WHAT IS STEAM
St. Benedict's Episcopal School's STEAM program is a transformative educational experience, offering a multitude of benefits and exciting highlights for our students. By integrating Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics into classes, our program provides a well-rounded experience that fosters creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills. Through hands-on projects, students are empowered to explore their passions and develop a deep understanding of real-world applications.
"It's amazing to see how much our students have grown and how much they've learned in just two years of STEAM implementation. I'm excited to see where they'll take their education in the future."
Mr. Chris Scandrett
Interdisciplinary STEAM Director
WHY STEAM
Our goal at St. B's is to prepare our scholars for a growing STEAM job market and to increase diversity in STEAM by exposing minorities and girls to STEAM educational content.
Students at St. Benedict's engage in immersive STEAM activities, challenges, experiments, and experiences that are intentionally created to align topics, themes, and storybooks with essential questions (that promote higher-level thinking), educational standards (state, federal, & institutional), real-world issues (such as climate change & sustainability), and cross-curricular concepts (such as a science experiment with undertones of engineering and math), ultimately resulting in student-led learning that captivates student's attention and enhances the overall classroom experience.
In 2020, St. Benedict's received a Goizueta Grant totaling $500,000 to fully fund an integrated STEAM program with state-of-the-art technologies and an interdisciplinary STEAM Specialist. STEAM integration is now fully incorporated in every classroom at St. Benedict's, beginning in preschool through eighth grade. The program also benefits the wider community, offering STEAM-focused summer camps that expose resources that may not otherwise be available to them.
OUR STEAM STORY
OUR STEAM STANDARDS
STANDARD 1
Young learners engage in integrated STEM curricula that emphasizes STEM practices and makes connections between the STEM disciplines.
STANDARD 2
Professional staff members implement high-quality STEM courses and curricula aligned to recognized standards and organized into interdisciplinary frameworks.
STANDARD 3
Professional staff members and leaders participate in an ongoing system of STEM-specific professional learning.
STANDARD 4
Leaders engage a diverse network of community partners and stakeholders in order to support and sustain STEM programs and initiatives.
STANDARD 5
Leaders ensure that all stakeholders have ongoing opportunities to access information and learn about STEM implementation.
STANDARD 6
Young learners engage both independently and collaboratively in an environment that encourages exploration and finding answers to questions about the real world.
STANDARD 7
Young learners are encouraged and supported to engage in self-directed STEM learning experiences guided by professional staff members who are effective facilitators of learning.
STANDARD 8
Learners benefit from a formal structure of within-school and extracurricular opportunities to extend STEM learning.
STANDARD 9
Young learners demonstrate their learning through ongoing, authentic, performance-based assessments and explanations of their thinking.
STANDARD 10
Young learners demonstrate developmentally appropriate STEM literacy outcomes that prepare them for the next level of STEM learning.
ENGAGE IN STEAM AT HOME
Make a Pinwheel
CLICK HERE TO PRINT AND DOWNLOAD PDF THEN FOLLOW INSTRUCTIONS BELOW
Materials:
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Straight Straw
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Coloring Utensils
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Push Pin
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Scissors
Steps:
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Color inside the squares.
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Cut on the grey lines & dashed lines.
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Fold the corners in, the black dots should overlap.
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Push a pin through all of the black dots and into the straw.
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Test your pinwheel!
Did You Know:
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Wind is the movement of air caused by differences in air pressure and air temperature.
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A gust is a short burst of wind!
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Winds have different strengths. You can have a breeze, gale, storm or hurricane.
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Wind direction is measured with a wind vane.
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Anemometers are used to measure wind speed.
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Other planets have wind too! Did you know that Saturn and Neptune have the fastest winds in our Solar System?
HOW PARENTS CAN
GET INVOLVED
Parents can recycle, clean, and donate the following items:
Paper Towel Rolls
Clean Cardboard Boxes
Sanitized Egg Cartons
Wine Corks
Paper Packaging
Plastic Bottles
Ziploc Bags
