2 017 - 2 018
f ox c hapel a r ea s chool d is tr ict | s tat e of t he s chools
teaching artists led two dance and creative movement-based workshops at Kerr Elementary.
The third week featured a fi eld trip to two City of Pittsburgh locations that allowed students to
continue to explore the concepts of transportation and travel. They climbed aboard the Gateway
Clipper for a two-hour excursion that traveled the city’s rivers. They then visited the Attack Theatre
and participated in an afternoon of creative movement workshops. While there, the students also
had the opportunity to learn about the history of the Pittsburgh Opera/Attack Theatre building
that was formerly George Westinghouse’s air brake factory in the 1800s.
Dorseyville Middle School students had several summer academy options. In addition to
reading, writing, and math classes designed to enrich and expand skills, Dorseyville also offered
a project-based learning rotation, “Innovation Nation,” that featured a series of engineering
challenges. Students worked in teams or as individuals learning design and engineering
principles in up to four, one-week experiences in a laboratory setting. Based on their interests,
they chose from among several options and completed tasks related to the maker movement,
robotics, fabrication, and design & engineering processes. Students also had the opportunity to
participate in the science summer session, which this year, focused on electricity and electronic
components. Students learned by doing, conducting activities and experiments during the four-
week class. Students who took the summer science program also spent part of their day working
on project-based learning activities.
Summer STEAM Camp
The district’s popular STEAM Camp that engages elementary and middle school students in a fun
approach to thinking and doing, returned for the second year. Young campers used 3D print-
ers, a laser engraver, Hummingbird robotics kits, and other materials that created interest and
experience in STEAM topics, as well as skills in collaboration and problem-solving. A wide range
of topics was offered that infused Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts, and Mathematics.
Several new offerings that sparked excitement in older students included a rocket science and
stop-motion studio classes. Additionally, “The ‘A’ Team of STEAM” art-centered class, “Once Upon
a STEAM” fairy tale-inspired engineer challenges, and the “Fun with Flowers!” science and art
class, brought rave reviews from enthusiastic younger students.
Returning this year by popular demand were the escape room and drones and spheros classes.
Several camp offerings were revamped, such as the mobile fab lab, which this year focused on
inventing and marketing with a Shark Tank-theme, STEAM Olympics in which students explored
apps and challenges in an Olympic-style event, and “Science Olympiad & Rube Goldberg
Contraptions” which was a camp that focused on apparatus designs and a series of science
Olympiad-style experiments.
At the end of the fi ve-day camp, participants demonstrated what they learned, built, and created
at an open house for their parents and families.
FOX CHAPEL AREA
❘
FALL 2018
25