Harmony Grove Middle School fourth grade gifted and talented students, along with gifted and talented students from Dawson co-op schools, participated in the Optimum STEAM day, held at ASU TR on Friday. Students worked in teams to build moon rovers and space colonies out of Lego bricks. Lieutenant Colonel Tony Gatlin, U.S. Air Force, retired, was a special guest for the day. In addition to his many years of serving our country, Mr. Gatlin is also a Lego Master! He brought several of his amazing space-themed Lego creations to share with the students to inspire them. Along with sharing his passion for Lego building, he also talked to the students about the joy of using their imaginations when building with Lego bricks. Ms. Shawn Ducré-Jackson, marketing business manager for Optimum helped award prizes and was so thrilled to see the students’ creativity shine. Optimum continued their support of our challenge days by awarding a $500 grant to pay for all the supplies, snacks, and prizes for the day.
Throughout the event, students worked in cooperative teams composed of students from other schools rather than from their home district. The STEAM challenge gave students the opportunity to work on both “soft skills” and STEAM skills. After several fun icebreakers to help everyone get to know each other better, each team received a bag with Lego bricks and a few other basic supplies. They could also choose from styrofoam balls, pipe cleaners, streamers, and colored paper to enhance their colonies. Even though they were given the same supplies, each team designed a one-of-a-kind moon rover and space colony. Teams tested their rovers on the Optimum ramp to see how far they would travel over different terrains. Prizes were awarded in five categories: team spirit, best use of resources, farthest traveling rover, most detailed theme, and judges’ choice. Along with Mr. Gatlin and Ms. Ducré-Jackson, staff members from ASU TR also served as judges. They visited each team to hear students explain the engineering design process involved in building their moon rover and space colony and helped with the award presentations. Students made lots of new friends and worked hard building their designs. All the students are looking forward to returning for next year’s Optimum STEAM Challenge!
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