Noxon students showcase learning through projects

When it comes to creative innovation, Noxon Public School rocks! Noxon's first annual S.T.E.A.M. Showcase was bustling with excitement earlier this month as the entire elementary school (K-6) and teachers exhibited their projects in the school's gym. The projects were done over a two-month period.

Elementary Science teacher and STEAM Showcase Director, Vanessa Ramsey, said that the event was a huge success. "With the support of our superintendent, Dave Whitesell, our school board and Noxon's teachers, we launched an annual tradition of students engaged in project-based learning in the fields of science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics."

The kindergarten class and first graders both did class projects. Libby Swanson's kindergarten undertook Scientific Investigations and Lara Oldenburg's first grade class pursued Engineering. Grades 2-6 either paired up in teams or embarked on an individual project. The students were grouped by category in the gym and each category subsequently judged. The categories were: Scientific Investigations, Technology, Engineering: Reverse Engineering and Inventions and Art.

Swanson's Kindergarten class tackled the question, "How does light affect different materials?" Swanson said the project was, "fun, organized chaos that came together in the end."

Second grader Lena Oldenburg worked on the question, "What makes ice melt faster," in the Scientific Investigations category. When asked what she learned, Oldenburg said, "You need to crush the de-icer." And using a mortar and pestle Oldenburg did just that.

Some of the projects were tasty as well as scientific, like fifth graders Lilly Sherrill and Aspen Webster's project, who demonstrated that in, "The Science of Sourdough." Sherrill said that her favorite part was baking the bread and Webster said that hers was mixing the dough, adding that, "if the dough is too runny you can add flour."

Then there were the projects that sped across the gym floor, like third graders Miles Mercer and Garrett Schwier's Aircar and Dallas Mann and Garrett Brown's Balloon powered car, in the engineering category. Brown said that, "engineering is hard'' and "you won't get it on the first try." Some changes that Mercer and Schwier made to their model were: changed from a three bottle body to a one bottle body, changed from cardboard wheels to jar lid wheels and added two plastic straws with wooden sticks for axles.

Some students took you on a voyage to space as fifth grader Madison Thompson did in her venture of the solar system, where she learned that,"more than two planets have rings." Fifth grader Danni Hill's, "The Outer Space," explored questions like, "Why Pluto is a dwarf planet."

Sixth graders Nevea Christensen and Ava Jensen co-engineered "The Missis Gadget Box," for some organized grooming, with a place for hair brushes, toothpaste and perfume, as well as a drawer for accessories.

One student came up with an invention that may come in handy for opening that hard to open sparkling cider bottle. Tracker invented an industrial style cork opener. "First it didn't work out well. I changed the mechanics to make the project work, in fact," he added, "I changed the project a lot to make it work."

Then came the hard part, the judging. Lisa Taylor, a speech therapist at the school and judge said, "A lot of the kids have spent hours and hours and it's hard to compare because they're all so different."

Some of the things the eight judges had to look at were: Problem being solved and background research, labeled design sketches, prototype test steps and results, changes and re-design, and oral presentation of their project. Judge Whitesell said, "It was very enjoyable to hear about kids working the scientific process."

Ramsey said that these STEAM projects integrate many cross-curricular concepts and skills. "Students engage in the scientific and engineering processes, learning problem solving, critical thinking and creativity. I envision continuing our S.T.E.M. Showcase in the future and plan to expand to middle school next year. The goal is to increase our technology and engineering projects with expanded computer coding and LEGO Robotics."

The results of the competition are as follows:

K-3 Scientific Investigations: first place, "What Makes Ice Melt Faster?" Lena Oldenburg; second place, "Slime Chemistry," Autumn Abramoff;third place, "How Does Light Affect Different Materials?" Mrs. Swanson's Kindergarten class.

Grade 4-6 Scientific Investigations: first place, "The Grossness of Bathrooms," Kaylie Mercer; second place, "Cookies, Eggs or No Eggs?" Breyah Torrey.

K-3 Engineering: first place, "Air Car- It is Powered by Air!" Miles Mercer and Garrett Schwier; second place, "Communicating with Light and Sound," Mrs. Oldenburg's first grade class; third place, "Crawdad Chop House," Parker Mercer and Ryker Hill.

Grades 4-6 Engineering: first place, "Cork Opener," Tracker Scarlett; second place, "Reverse Engineering an Antique Receipt Machine," Brielle MacArthur; third place, "The Missis Gadget Box," Neveah Christensen and Ava Jensen.

K-3 Technology: first place, "Coding with Skratch - Animal Animation," Tig Torrey and Daphne Gunn; second place, "Coding a Dance Party," Lainey Erwin and Aubriana Christensen; third place, "Coding a Dance Party," Giada Viviano.

Grades 4-6 Technology: first place, " ADN537 - Coding an EV3 LEGO Mindstorm Robot," Abel Jensen, Micah Hartman and Dominic Ainor-Silver; second place, "Coding an EV3 LEGO Mindstorm Robot," Mikeal Kair, Asher Hartman and Vance Brown; third place,"Coding a Sphero Robot to Roll Through a Maze," Judah Dulaney.

K-3 Art: first place, How Does baking Soda Make Cake Rise?, Kilah Brown; second place, "Horse Sketch Comparing," Laylana Mercer; third place, "Glow Yoda," Annabelle Torrey.

Grades 4-6 Art: first place, "The Science of Sourdough," Aspen Webster and Lilly Sherrill; second place, "The Outer Space," Danni Hill; third place, "Bendy Sketch," Bradley Alexander.