Science, technology, engineering and math merged with physical education during “STEM in the Gym” at Three Oaks Elementary School on May 3.
The school’s health and physical education team, including PE teacher Nick Jensen, organized activities to foster real-world learning and show a relationship between science and physical education.
“Our goal is to introduce and reinforce STEM concepts,” Jensen said. “Students see, feel and experience how those concepts enhance sports performance and how the world around us works.”
Most of the school’s approximately 700 students in kindergarten through fifth grade visited the gym during their regularly scheduled physical education class time.
Wide-eyed fourth graders didn’t waste any time dispersing between the 17 stations and gleefully moving from one activity to the next.
The gym sounded like a carnival as shrills, cheers and laughs echoed throughout.
Many gravitated toward the Sphero Bolt area, where they were introduced to computational thinking skills and coding concepts. After designing a track, they used iPads as remote controls to drive the small coding robotic ball from one point to another.
Fifth graders, including Mia Williams and Lovelyn Cady, served as station volunteers for the younger grades.
“Teaching and leading the stations helped reinforce the concept better to them,” Jensen said.
Mia and Lovelyn showed Ainsley Kennedy how to build an atom-shaped structure out of hula hoops and asked her to draw a card. The card instructed Ainsley to make a carbon molecule. She reached into a basket and chose the correct number of neutrons, protons and surrounding electrons.
“This is cool” Ainsley said. She is in her school’s robotics club and said she enjoys learning how things work.
Nearby, Brooke Zorotrian threw a ball at a target, while a classmate pointed a radar gun at the ball and squeezed the trigger to measure velocity. Brooke smiled after learning her ball travelled at 27 miles per hour.
“I like mathematics a lot, and also engineering and science,” she said, adding that she plans to become a dermatologist.
Aiden Pardekooper hit a wiffle ball off a tee at the Newton’s Second Law of Motion station. He knew about the law, which states “to move a mass, you need a force.” He is a pitcher, shortstop and third baseman on a local baseball team. Solid baseballs travel farther, he explained. “The wiffle ball doesn’t go as far and is harder to hit because it’s hollow.”
Students launched balls with large bands in the trajectory area. Two held the band, one at each end, while another loaded the balls and pulled back to create tension before letting them fly.
Figuring out the correct angle and speed was important to successfully knocking down the stacked buckets.
Other stations provided students the opportunity to learn about centripetal force by spinning a basketball on a finger. They studied aerodynamics and inertia through making and flying paper airplanes, and explored kinetic energy by bouncing a ball into a cup.
Barb Anderson, whose grandson is a Three Oaks Elementary third grader, volunteered at the event. She spent 35 years as a Virginia Beach City Public Schools teacher and retired 11 years ago.
She said “STEM in the Gym” provided students the chance to have fun and explore on their own with a little guidance.
“The children are excited about all types of science concepts,” she said. “This is amazing.”
