Celebrating STEM

Students in Dana Hall’s computer science classes celebrated Computer Science Education Week — occurring December 5-11 — by showcasing recent work.

On Thursday, students in Principles in Engineering worked on their Real World Vehicles Project using the Lego Mindstorms EV3 Robots. They are programming their vehicles to use various sensors to help them navigate a maze. Part of the requirements for the assignment is that the students must include similar features of a real world vehicle, such as cruise control or active lane change assist.

On Friday, Engineer and Computer Science faculty member Mike Roam’s Foundations in Computer Science class and Engineering and Computer Science Department Head Pat Townsend’s Introduction to Computer Science in Python class combined to do a coding activity with the 5th grade.

“It’s wonderful to observe the students having fun while encouraging other girls, who are still underrepresented in STEM disciplines, to learn how to code,” Townsend said.

Mr. Roam’s students taught their 5th grade partners some Scratch commands based on a project they have been working on. Ms. Townsend’s students shared the individual creative projects they recently completed. The group ended the class playing interactive Python activities. One Upper Schooler shared about her experience with the younger students: “They were cute, fun, nice — and caught on faster than I expected!”

When asked why it’s important to hold coding activities for other students, another Upper Schooler shared, “We should show girls they can do it, affirming our place in computer science, which has been a white male dominated field,” she said.