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LORDSTOWN -- Getting robots to move across terrain and boats to float in water are just some of the challenges local Trumbull County students are taking part in at the STEAM Powered Learning program.
Ed Mackiewicz is the STEAM coordinator and director of curriculum and instruction at the Trumbull County Educational Service Center. Mackiewicz said 170 students, in fourth through seventh grades, from 20 school districts, come to Lordstown High School on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
Mackiewicz said the program pathways students choose from are performance art, mixed media art, design challenge, engineering, coding and robotics, and aviation / drones. Each student selects two paths from September to December,
"We were able to get all the programs offered at Lordstown High School in different classrooms," he said.
For the design challenge, the students worked on a Mars rover, which they constructed to drive through sand and rocks. The students also designed and created 3D wheels for the rovers. The rovers are kits from NASA and volunteers from VISTA in Youngstown
Champion middle school students JT Grabowski, Quinn Kistler and Andrew Kish, all seventh graders, were working on rovers for the design challenge pathway.
Grabowski, who is taking part for the first time, heard about what takes place from Kistler and Kish, who have been in the program in past years.
"The activities allow you to think of what you want to do and to be creative. Sometimes you have to make changes to your idea to get something to work," Grabowski said.
"It's fun because we have creative freedoms in what we get to choose to do. I like being able to design and build," Kistler said.
She said trail and error takes place during the design-and-build process.
"You have to go back to your thought process and see what went wrong and decide what to change," Kistler said.
"Being able to make your own creative decisions is what makes this fun. It is fun to get to make different things." Kish said.
The three also learned how to construct paddle boats in the engineering pathway, which Mackiewicz said is offered for the first semester of the school year.
Sharon Arkwright, engineering instructor, said the students learn how to design a paddle boat and what they need to do to make sure it floats.
"They learn to make adjustments to their paddle boats," she said. "They have fun with being creative."
She said students work together crafting paddle boats and place them in a large tray filled with water.
"It is fun to see their ideas and then have them check to see if it works to keep the paddleboat floating," Arkwright said.
Mackiewicz said STEAM Powered Learning is a cooperative program among Trumbull County schools, and the center develops and promotes the creative talents of students.
He said instruction encourages creativity and openness of expression while stressing process development, self-assessment and evaluation.
The faculty consists of instructors who practice in their field of expertise.
Officials said the program began in 1991 as Arts / EXCEL and in 2014 was renamed STEAM to reflect the addition of technology-based programs including science, technology, engineering, art and math.
The students will show their creations at a two-day showcase set for Dec. 12 -13 at Lordstown High School.
"The students will be able to explain and demonstrate what they have learned to their families and other visitors at the showcase," he said.