Once again, we’re excited to share some news about the recipient of the Eduporium EdTech grant for the month of June! For this month’s award, we have chosen Sam Yancey, a gifted education teacher with the Haywood County School District in North Carolina! Sam is an avid lover of STEAM education and has used an extensive list of EdTech tools with the elementary students he works with across eight different schools. And, while the summer has typically been a time for them to continue STEAM education efforts, he had to help come up with a new way to do so this year.
Like many other educators and summer camp coordinators, the work isn’t stopping for Sam just because the last day of distance learning has passed. He’s continuing to work hard to help develop their summer STEAM program and, as a result of funding cuts, he sought out grant opportunities to help make this year’s program as successful as possible. Of course, that led him to apply for our monthly grant opportunity and now we’re happy to help provide him and his students—many of whom are from rural areas and qualify for Title I designation—with some meaningful experiences over the summer.
One of Sam’s major goals now that he's received our grant is to prevent summer learning loss (something that has become a bigger challenge due to the three months students spent learning from home) and create a smoother transition for when the time comes for them to return to the classroom. He typically had been able to use the week-long summer STEAM camp as a sort of bridge to decrease the summer slide, but, due to safety concerns, they had to cancel the in-person offering. Knowing how valuable this experience has been for students, however, he and some fellow educators remained committed to facilitating quality, hands-on opportunities for STEAM and maker learning.
Among the first things Sam realized was that students would not be able to share materials between each other due to safety concerns. However, he also wanted to make sure that the tools he provided to the students were both reusable and affordable. So, he came up with the idea of a take-home maker camp of sorts and decided he’d secure some comprehensive STEAM kits that he’d go on to bag up himself and send to students for them to use at home—a truly creative and selfless show of commitment!
Sam also remained committed to ensuring this experience—as valuable as it is—remained free for each student and their families. Deciding that applying for a grant was the way to go and having an idea of what STEAM tools he’d like to use, Sam applied for our grant and ultimately decided on requesting some Strawbees kits from us. Once receiving the kits, he’ll start separating the components and prepare bags that include connectors, straws, and the various maker cards for kids to use at home!
Sam was drawn to the Strawbees kits due to the fact that they’re very open-ended and can be used to challenge kids to find creative solutions to problems. Since the challenge cards don’t provide explicit instructions for specific projects, but rather, more general guidance, he feels it will really help stretch their creativity when challenged to create their own versions of a bridge, catapult, or geometric shape using the included components.
Sam is also planning on providing his students with links to Screencastify video tutorials on using Strawbees kits at home. He is also considering providing live support to students while they’re engaged in the making process and including printed guidance for any students who are unable to connect to the Internet. With this new opportunity, Sam is hoping he’ll be able to encourage imaginative inventing and pockets of creative design in each one of his students, even thinking about how he could cap the program off with a virtual maker competition at the end!
And, if he needs any other ideas for further projects using Strawbees, Sam has a pretty good list going! He’s thinking about how students can use the Strawbees pieces and other maker materials to explore important topics, like wind energy, by building various models and designs. He even said he eventually hopes to have students build models of solar arrays, solar panels, water-powered hydraulic systems, and more and might try having them pair their Strawbees inventions with a micro:bit and program their functions remotely using MakeCode—something he discovered is possible while looking for new STEAM lessons that can be done remotely!
For Sam, the fact that his district is located in a rural, mountainous area and limitations are often placed on STEAM experiences for students isn’t something he wants to continue. Through the opportunity he’s been awarded as part of this grant, he is truly hoping to ensure that his students are afforded the same learning experiences as students in urban and suburban areas. Despite some barriers, including schools shutting down, Sam has continued to find creative ways of providing these opportunities for his students—something that we certainly recognize and everyone can appreciate!
We congratulate Sam on being selected as this month’s grant recipient and can’t wait to see how the camp goes this summer! If you are interested in applying for our next grant opportunity, the application for the July award is now open and you can apply here. The deadline to apply is July 20 and we’d certainly encourage anyone who’s interested to apply! Be sure to follow us on Twitter and Instagram as well to find updates on Sam’s project and information on projects from educators who have received our grant in the past!