Caption: The Middle School STEAM Workshop class that meets during 6th period is busy planning for their next big project. [By Livia Hwang.]
This school year, PACA introduced a new class for secondary students to be added to the curriculum. It is being taught by Mrs. Livia Hwang who also teaches MakerSpace for elementary and high school Yearbook as an elective.
The new STEAM workshop class will take elements of Maker Space. According to the National Inventors Hall of fame, STEAM stands for science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics. Huang’s classes focus on these five elements.
Although no high school students are enrolled for the first semester of the sixth period elective class, Hwang is preparing already for the second semester. She plans on using different kinds of hands-on activities that all have to do with Math, Science, and Art.
She believes this class will provide bigger opportunities for high school students to see and experience new things for themselves through these projects.
She says that by the end of the semester, students will and should be able to become proficient with most of the MakerSpace tools and websites commonly used in class and be able to apply their knowledge and ideas into a final draft. They will learn about teamwork and how to collaborate in a class.
She also hopes they will understand that, when they present their projects, they can be proud of their highs, and be able to accept their failures.
In the meantime, she is teaching a middle school STEAM Workshop class that meets during 7th period. This is one of the new elective choices given to the sixth, seventh and eighth grade students at PACA.
Some exciting materials that are going to be used in the Steam Workshop elective are the 3D printer, laser cutter, chrome books, laptops, and a website where students use their electronic devices to be able to code and build things online.
“I was really excited to use the 3D printer, because when I was in 7th grade, we didn’t have access to it,” said Annabell Harper. “So, I’m really excited to use the new materials.”
Hwang explained a few things that she observed most students were curious about. She said that students want to learn about design thinking and ideation, electronics and circuit building, digital fabrication and programming/robotics.
“Something that I really enjoyed so far is making physical games based on online games. Me and my partner created a bowling game out of a bunch of cardboard, marbles and magnets to be used as miniature bowling pins,” said Grace Meier, an eighth grade student at PACA.
Hwang shared what she thinks the Steamwork Workshop class can bring to PACAs education system as a whole to our students.
“Be creative like our Creator,” said Hwang. “The class aims to foster creativity, critical thinking, and hands-on problem-solving skills through a variety of projects. Students will have the opportunity to work with various tools, materials, and technologies to bring their ideas to life.”
This reflects the values that we as PACA hold and enforce to the community and also makes known the effort that Mrs. Livia Hwang is making toward the student body here at the campus.
Video Link of their most recent project here: MS STEAM Workshop
