A LittleBit of STEAM

School:: Tommie Barfield Elementary
Subject:: Science
Teacher:: Mabel Pena
Students Impacted:: 65
Grade:: 5
Date:: September 10, 2016

Investor

Thank you to the following investor for funding this grant.

Suncoast Credit Union - $398.95

Impact to My Classroom

# of Students Impacted: 65

My three rotations, of 5th graders, were able to interact and enjoy learning about circuits and energy with our new Little Bits STEAM Kit. The kits were part of a "maker space" area in our classroom. Students worked in pairs or small groups to problem solve, create, and collaborate with each other. They were encouraged to explore their creative sides and use critical thinking skills to design and build a variety of electronics at different levels of complexity. For students who prefer or require a bit more guidance, challenge activity cards are provided. The cards provide students with ideas and direction in the creative building process.

Students were able to explore, tinker, and further understand the concept of energy and circuits taught in class. It encouraged a more in-depth understanding of the concept with application to common, real-life scenarios. The kits allowed for team work in conjunction with the design thinking processes and encouraged excitement about learning while building STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) knowledge and skills needed for the real world. Thank you!

A couple of the projects built are pictured.

grant photo

Original Grant Overview

Goal

The goal is to empower my students' pursuit of life-long learning and to inspire them to shape and reinvent their world through problem-solving, making, creating and collaborating with others. The purpose of littleBits is to provide a system where anyone CAN! My students will be encouraged to use critical thinking skills to build, prototype, and learn about a variety of electronics at different levels of complexity, allowing for differentiation to meet the needs of all my learners.

What will be done with my students

The littleBits kit will be housed in a special area of the classroom where students can easily access them throughout the day (including recess, before and after school). The kits will allow students to work independently, in pairs or small groups to create a variety of electronics. Students will begin by "playing" with the littleBits first. Once they understand how each module functions, they will be ready to explore and create on their own. For those students who need or prefer a little guidance, I will provide the littleBits Challenge! Challenge cards will be available to develop students' critical thinking and problem solving abilities. The activities will be structured into small tasks much the way video games challenge kids. Once students complete a level I will check their circuit. If they have solved the objective they will move on to the next level card. If they haven't they need to try again. Each student gets to work at their own pace. There are no correct circuits...only correct solutions to the problems.

Benefits to my students

These kits will benefit my students in these important ways:

*encourage exploration, tinkering & innovation
*encourage learning by doing which provides in-depth understanding of concepts with application for real-life scenarios
*encourage working in pairs or teams, littleBits facilitates interactive group problem-solving and teamwork, especially in conjunction with design thinking processes
*encourage excitement about learning while building STEM knowledge and skills needed for the real-world

Budget Narrative

These kits will provide many innovative, critical thinking opportunities for students over and over for years to come.

Items

#	Item	Cost
1	STEAM Student Set	$299.95
2	Cloud Start Bundle	$99.00
	Total:	$398.95

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