JEROMESVILLE — Dave Baker stood at the front of a classroom right off the library at Hillsdale Local Schools.
He was surrounded by machines, built out of K’nex building blocks. A ferris wheel spun, a car worked its way up and down a roller coaster and all the machines made a slight “whirring” noise.
Painted gears covered the walls, emblazoned with words like “tinker,” “innovate” and “design.”
Baker started Friday’s class period telling fifth graders about basic engineering principles and the six types of machines. Then, he handed out buckets of popsicle sticks to each table of students.
He tasked the class with building a structure out of the popsicle sticks. Each student had to build their own part, and then they were supposed to stack it. The goal: to make the tallest popsicle stick building.
Once students began to build, Baker wandered the classroom offering feedback.
Baker is no stranger to teaching. He spent 45 years in the classroom before retiring for a couple years. Now he’s out of retirement and back to the classroom again, heading up Hillsdale’s new STEAM classes.
What is STEAM?
STEAM is an acronym that stands for “Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math.”
According to the Institute for Arts Integration and STEAM, there have long been efforts to offer more STEM programs in schools. But, the institute argues, incorporating “art” into that approach is key.
The future requires education in science, technology, engineering and math, along with “application, creation and ingenuity,” the institute’s website states.
Other schools in the area are working on similar efforts to move toward “STEAM.” St. Edward School, for instance, emphasized “STREAM” education — adding in the “r” for “religion” — when the school began a year-long NASA science program last fall.
Baker is teaching STEAM courses for Hillsdale’s fourth through eighth grade students this year. For the courses offered to seventh and eighth graders, he’s joined by Hillsdale’s talent development coordinator, Andrew Lewellen.
It’s the first time the courses have been offered in the district, according to Supt. Catherine Trevathan.
“The idea is we want to start STEAM and become a STEAM district,” Baker said.
What will the classes cover?
According to Baker, he has carts with STEAM materials available for kindergarten through fourth grade students. Those carts include materials like Legos, a Hot Wheels track and cars, PVC pipes and connectors and more.
Fourth, fifth and sixth graders will have a period of STEAM education with him once a week to start their involvement in the program.
The curriculum for them includes learning about the six simple machines, what STEAM stands for, building for strength and stability and several basic engineering principles.
Seventh and eighth graders build on those basics, Baker said. For STEAM, the elective course lasts for a quarter of the school year.
Seventh and eighth graders get to work with hand tools in STEAM. They also learn to use equipment like 3-D printers and an engraver, along with skills like computer graphics and TV production.
For now, STEAM classes only cater to students through the eighth grade. But Baker said he’s working on developing course proposals to offer for high school students in the future.
Those course proposals include robotics, a drone licensure program and a course that will give students a chance to hone their STEAM skills and use power tools.
Why STEAM?
During his lesson Friday, students experimented to find the best way to build the tallest popsicle stick structure. Each group had different approaches to building a strong base.
Willow Rieck’s group, for example, used a lattice pattern to build a popsicle stick base, and then to build different sections taller.
Kylie Matheny, another one of their group members, said just making a stack of the popsicle sticks would’ve caused them to topple. It’s all about the base, Lacey Power said.
But more than just building the tower, the fifth graders said they enjoyed the opportunities to be creative, hands-on and to collaborate with friends as they worked.
“I knew it’d be fun, but not this fun,” said Kennedy Hagenbaugh, the fourth member of the group.
That’s what STEAM is about, according to Baker. It allows students to be hands-on and to demonstrate their knowledge in a different way than other classes might.
All of that is important for students, both at school and for their futures.
“We’re training kids for jobs that don’t exist yet,” Baker said.
In his estimation, STEAM can broaden their future opportunities — all while offering them hands-on fun.