Full STEAM Ahead

Students in the STEAM elective work on a woodworking project in class.

Spotlight on STEAM

Twice a week, in the freshly-

renovated STEAM Lab, a group of Middle School students become artists, builders, and engineers. These students chose to participate in the new STEAM elective, one of several choices of new electives introduced during the 2021-22 school year. The STEAM elective was an especially exciting new opportunity, led by new science teacher David Ritchie.

The class is designed for students to get involved in the engineering process through creative challenges. With the supervision of Mr. Ritchie, the class members have completed projects like building a vehicle that safely transports an egg along a ramp, constructing their choice of woodworking projects, and even creating the tallest tower possible out of dried pasta and mini marshmallows. Each student takes an active role in designing their project, researching the best materials, and ultimately building the final product. The inaugural class of the STEAM elective was a group of seventh graders during the first semester of the 2021-22 school year, while sixth graders began the class in the second semester. “It was the best class ever,” said seventh grader Gracie Edwards. “It was super fun. Everybody loved it.” Throughout the course of the semester, STEAM students graduated from popsicle sticks to power drills. Though they started small, they gradually gained confidence in utilizing all kinds of different tools – they have utilized everything from screwdrivers to Miter saws.

One of Ritchie’s main goals was to encourage the students to relish the journey of designing and troubleshooting each project. “I wanted to get them into the habit of prototyping. Whether it’s designing or building or an engineering challenge, your first attempt is always just a rough draft.” he said, highlighting one of

One of the students' favorite projects from the first semester of the STEAM elective was the egg mobile. Here, several eighth grade STEAM students display the different kinds of egg mobiles they came up with to safely transport an egg on a ramp.

the most important steps in the design process. “You can make your observations, see how it’s performing, see what you like about it and what you want to improve. I wanted to get them in the mindset of continually making adjustments and decisions throughout the process.” This attitude proved beneficial, making students more mindful of the choices made in the design and building process. Ritchie’s favorite project from the first semester was the “egg mobile”. He says, “A lot of them had done an egg drop in elementary school and they wanted to do something like that again. But we took it up a notch and built a ramp where they had to build cars and ramps, carrying the eggs. They made all kinds of designs to construct a safe car that could ride on the ramp and not damage the egg. There was lots of excitement there.”

By the end of the semester, Ritchie observed a marked difference in the STEAM students, both in self-assurance as well as technical skill. “I noticed more discipline in handling the tools and the space. I saw so much more confidence – they felt more self-sufficiency. They didn’t need to ask me as many times whether or not something would be a good material for a certain project. They knew that this lab was their space to explore as long as they used it safely.” said Ritchie. Ritchie thinks the work in STEAM is particularly meaningful for the specific age group he works with. “This is what middle school is all about. Giving them the chance to be creative, giving them a wide range of different instruments, and giving them control of what they want to create. They jump right into it and they’re learning while having fun.” explained Ritchie.

The first semester of the elective has been a huge success, and Ritchie is full of ideas for the future of the class: “I’d love for them to begin programming some robotics into things that they make. It would be great to get to a point where the class isn’t self-contained, where we can collaborate with other classes or community service program. I’ve seen schools where the student body votes on projects for the STEAM class to build depending on what their campus needs, like flower beds or benches. I’d love to do something like that.” With big ideas on the horizon and new groups of passionate students joining each semester, the STEAM elective is sure to reach new heights in the next few years.

Students have learned how to safely use all kinds of different tools in the STEAM elective.