Spheres with blinking lights\u2026 what fourth grader could resist this ball of creativity and learning? Thanks to generous donors, there are plenty of Sphero Bolts to go around at Eastern Mennonite Elementary School.<\/p>\n
The small robots allow children to channel their ideas into reality, creating private games, secret codes and their own robotic equations.<\/p>\n
Donors at this past fall\u2019s Harvest Celebration auction highlighted growing STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics), or STEM, opportunities at EMS, and Kevin Carini<\/a>\u2018s vision for dedicated space and programming. Carini is the chemistry, physics and robotics teacher behind much of EMS\u2019 STEAM programming.<\/p>\n Supporters were invited to raise their paddles high to help increase offerings K-12, and they raised over $11,000. The Sphere BOLTs were purchased with some of the proceeds, explains Bethany Gibbs, fourth grade teacher. \u201cWe are so excited to get our hands on this technology, and grateful for people who have made it possible!\u201d<\/p>\n The robots are the first installment toward creating a K-5 \u201cCreative Space,\u201d a dedicated center where students can meet, exchange ideas, and access current technology.<\/p>\n Upper grade, robotics classes<\/a> are using 3D printers and laser cutters to create EMS branded merchandise to sell. A GE grant<\/a> last summer provided equipment for the upper grades.<\/p>\n Long-term, the plan is for students K-5 in their \u201cCreator Space\u201d and students grades 6 to 12 in their \u201cMakerspace\u201d to exchange ideas and use wood-working tools, electronic components, metal-working tools, 3D printers, soldering irons, paints, and CNC (computer numerical control) equipment.<\/p>\n So far, Kevin Carini has established Robotics I & II classes, built partnerships with engineering labs at James Madison and Eastern Mennonite University, launched a robotics chapter competition with area schools, begun a Python programming class, and cleaned out a corner of the school\u2019s shop area for a collaborative hands-on work space.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Spheres with blinking lights\u2026 what fourth grader could resist this ball of creativity and learning? Thanks to generous donors, there are plenty of Sphero Bolts to go around at Eastern Mennonite Elementary School. The small robots allow children to channel their ideas into reality, creating private games, secret codes and their own robotic equations. Donors\u2026<\/p>","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":26943,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[78],"tags":[40,135,133,134,69,25,28,339,19],"class_list":["post-26927","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academics","tag-elementary","tag-emes","tag-emhs","tag-emms","tag-high-school","tag-middle-school","tag-robotics","tag-steam","tag-stem"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.easternmennonite.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26927","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.easternmennonite.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.easternmennonite.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.easternmennonite.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.easternmennonite.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26927"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.easternmennonite.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26927\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.easternmennonite.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26943"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.easternmennonite.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26927"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.easternmennonite.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26927"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.easternmennonite.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26927"}],"curies":[{"name":"gracias","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}