WATERTOWN — Students at St. Stephen’s Armenian Elementary School’s Annual STEM week, held April 3-7, participated in a variety of enrichment activities in science, technology, engineering and math.
On April 3, students in Grades K-5 participated in a Robotics Day with the help of parent volunteers. KIBO robots provided students with the experience of sequencing blocks to command a robot to move through an obstacle course. Students in Grades 3-5 explored with WeDo Lego robots by choosing or drawing a figure and programming it to move in specific ways. Scratch Jr. was introduced to students in Grades K-2 as they were able to learn how to program a figure to interact with other figures and their environment.
On Tuesday, April 4, students experienced The Whale Mobile and explored the anatomy, habitat, behaviors, and feeding habits of various species of whales. Using sounds, videos, images and whale teeth, students learned about how scientists study Humpback whales and had an opportunity to go inside a life size model of a whale to learn about how whales and humans are similar and different.
The next day, classes were combined to solve Math Challenges. The Kindergarteners and first graders collected data from the student body about their favorite ice cream flavors to understand which are the most popular at St. Stephen’s. The second and third grade students paired up to explore concepts around adding and solving problems using monetary denominations, and the fourth and fifth graders were tasked to build a vacation resort taking financial planning into account.
On Thursday, students displayed their Science Fair Projects. Third, fourth, and fifth graders were interviewed by a group of volunteer parents. Open viewing of projects took place at the end of the day from 2:30-3 p.m.
On Friday, students participated in an Hour of Code activity in the computer lab which gave them more practice with computer coding.
