The Middle Country Central School District recently hosted its 4th Annual STEM Celebration—welcoming the community to support students from each elementary school as they competed in various Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) challenges. The event opened with various STEM activities for all community members to try, including building a LEGO tower.
Every grade from all eight elementary schools received grade specific LEGO engineering and NAO Robotics programming challenges in October and worked enthusiastically to perfect their models leading up to the event. The students’ hard work culminated with presentations of their creations to a panel of expert judges from the fields of technology, engineering, architecture, business and education. Kindergarten students also participated in a DUPLO engineering challenge, the results of which were presented in video feed throughout the evening.
High school and middle school science research students were also in attendance to present their projects. They were joined by members of the middle and high school robotics competition teams who were demonstrating their award winning robots.
After the LEGO competition, students participated in the on-demand problem solving competition, during which students had to think on their feet to use certain materials to solve a given problem. Teams had 10 minutes to process the challenge, engineer a solution and build a prototype before receiving their scores.
Hawkins Path Elementary School was named the Middle Country Central School District Elementary STEM School of the Year. The District continues to provide students with educational experiences that not only actively engages them in STEM activities inside the classroom, but provides students with extracurricular opportunities such as the Annual STEM Celebration.
For more information about academic programs available at the Middle Country School District and a calendar of events, please visit www.mccsd.net. To learn more about the student experience and news from the District, you could also visit www.mymiddlecountryschools.net.