Little Britain Elementary students lead the way in a STEM adventure

Students at Little Britain Elementary are proving that STEM learning can be both playful and impactful. Through the Project Lead The Way (PLTW) initiative, students of all ages are gaining advanced technology skills while strengthening their creative and critical thinking abilities.

PLTW, an American nonprofit organization, develops STEM curricula for grades K-12, empowering students to become creators rather than mere consumers of technology. 

As Principal Christopher Barrie noted, “Project Lead The Way is dear to my heart. It encourages students to think critically and utilize resources to solve problems and find solutions.”

Recently, Little Britain received a $5,000 grant that will help fund the program for the upcoming year, including teacher training and supplies, as they plan to expand their initiatives.

Art teacher Julie Boylan and librarian Kaitlin Wood have been guiding fourth and fifth grade students through detailed, multi-stage projects from animation to robotics for the past several weeks. Each lesson begins with an engaging scenario that students must address creatively and practically. 

Fourth graders tackled boredom by designing digital games for two children waiting at a bus stop.

They considered critical questions: “What need are we fulfilling?” and “What makes a solution successful?” Students then investigated potential solutions, brainstormed original ideas and created detailed sketches.

Their design process followed several stages: Ask, Explore, Model, Evaluate and Explain. Students also learned the basics of computing systems, including hardware, software and even the binary system, preparing them to create their own programs using a block-based coding language.

To bring their visions to life, students use Scratch, visual programming software that helps young learners develop interactive games and animations. While the work is highly technical, the students have infused their projects with vivid imagination.

For example, fourth grader Tahlia Johnson has been diligently working on both programming her game and creating the world in which it takes place. Her main character, Fredrick, faces various challenges as he gathers all the necessities to cook an egg.

“Fredrick wants to make an egg because he’s hungry, but he’s missing his mouth and eyes,” Tahlia explained. “As you go through each level, he earns the tools and parts he needs.” 

Meanwhile, fifth graders have been exploring robotics and automation. They began their unit by studying the history and diverse applications of robotics, particularly as a solution for tasks hazardous to humans.

Inspired by a story featuring three characters who use robots to clean up a nuclear plant after a natural disaster, this project invited students to design, build and test their own robotic solutions in a situation of their choice. 

As part of the process, students split into teams and were assigned specific roles such as project manager, builder, designer, coder and researcher. 

One team, “The Fantastic Five,” programmed their robot, Leonardo, to help clean up Canadian wildfires. As the coder, Daniel used software known as Blockly to guide Leonardo’s cleanup efforts from his computer screen.

“My favorite part has definitely been designing the robot,” Isla, the team’s builder, explained. “We came up with many ideas, and even though most of them didn’t work at first, we eventually figured out the one we felt was the best.”

Other innovative designs included robots responsible for cleaning up after hurricanes and historical disasters like the Nagasaki explosion. 

Both fourth and fifth graders are in the testing phases of their projects and plan to present their innovative solutions in front of the class later this week.

Whether coding imaginative games or engineering disaster response robots, Little Britain Elementary students are gaining skills for success.