Happy Holidays
December 2017
New Developments in NP STEM
This newsletter will highlight these new courses and some additional recent developments. Enjoy!
New STEM Rooms
For a quick tour of the STEM rooms and the additional new facilities at all the schools, please view the video below. Thank you to everyone who voted for the Bond Referendum that enabled this process.
K-6 STEM
In addition, extracurricular STEM clubs are open to 3rd through 6th graders at both elementary schools
MS Robotics
MS JR Engineering and Waterbotics
Robotics has been modified to include Waterbotics, a program developed by Stevens Institute of Technology and PSE&G that engages students in a series of design challenges or "missions". These missions gradually increase in complexity and ultimately lead to the design of a fully functional underwater robot capable of maneuvering in a three foot deep pool. The program reinforces the concept of iterative design and demonstrates the value of testing and redesign.
JR Engineering is an inquiry-based course that encourages students to solve authentic, real-world, integrated engineering challenges by
- conceptualizing, building, and testing concrete models of solutions
Working collaboratively to critique and build on their peers’ ideas
Communicating and defending solutions based on evidence.
Students Discuss the STEM Courses
HS Aerospace Engineering and Environmental Sustainability
Aerospace Engineering gives students the opportunity to explore the fundamentals of atmospheric and space flight by exploring the physics of flight. Students bring the concepts to life by designing an airfoil, propulsion system, and rockets. They learn basic orbital mechanics using industry-standard software and explore robot systems by designing and programming remotely operated vehicles.
Environmental Sustainability allows students to investigate three real-world challenges:
- How to provide clean and abundant drinking water.
- How to design a system to provide an adequate food supply to impoverished areas.
- How best to harness and use renewable energy.
Through a series of hands-on activities and simulations, students apply their knowledge to research and design potential solutions to these true-to-life challenges.
Week of Code
- Technology Industry specialists from Barclays visited Salt Brook school to help 4th graders code using Scratch programming.
- The K-6 STEM teachers worked with the 5th and 6th-grade students to code Dash robots and then explain their work to Kindergarten students by playing a coded 'Hot Potato' game.
- High school students from the Computer Science course visited the elementary schools and helped elementary students with programming languages and Dash robot programming.
STEM Competitions
In the Hydrogen Fuel Cell Competition, New Providence was awarded second place for documentation and fourth place for their overall design of their cars.
News Channel WMBC was there to record the event and produced the news segment below.
Professional Development
Stevens Institute visited New Providence and worked with both K-6 and 5-8 teachers on the incorporation of the Next Generation Science Standards engineering practices into the Science and STEM programs.