Collaboratory Corner

Full STEAM Ahead!

We have been moving and shaking in the Collaboratory over the past few weeks!  We even got to take some of our Collaboratory Cubs on an adventure to the NJ TECHSPO Conference where they had the opportunity to share the importance of STEAM education with an amazing audience that even included the NJ Commissioner of Education!  How cool is that?!?  It was certainly an exciting January!

In Pre-K, our youngest programmers are diving into the world of coding!  They worked on some whole-body coding activities, and now they are starting to explore one of our favorite coding friends:  Cody the Code-a-Pillar!

In kindergarten, our amazing engineers completed their bridge projects!  They did a great job applying everything that they learned about bridges to make their bridges sturdy and secure!  Every single bridge was able to hold at least 10 weights during testing, and some bridges held over 40 weights!  The students and I were so proud of their hard work!

In first grade, our optical engineers have been doing a little design work on the side!  The students designed, created, and built their own caves that will be used during their lighting systems project!  Now that the students have designed their own unique caves, they will have to imagine, plan, and build their own lighting systems to be placed inside of the caves so that all of their wonderful cave designs will be visible!  We love a good project that combines our love of making and engineering all at the same time!

In second grade, our environmental engineers have been hard at work creating their water filtration system designs based off their blueprints!  We can't wait to test them this week!

In third grade, our ocean engineers are comparing and contrasting the mass, volume, density, and buoyancy of model submersible parts.  Students will use these results to decide which parts they would like to include in their plans for their own submersible designs!

In fourth grade, our mechanical engineers are creating a variety of different windmill sails (made from a combination of different materials) so that they can test them to see which are the most effective at catching wind!  We can't wait to use our zip lines to test their designs!

We are looking forward to continuing to spread our LOVE of learning, making, designing, and creating throughout the month of February!