This particular class, dubbed \u201cSMATH,\u201d is one of four strands offered. Other classes are engineering\/product development, coding and robotics, and literacy and technology.<\/p>\n \u201cThe STEM camp is really project-based learning,\u201d said Tori Beck, math specialist at Bayside Middle School, one of the camp\u2019s two onsite coordinators.<\/p>\n \u201cThey are using their hands. They are working collaboratively with other students in other groups. They are learning through doing,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n According to students, that\u2019s part of the appeal of this three-week camp.<\/p>\n \u201cI think it\u2019s fun that we can build with our hands,\u201d said Bayside Middle School rising eighth-grader Gabrielle Williams. She was building a small vehicular robot with four female classmates.<\/p>\n Tablemate Kristal Willoughby, a rising seventh-grader at Bayside Middle School, said that she had never had the opportunity to assemble robots before.<\/p>\n \u201cYou have to wire stuff,\u201d she stated. \u201cYou have to put stuff together and usually I don\u2019t build stuff. It comes built or my parents do it. I have helped, but I have never built something on my own from scratch.\u201d<\/p>\n Next door, rising sixth-grader Brooke Nicholas, who aspires to be a nurse practitioner, realizes the importance of the skills they are learning.<\/p>\n \u201cA nurse practitioner needs to know science,\u201d Nicholas said. She was in the midst of assembling a boat capable of sustaining the most possible marbles while in water. \u201cThe project is not necessarily about building a boat, but about problem solving.\u201d<\/p>\n Back in the SMATH class where students were measuring solvents to determine which methods would best solve the oil spill problem, rising eight-graders Aidan Bubb and Hiba Aslam concurred with Nicholas\u2019 assessment.<\/p>\n \u201cIt shows us life skills and it\u2019s a fun experiment that we can do,\u201d Bubb shared.<\/p>\n \u201cI get to work with things I haven\u2019t seen before and I have a better understanding of them.\u201d<\/p>\n Teachers are also finding new ways to incorporate technology with literacy, according to Bayside Middle School English teacher Jacob Griffon.<\/p>\n \u201cStudents are learning how to program their Sphero robots to do movements and actions by using block coding,\u201d Griffon said. \u201cOnce they code the blocks, they hit a button and a separate window opens which shows them JavaScript.\u201d<\/p>\n According to Griffon, being able to see JavaScript familiarizes students with HTML, the web programming language known as coding.<\/p>\n \u201cSlowly, they can learn to write out code,\u201d Griffon stated. \u201cIt\u2019s another way of thinking about writing and reading. Language is all coded. It\u2019s symbolic.\u201d He adds that his hope is that this activity sparks students\u2019 interest in technology jobs.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s our inaugural year of the camp and we\u2019ve made science, technology, engineering and even literacy a part of every day to make students more inquisitive about solving everyday problems,\u201d said co-onsite coordinator Jennifer Morris, who is a literacy coach at Bayside Middle School during the school year.<\/p>\n To ramp up the excitement right from the start, the 50 enrolled students went on three field trips during the camp\u2019s first week. They went to the Virginia Beach Technical and Career Education Center<\/a> so students could see the multiple academic pathways the school division offers; to iFly where they learned about the math and science behind flying; and to Mount Trashmore where they made kites out of recyclable materials.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/IMG_3875.jpg\")
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