Middle School STEAM Lab

 

Beginning in 5th grade, a STEAM lab class gives students the opportunity to use Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math in real-life applications.  Exciting build challenges make learning fun and relevant.

 

Our theme for the 2022-2023 school year is Transportation.  Students will begin the year learning about internal combustion engines and will take apart and put back together lawn mower engines.  They will move on to electric cars and will design their own car on our professional-grade CAD software.  After measuring and designing all of the functional parts, students will print their body with our 3D printer and then will build the electrical circuit to make it go.  All cars must move at least 10 feet by their own power, and we'll have an endurance race across our parking lot.  After the electric car project, we will move to space travel.  Students will design and build their own model rocket from scratch, including modeling and printing the nose cones, fins, and engine mounts.  We will use computer software to calculate the center of gravity and center of pressure and will test these with tools and a wind tunnel to ensure that our rockets are safe to fly.  This project will culminate with students launching their rockets in our field.