STEAM Fair-BSEA Students in Action

6th – 8th graders showcased several lessons and projects during our STEAM Fair. Explanations of their work follows the pictures below:

 

         

Showcase Stations & Activities

Activity / Concept Task
Flower Project   – Sexual & Asexual Reproduction Students set up plant adoption station.

Students designed large illustrations of flowers labeling all part of the flower and completed an essay to explain fthe processs of pollination & fertilization.

Please see info below for more inforamtion.

 

Bridging vocabulary Concepts & Challenges

 

Cell Book (Science)

Rock Cycle Book (Science)

Math Textbook (Math)

Book of Poems (ELA)

Student designed and published books in

ELA

Math

Science

 

Please see info below

 

Math Textbook

This project is geared toward a rigorous practice of understanding and mastering Number Systems. You will have to research the Common Core Learning Standards for Number Systems which are attached for your review. You may use engageny.org as one of your research tools as well as learningfarm.com and Ready Instruction Book. Please be creative and use all of your notes in your notebook, as well as your peardeck.com/join notes to help you along the way. You will be graded on content, creativity, and rigor.

1. Create your own math textbook.

Every lesson must have at least, 2 example problems, 1 problem the reader can do along with you, and at least 5 problems the reader can do own their own.

·      You must have at least 15 lessons in your book, 1 lesson for each standard listed above

·      You must create a ten question quiz for every lesson, as well as an explanation key(showing step by step how to solve each problem

·      You may not use the names and/or numbers of any supported material you use

·      You must make up your own problems for every example and quiz

·      You must have a very appealing text book cover

·      You may title your own book

 

Book of Poems Sour Candy: Arts & Literary Journal.

Sour Candy: BSEA’s Arts & Literary Journal consists of original Poetry and Artwork produced by BSEA’s first graduating class. This collection offers a unique insight into the minds and hearts of our talented BSEA students. This collection was curated and packaged by ELA Teacher, Mr. Ross.

Cell Book Students used their creativity and knowledge about cells to create a mini cell book that they could share with a 5th grader. The book must have illustrations of the two main types of cells, all the organelles we studied, and must describe what the organelles are, what they do, and what would happen to the cell if that organelle is not present. It can be typed or hand written, but must be a fun read for a 5th grader.
Propeller Car Challenge District 18 After School Program :

Students were given popsicle sticks, straws, plastic propellers, rolling dice, plastic wheels and rubber bands. Their STEAM challenge is to:

1.     Design and construct a propeller car

2.     Measure distance and calculate speed

3.     Test and refine my designs

4.     Communicate the design process and results in an oral presentation

Forensics

 

Finger print dusting and categorization

 

 

Task: Students will place a latent fingerprint on a surface and then will use fingerprint dusting techniques to make those latent prints visible. The visible prints will then be categorized into one of the three major print categories.
Minecraft Coding Task: Students participated in an after school program to learn how to program using JAVA. Use of professional development tools used in commercial real world development – IntelliJIDEA, Git, Bash shell.
How to run their own Minecraft server.
Entering, compiling and debugging Java code.
Beginning Java coding – variables, types, if and for statements, use of classes and methods to organize code.
Intermediate Java coding – Object Oriented Design and Inheritance, classes and overriding methods.
Modifying existing code to achieve a different result.
Bridges in ELA Task: In September, students had the opportunity to establish teamwork, unity and collaboration among one another, with the goal of building a strong foundation for the entire school year.

Students were given very simple materials within their groups: popsicle sticks and Elmer’s glue.

Students were given the task of constructing a bridge using the materials given to them. Students were given 2 days to complete this task. At the end, class discussions were had on how this activity built teamwork and unity among one another.

Students were also able to reflect on challenges they faced in building these bridges with their team members, as well as areas for growth for the future.

Mystery Tube Students observed the mystery tube and made initial observations and predictions of how the tube was constructed. Students then engages in steps of scientific inquiry to build a model of the tube based on their hypothesis.

 

Observational Drawing: Cropped Candy Still Life Students used observational skills to create a larger than life still life drawing. Students looked at the work of Georgia O’Keeffe for compositional inspiration and were then able to create unique still life set ups in front of them using actual candy. Students were challenged to create compositions that showed a use of multiple techniques learned in class (breaking the picture plane/cropping, odd numbers, rule of thirds, overlapping, scale, basic shapes, form, detail drawing.) After completing their drawings, students learned about value scales and color mixing then applied those skills to their candy paintings.

Throughout the unit, students were challenged to observe what they actually saw in front of them rather than what they knew the objects to look like.