School News

Last Updated on Saturday, 30 July 2016 14:54

For one week, students in grades fourth through tenth grade participating in the Ringgold STREAM Camp were engaged in collaboration, problem-solving, and creativity.

A seventh grade STREAM Project

Four years ago, the Ringgold STREAM Camp started with Dr. Jeff Matty’s, Assistant to the Superintendent, idea of a summer STEM program. From this idea Dr. Lenni Nedley, Director of Curriculum, and the camp teachers ran with the idea. The camp started with only 30 students participating. The camp has grown with 126 students participating.

Students in fourth grade were given a Rube Goldberg® challenge of creating a compound machine to pop a balloon. “Students were faced with many barriers throughout the week,” Harmer said. “They wanted to give up, but did not. They problem-solved and redesigned their machines. There were no textbooks, no tests — just the students working as a team.” Kelly Harmer is a fifth grade teacher at Ringgold Elementary School North.

The fifth and sixth grade students use robotic kits created by Bird Brain Technologies®. Four years ago, Dr. Tom Lauwers, founder of Bird Brain Technologies®, provided the Ringgold STREAM Camp teachers training in the use and programming of the Hummingbird® and Finch® robotic kits. With limited exposure and knowledge of programming, the STREAM Camp teachers learned quickly.

Using the Hummingbird® robotic kits in the past, the fifth grade students were given the challenge of creating robotic displays that defined an idiom. This year, the students were challenged creating a robotic display that defined a nursery rhyme. “The students come in each morning and immediately go to work on their project”, Gilpin said. Tracy Gilpin is a teacher consultant for the camp.

A dimensional Stream Project on display

The sixth grade students worked as teams in programming the Finch® to complete challenges presented by Grace DiCello, an eighth grade social studies teacher at Ringgold Middle School. The students were challenged with having the Finch® write, bowl, play soccer, and complete obstacle courses. “The camp is about having the students work together to accomplish tasks,” Dicello said. “Those skills translate to any curriculum. Any learning environment that is fun and creative.”

The seventh grade students built and programmed a VEX® robot that had to lift tennis balls and place them into a set of rings. Josh Nicklow, an eighth grade lead science teacher, started using the Vex® last year. “The STREAM Camp has progressed from using one robotic kit to using three,” Nicklow said. “The students are more engaged and are learning the programming skills faster than previous students. The students work together with students that they typically do not talk to during the school year. They are learning and understanding teamwork without realizing it.”

Finally, new to the STREAM Camp was the 2D game design challenge. The eighth and ninth grade students worked with Kelly Kearns, a high school computer science teacher, to create a 2-dimensional game using the Construct 2 program. “I informed the students at the beginning of class that the most important goal I wanted them to get out of this was to problem-solve while being creative,” Kearns said.

The Ringgold STREAM Camp ended with an open house for parents and community members to view the great pr