SCEA UPDATE: Loco Brings STEM To Elementary School

On Nov. 9, the Altoona Curve brought STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) to the Martinsburg Elementary School (MES). The assembly, made possible through the Altoona Curve, was initiated at MES by teacher Mrs. Susan Claar. Mrs. Claar received a flyer in the mail at the beginning of the year about this 30-minute, free program for elementary grades and decided to bring this educational opportunity to MES.

Called Loco’s STEM Challenge, Loco (the Altoona Curve’s baseball mascot) and another Curve representative worked through the Engineering and Design process to solve a challenge in front of the students. The Engineering and Design process includes using brainstorming, planning, creating and improving in order to find solutions. Basically, it is the scientific method of inquiry, so the students were able to see the process in action.

The program was about designing an experiment to find out the best place on a bat for a ball to hit to make it go the farthest. First, the Curve representative explained the steps in the Engineering and Design Process. They are:

• Brainstorm – gather all the ideas and possible solutions to solve the challenge;

• Plan – choose the best idea with which to move forward;

• Create – design a way to solve the challenge; and

• Improve – make small changes to the project.

Then, Loco put on a pair of virtual reality glasses, and the image was projected onto the screen so that the kids could see what he was seeing. After that, he tried to hit a ball with the end of his bat, but that did not go far. Next, he tried hitting it down by his hands, but that hurt his hands. Finally, he had a student come up and knock on the bat until it did not vibrate his hands any more. That was about the middle of the bat. When he hit the ball with the middle of the bat, he scored a home run.

The children at MES really liked the presentation. Some were even able to participate on stage.

Afterward, the students were sent home with a challenge to complete on their own. The at-home challenge was to design a pitching machine for the Curve to use at batting practice. If they wanted to try it, they were given a list of tools that they could use and criteria for the machine. Then, they needed to make a plan, to create a prototype, to test it, and to make adjustments to improve their designs, following the scientific method.

The Spring Cove Education Association (SCEA) would like to share updates of some of the many positive events that are taking place within the Spring Cove School District in which teachers are involved. In order to do so, the SCEA sponsors “Update” articles in the Morrisons Cove Herald.