School Location:
Hawthorne, New Jersey
Fellows:
Frances Lewis
June Polidoro
Mary Wrenn
School Website:
http://www.stanthonyschool.org/sash/
School Team of the Month - March 2016
What's the most ambitious element of your STEM Impact Plan work so far?
The most ambitious piece of our STEM Impact Plan is developing new STEM projects to address the standards not otherwise met through already existing projects. We've worked hard to connect our STEM projects with the relevant Common Core Math, Next Generation Science, and New Jersey Technology standards at every grade level, K-8. STEM projects are a core component of our curriculum!
What exciting STEM experiences are happening at St. Anthony School?
Our eighth graders have been working on a STEM project, “POWERball”, in which they have explored the materials which various sports balls are made and have calculated each ball’s coefficient of restitution. With further research on the innovative design of the product Soccket™, students will be designing and printing their own 3D printed ball. They will also be researching the power system by which playing with the ball could generate enough wattage to light a small LED bulb in a similar way to the Soccket™. The students are very excited to bring their own creativity to solve real world problems; green and efficient energy and health/exercise.
During the study of matter, our fifth graders collaborated with the fifth graders at St. Luke School in Florida in the “Ship the Chip” STEM Project. The students needed to design a cost effective package that would ship a Pringles™ chip through our postal system. After both schools received the packages, the students again measured the packages and found the volume of each package. They also opened the packages carefully, assessed and scored the intactness of the chip, and found the mass of the package. They then decided which engineering team created the BEST package. STEM collaboration at its finest!
In what ways have you been able to engage other members of your school, local community, or other STEM Teaching Fellows?
In addition to the "Ship the Chip" project with St. Luke's, we have had the opportunity to spread our STEM knowledge here in New Jersey. At our initial staff meeting in August, we shared our experiences about the two-weeks at Notre Dame with our entire faculty. We presented the STEM Impact Plan to the faculty and laid out the role we would ask them to play in its development. Subsequently, they took a survey and we have been actively engaged in formal and informal STEM meetings since then. We were also asked to share again about the Fellowship experiences at a meeting of 10-15 principals from across the Paterson Diocese in September.
During Catholic Schools Week we hosted Family STEM Night which was open to the entire school’s population. We recently had an alumnus present to our 6th graders about civil engineering. To end the semester, we have 2 more speakers coming to the junior high to speak about biomedical engineering; one is an alumnus and college senior and the other is a parent who works in the field.