{"id":8630,"date":"2019-02-07T16:41:49","date_gmt":"2019-02-07T21:41:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/?p=8630"},"modified":"2019-02-12T14:57:57","modified_gmt":"2019-02-12T19:57:57","slug":"stem-lab-allows-students-to-learn-through-play","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/stem-lab-allows-students-to-learn-through-play\/","title":{"rendered":"STEM lab allows students to learn through play"},"content":{"rendered":"

It is one thing to open up a book and see photos of a skyscraper. It is another to construct a tower from wooden blocks.<\/p>\n

This is one of the options given to students in Plaza Middle School\u2019s BrainSTEM Collective, an open science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) lab. The lab is housed in the school\u2019s library and available to students and teachers at any point during the day.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I think it does more than anything is it really brings the world to them,\u201d said Catherin Taylor, a library media specialist. \u201cIt opens a different mindset to students that otherwise they wouldn\u2019t have had.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"alt=""\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Taylor\u2019s BrainSTEM Collective was one of 55 recipients of a Virginia Beach Education Foundation (VBEF) Innovative Learning Grants. With the funds received from the grant, Taylor was able to purchase the circuit and robotics kits, wooden Keva planks, gravity activities and more for the students to experience while in the STEM lab.<\/p>\n

\u201cStudents are getting hands-on experience with coding and manufacturing,\u201d said Maureen McElfresh, a project manager of Waller Todd & Sadler, the grand underwriter. \u201cThis lab gives children the opportunity to practice trial and error. They will be able to see if one way works better than another does and this really allows them to learn. I have always believed that you learn more from your failures than your successes, so opportunities that give students permission to experiment like this are great.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lessons in the new laboratory are aligned with the school\u2019s science curriculum, Taylor said. \u201cBecause our STEM lab supports the middle school curriculum, the concepts and activities can easily be replicated in every school.\u201d<\/p>\n

For the students, the lab is a place to play.<\/p>\n

\"alt=""\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cIt doesn\u2019t really seem like learning,\u201d said Caleb Underwood, \u201cit\u2019s just fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

Underwood and fellow seventh-grader, Joseph Santiago-Rivera, chose to play Circuit Maze, a board game that introduces students to electrical engineering. The game allows players to create a real circuit that lights up different colored beacons. These clever circuit-building puzzles provide a boost of brainpower and a wonderful introduction to electrical engineering.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe see this as the future. Everything is coding, engineering and technology, so the more they understand how these things work, the better they\u2019re prepared,\u201d said McElfresh.<\/p>\n

In the two weeks that the STEM labs has been opened more than 130 students have visited. The lab is so successful the school has decided to extend the lab hours after school.<\/p>\n

\"alt=""\"<\/a>
\n\u201cWith this classroom,\u201d Taylor said, \u201cwe find that the students are much more engaged with what they\u2019re doing, and they\u2019re coping with how to solve a problem when they\u2019re not given the answers.\u201d
\nTaylor adds she was impressed with the students\u2019 eagerness to learn.
\n\u201cWhat excites me most is the enthusiasm they have and their understanding that coding and technology provides them with the ability to pursue their dreams.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It is one thing to open up a book and see photos of a skyscraper. It is another to construct a tower from wooden blocks. This is one of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":8625,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[206],"class_list":["post-8630","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-plaza-middle-school"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8630","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8630"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8630\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8632,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8630\/revisions\/8632"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8625"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8630"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8630"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8630"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}