March 10, 2017 at 5:57 p.m.
Focusing on STEM
FR students will compete in county challenge Monday
Focusing on STEM
By Rose Skelly-
Fort Recovery students have been focused on science, technology, engineering and math for years. Next week, they’ll get to show off their STEM growth to the entire county.
Elementary, middle and high school students in Mercer County will compete in a STEM competition at 6 p.m. Monday at Mercer County Educational Service Center (ESC), 441 E. Market St., Celina, Ohio. The event will also feature projects completed by students throughout the school year.
STEM education is nothing new for Fort Recovery Middle School, which developed its program seven years ago. Sixth, seventh and eighth graders all take STEM classes in addition to traditional science and math.
“We tried to tie it in with the science standards, theme wise, but then needed to incorporate much more technology and problem-solving skills,” said Crystal Fullenkamp, a middle school science teacher who helped develop the program. “It kind of allowed us to do more labs and hands on activities that maybe I run out of time to do during the regular classroom. Maybe I don’t have necessarily the time to put two weeks into investigation for seismic waves but in STEM class they can do that.”
Incorporating STEM into daily learning took a lot of collaboration and some professional development, she said, but the extra class time apart from science and math class is beneficial to her students.
Elementary, middle and high school students in Mercer County will compete in a STEM competition at 6 p.m. Monday at Mercer County Educational Service Center (ESC), 441 E. Market St., Celina, Ohio. The event will also feature projects completed by students throughout the school year.
STEM education is nothing new for Fort Recovery Middle School, which developed its program seven years ago. Sixth, seventh and eighth graders all take STEM classes in addition to traditional science and math.
“We tried to tie it in with the science standards, theme wise, but then needed to incorporate much more technology and problem-solving skills,” said Crystal Fullenkamp, a middle school science teacher who helped develop the program. “It kind of allowed us to do more labs and hands on activities that maybe I run out of time to do during the regular classroom. Maybe I don’t have necessarily the time to put two weeks into investigation for seismic waves but in STEM class they can do that.”
Incorporating STEM into daily learning took a lot of collaboration and some professional development, she said, but the extra class time apart from science and math class is beneficial to her students.
Travis Guggenbiller, a science, math and STEM teacher at the school, said an increased focus on STEM helps students develop real-world skills.
“It allows for communication and collaboration. I feel like that’s an area sometimes students struggle in, is how to get their thoughts out to their peers and how to work with others,” Guggenbiller said. “I always make sure that they have to work with other people, that they are not with their friends. That’s how the real world works.”
Mercer County Educational Service Center, which is led by former Fort Recovery teacher and superintendent Shelly Vaughn, has been working toward putting a greater focus on STEM education for about a year. The organization’s administrators decided to have monthly STEM challenges for area schools, with a final mystery challenge performed live at the upcoming showcase.
“One of the things the administrators have been hearing is, we need kids to develop critical thinking, problem solving skills, and this is just one avenue for that kind of thinking,” said Wendi Moorman, gifted coordinator for the service center. “We chose projects that would get kids to think really deeply and critically and have to solve problems. The teachers are given a lesson plan but they kind of let the kids run with it and figure out how to solve whatever challenge it is they’ve been given without step-by-step instructions.
“The perseverance that they’ve had to have in doing these challenges has been tremendous because they’ve figured out, ‘OK, I’ve failed at this but if I do it again I can get it right. Kids have seen that failure’s not a bad thing.”
February’s challenge was biomedical engineering, so students were tasked with creating a hand that could pick up objects using only cardboard, string, rubber bands, straws and glue.
Experimenting with different options for four days, Fort Recovery seventh graders Blake Will, Ben Grieshop and Logan Knapke came up with a creation that could pick up a paper cup with 130 pennies in it.
Eighth grader Danielle Kuess, who was working on her hand with partner Megan Bergman, said her years of STEM classes have taught her that projects can always be improved upon.
“(When I did) the first invention I didn’t have a great idea, but once I started I was like, OK I know what I can do better next time,” said Kuess, adding that she hopes to take similar classes in high school. “It’s pretty fun, it’s more so hands on things because I like doing things hands-on.”
One thing the service center challenges have brought to the school is friendly competition, principal Tony Stahl said. Schools in the county compete against each other each month to win the challenges, which were themed structures, motion and movement, packaging and environmental prior to February’s biomedical engineering.
Eight Fort Recovery students will be competing in Monday’s final challenge, for which they will get no details in advance.
“It kind of adds a certain degree of competitiveness to the local schools in the surrounding community,” Stahl said. “It’s been great to kind of put some competitive nature into the academic side of things … kids starting to care about what’s happening in the class.”
“It allows for communication and collaboration. I feel like that’s an area sometimes students struggle in, is how to get their thoughts out to their peers and how to work with others,” Guggenbiller said. “I always make sure that they have to work with other people, that they are not with their friends. That’s how the real world works.”
Mercer County Educational Service Center, which is led by former Fort Recovery teacher and superintendent Shelly Vaughn, has been working toward putting a greater focus on STEM education for about a year. The organization’s administrators decided to have monthly STEM challenges for area schools, with a final mystery challenge performed live at the upcoming showcase.
“One of the things the administrators have been hearing is, we need kids to develop critical thinking, problem solving skills, and this is just one avenue for that kind of thinking,” said Wendi Moorman, gifted coordinator for the service center. “We chose projects that would get kids to think really deeply and critically and have to solve problems. The teachers are given a lesson plan but they kind of let the kids run with it and figure out how to solve whatever challenge it is they’ve been given without step-by-step instructions.
“The perseverance that they’ve had to have in doing these challenges has been tremendous because they’ve figured out, ‘OK, I’ve failed at this but if I do it again I can get it right. Kids have seen that failure’s not a bad thing.”
February’s challenge was biomedical engineering, so students were tasked with creating a hand that could pick up objects using only cardboard, string, rubber bands, straws and glue.
Experimenting with different options for four days, Fort Recovery seventh graders Blake Will, Ben Grieshop and Logan Knapke came up with a creation that could pick up a paper cup with 130 pennies in it.
Eighth grader Danielle Kuess, who was working on her hand with partner Megan Bergman, said her years of STEM classes have taught her that projects can always be improved upon.
“(When I did) the first invention I didn’t have a great idea, but once I started I was like, OK I know what I can do better next time,” said Kuess, adding that she hopes to take similar classes in high school. “It’s pretty fun, it’s more so hands on things because I like doing things hands-on.”
One thing the service center challenges have brought to the school is friendly competition, principal Tony Stahl said. Schools in the county compete against each other each month to win the challenges, which were themed structures, motion and movement, packaging and environmental prior to February’s biomedical engineering.
Eight Fort Recovery students will be competing in Monday’s final challenge, for which they will get no details in advance.
“It kind of adds a certain degree of competitiveness to the local schools in the surrounding community,” Stahl said. “It’s been great to kind of put some competitive nature into the academic side of things … kids starting to care about what’s happening in the class.”
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