Last year, Mrs. Greene
worked with Jill Harris
and Jennifer Reynolds,
fellow science teachers
at Chisholm Trail,
to write the grant
“Electrifying STEAM.”
That grant provided
funding for Snap
Circuits electronics
experimentation sets
for X-STEAM, an
after-school program
to promote student
engagement in STEAM
subjects. The Snap
Circuits sets, composed of snap-together parts, build more
than 300 experiments in resistance, voltage, strength, light,
batteries, magnetics and alternative energy strategies.
“Students named it X-STEAM,” Mrs. Greene said, “because
using advanced technology to overcome challenges in
engineering, arts, math and science makes them feel like the
superheroes the X-Men.”
Initially developed
as an opportunity
for advanced studies
for students in the
gifted and talented
program, X-STEAM
has since evolved into
an equal opportunity
educational club,
serving the special
education department
and grade-level
students. The program
has 50 members and
features mentoring
support from
district teachers and
Communities in Schools.
Mrs. Greene said the goal is to provide a self-organized
learning environment where students can choose based on
their interests to study concepts like robotics, computer
programming, and rocketry through experimentation sets,
many of which were also funded by NEF. The addition of
the Snap Circuits sets give students an opportunity to study
the fundamentals of
electric circuitry and
electrical engineering.
“Students today use
advanced electronics
unthinkingly,
without awareness
of the thousands
of experiments
and developments
that preceded the
extraordinary devices
in their pockets,” she
noted. “The future of
electronics requires a
future generation of
engineers to build upon the magic we already possess.”
Prailey Cohea, an eighth-grade student at Chisholm Trail,
has been a member of X-STEAM for three years. Last year,
a bridge she designed during the program was shown at the
annual Chisholm Trail Middle School Art Show and Makers
Faire. At the first November meeting, Cohea and Joaquin
Urby, the Communities
in Schools mentor at
the school, used one of
the Snap Circuits sets
to build a radio.
“It’s my first time
working with this set,
but I’ve used a lot of the
other ones,” Cohea said.
“It’s just fun and really
interesting to see what
you can create.”
Teachers and mentors
provide some guidance
to influence the
progression of student
learning, but as students increase their understanding they
have more opportunities for self-selected experiments. Mrs.
Greene said students choose which areas and activities to do
based on their interests.
“They want to learn and understand these concepts as fast
as they can to create what they want to,” Mrs. Greene said,
“so they hurl themselves at learning as opposed to me
dragging them.” n
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