratively to share ideas and come up with a winning solution .
Winning the Marshmallow Challenge were ( left to right ): Olivia Underwood , Max Blanc , Taylor Arnoni and Keiton Pegher .
Bethel Park | Winter 2016 | icmags . com 61