The morning bell rings at Mableton Elementary School and students begin arriving for a normal school day . As you walk down the front hallway of Mableton you get a sense that there is something unique and special about this learning environment . You see a bulletin board that is covered with Legos and K ’ Nex and you can ’ t help but flashback to your favorite childhood pastime , then walk a little further and to the left there is an entire wall decorated with a Micko Vic inspired Array City that helped third graders learn multiplication . Walk down further still and you will see student product creations in the Learning Commons windows created in the Makerspace that houses everything you could possibly want to help students develop creativity , critical thinking , and other 21st century work skills .
Fifth graders create an artistic line maze to code a Sphero Sprk + through the Makerspace at Mableton .
This is the type of learning that takes place at Mableton Elementary on a daily basis as we transition from a STEM to STEAM focused school . It hasn ’ t been an easy or short journey for us . Our staff and students have been engaged in STEM focused curriculum and learning for the past five years . The school has struggled with teacher buy-in and a high turnover rate each year . When Principal Pamela Cain came on board for the 2015-2016 school year , she immediately wanted to push the envelope with students and open up the doors for STEAM integration and an unforgettable learning experience .
Mrs . Cain delegated a committee to oversee the transition from STEM to STEAM and we meet on a monthly basis to discuss appropriate steps , trainings needed , purchases required and how to get teacher buy in from the staff . One of the first orders of business was the implementation of my position as the Innovation Specialist who would specialize in helping teachers integrate STEAM into content areas in the classroom , providing teacher trainings on arts integration , and help develop and implement a STEAM focused Makerspace . Teachers receive quarterly arts integration trainings , and collaborate to write thematic unit plans that include a culminating STEAM project as a summative assessment each nine weeks .
STEAMed Magazine
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A fourth grade student shows off his Vlosich Inspired “ pulley ” artwork on the Etch-a-Sketch .
January 2017 Edition