Once again, we’re excited to post some news about the recipient of the Eduporium EdTech grant for the June cycle! For this award, we've chosen Sam Yancey, a gifted education teacher in 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 teachers and camp coordinators, the work isn’t stopping for Sam simply because distance learning is complete. He’s continuing to work hard to help develop their summer STEAM program and, as a result of budget cuts, he sought some 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 we’re happy to help him and all his students—many of whom are from rural areas or qualify for Title I designation—enjoy some truly meaningful experiences over the summer.
One of Sam’s major goals now that he's received the grant is to prevent summer learning loss (something that's 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 used the week-long summer STEAM camp as a bridge to decrease the summer slide. Due to new safety concerns, however, they had to cancel the in-person offerings. Knowing its value for students, however, he and other educators remained committed to facilitating hands-on STEAM and maker learning opportunities.
Among the first things Sam realized was that kids couldn't share materials among each other due to safety concerns. However, he also wanted to make sure that those tools he provided to these students were both reusable and affordable. So, he had the idea of a take-home maker camp of sorts and decided he’d secure some comprehensive STEAM kits. He then bagged them himself and sent them off to kids' homes—a truly creative and selfless display.
Sam also committed to ensuring this experience—as valuable as it is—was free for every student and their families. Deciding that applying for a grant was the way to go and having a good idea of what STEAM tools he’d like to use, Sam applied for our grant and ultimately decided on requesting some Strawbees kits from our store. Once receiving the kits, he’ll separate components to prepare bags with connectors, straws, and maker cards for kids to use.
Sam likes the Strawbees kits since they are very open-ended and help challenge students to find creative solutions to problems. Since these 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. They'll be creating their own versions of a bridge, catapult, or geometric shape using the included components.
Sam is also planning on providing students with links to Screencastify video tutorials on using Strawbees kits at home. He's also considering providing live support during the making process and including guides for anybody who cannot access the Internet. With this opportunity, Sam's hoping to encourage imaginative inventing and pockets of creative design in each of his students. He is even thinking about how he can cap the program off with a virtual maker competition at the end!
And, if he needs any other ideas for new projects using Strawbees pieces, Sam has a pretty big list going! He’s thinking about how kids could leverage them to explore important topics, like wind energy, by building models and designs. He even said he eventually hopes to have students build models of solar arrays, solar panels, and water-powered hydraulic systems. He may even try out having them pair Strawbees inventions with a micro:bit and program their functions remotely using MakeCode—something he discovered is very possible while looking for new STEAM lessons for remote learning.
Sam dislikes how because his district is located in a rural, mountainous area, limitations exist on students' STEAM experiences. Through this opportunity, he hopes to ensure kids can access the same experiences as others in urban and suburban areas. Despite some barriers, including schools shutting down, Sam has continued to find creative ways of providing these opportunities for children—something that we certainly recognize and everyone can appreciate!
We congratulate Sam on receiving this month’s grant and can’t wait to see how the camp goes throughout the summer! If you're interested in our next grant opportunity, the application for July 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. You'll even find information on projects from educators who have received our grant in the past!