IN Brentwood-Baldwin-Whitehall Spring 2016

M O O R E E L E M E N TA R Y N E W S Sprout Fund’s Spark Grant Ignites Moore School’s Imagination Station 4 Innovation C ITSC YO HO F MC O L KE DI ST ES RI POR C TTNE NEWS WS cKeespor tBorough rentwood Brentwood Borough School District 84 Brentwood-Baldwin-Whitehall The fourth grade students at Moore School have been part of an exciting project called Imagination Station 4 Innovation (IS4I), which integrates STEAM learning. This all started as an idea that led to a Gofundme page and plenty of grant writing last year. The total raised to date is $23,155.00, with a very generous donation of $15,000.00 from the Sprout Fund through their Spark Grant. The money raised enabled IS4I educators, Barbara Girone, Kate Smeltz, Britta Bell, and Megan Casey, to purchase Microsoft Surface Pro 3s and Hummingbird Robotic Kits. The teachers began in the beginning of the year with students applying to be head engineers. The process involved an application, letter of reference from a science or math teacher, STEAM survey, and an interview with IS4I educators. The head engineers that were selected met after school for three hours a month, where they worked on team building, leadership essentials, coding, programming, and maintenance of the robotic equipment. The fourth grade students were then organized into teams with a head engineer and have begun the collaborative process. The teams created a mission statement, identified each other’s strengths/ learning styles, and worked through teambuilding activities. The IS4I educators facilitated the activities while the head engineers led their teams. Once the teams were formed and organized, Architect and Technology specialist Peter Streibig from IonTank spoke to the students about regional and non- regional architects, topography, environmental impact, and specialized building design. Students began the process of using topography maps to discuss future locations of their houses. They also learned of architect and client relationships in creating a product that matc hes client expectations, while staying true to architectural ethics. The fourth grade is currently in the process of creating blueprint building plans using strategies from Peter Streibig’s presentation, and will later utilize Google Sketchup for final blueprint designs. Student will then learn robotic function with hummingbird and scratch to pinpoint their design elements of the houses. Moving forward the IS4I educators plan to finish purchasing software for animation, supplies for building the robotic state of the art houses, and digital cameras for documentation. If you would like to support our IS4I project, please click the Gofundme page at this link: https://www. gofundme.com/dc28b8

IN Brentwood-Baldwin-Whitehall Spring 2016 | Page 86