Engineering challenges are starting again! If you come onto campus during the daytime, you might see 8th grade students testing their egg drop parachutes from the 2nd floor of the STEAM building, students in the Makerspace building robotics using TETRIX or Legos, or our elementary students building scientific contraptions using basic supplies. Our amazing 5th graders in Mr. Christopher Lee’s class recently explored how to tell time by engineering sundials. Students studied the challenge of telling time from a reliable source, planned how to measure time using shadows from the students, and built working sundials using materials from ASA’s Makerspace. Just like real scientists and engineers, they took their devices out into the fields to test and improve them. Well done ASA 5th graders!

The Makerspace can also be used to create inspiration and focus for Humanities projects. ASA students spend many class sessions developing their writing skills through conversations, writing, re-writing, sharing, and presenting. But sometimes this isn’t enough to inspire the right kind of vocabulary that brings a story to life. Our 5th graders decided to come to the Makerspace and build diorama models for their current stories to inspire their writing practices. These visual models allow them to both reflect on a key scene in their story by building it as well as use the model to inspire deeper description and characterization. This is a unique combination of Humanities and STEAM that several elementary school teachers are championing this year to support the integration of the different class subjects. Well done 5th graders for leading the way for all ASA elementary students!

ath is an essential component of STEAM learning and a key skill to be successful in the 21st century. Students from Ms. Ohs middle school math class visited classmates in the elementary to co-teach and mentor the concepts of place value. This example of community building and peer instruction is exactly what we value here at ASA and is aligned with our whole school goals for this year. When students teach each other, they not only give back to their community but solidify their understanding of the concept themselves. Well done ASA middle school students and looking forward to seeing you supporting our elementary students well into the future!

10th grade chemistry has been doing flame tests this week to determine element identity based on color wavelengths.  When electrons fall from their excited state to their ground state they emit light in the form of colors based on energy released, so 10th graders were measuring the energy released and using it to identify metals! With the completion of the STEAM building and the hiring of a STEAM Lab assistant, ASA science teachers are able to provide a comprehensive suite of labs that meet national criteria and Advanced Placement standards. While ASA still uses the collection of virtual labs adopted during the pandemic, these are no replacement for the hands-on learning experience that authentic science labs provide students. 

Students in 5th grade have been building interactive models to demonstrate the water cycle as a scientific phenomenon. The water cycle shows the continuous movement of water within the Earth and atmosphere. It is a complex system that includes many different processes. Liquid water evaporates into water vapor, condenses to form clouds, and precipitates back to earth in the form of rain and snow. When students build models to represent complex phenomenon, they are able to break a large problem down into smaller components and analyze how they fit together. This project-based learning approach aligns with elementary maker experiences and encourages students to use basic household supplies and materials to represent STEM and STEAM ideas. Well done 5th graders!

The Makerspace at ASA is combining literacy and STEAM together! Recently the grade 4 Spanish students recently visited the makerspace to build kites as a connection to their literacy project. Students were reading the book “Butterfly Wings” and started a inquiry discussion on how do butterflies and kites fly in the air. Using the ASA Design Cycle, students visited the Makerspace and build kites under the direction of Mr. Cesar Diaz, our design technology expert in middle and high school. Making a physical model of ideas is a great way for students of different learning styles to feel connected to their creations and build STEAM skills at the same time!

Our amazing elementary teachers are always coming up with novel and exciting ways to learn science, math, technology, art, and engineering through fun and engaging investigations. This includes making dynamic multimedia presentations on how our solar systems works, creating sculptures using natural and organic materials, and developing artistic models of how a sample food chain works. STEAM learning at ASA is all about taking the wonders of our world and creating ways to make meaning of them through experiences that students will remember for years to come. Our elementary school is so fortunate to have teachers that design learning experiences that empower students through creativity, collaboration, and communication. Well done 5th grade team on these memorable investigations.

Last semester, 5th grade students studied the balance of predators and prey by modeling these creations using Lego Wedo Robotics kits. They were studying the essential questions of “What cooperative methods are used by some prey to avoid predators?”, “How can the natural predator/prey relationship be used to provide biological control of pests?”, and “Why is it important to understand  the predator/prey relationship?” For this unit, students built, coded, and shared what they learned through several media. They used a choice board to determine how they wanted to share their ideas:

Story - take pictures and video of the lego creation to create a story in Book Creator App

Video - prepare a video in FlipGrid App using the  lego models to explain about the animal (prey or predator, habitat)

Slide Presentation - include picture and video of the lego model to explain about their animal created in lego

This project used an inquiry planned model that our STEAM teachers explored during our July in-service training. This is an excellent example of integrated STEAM in action using modern teaching techniques to create authentic performance learning experiences for students.

High school biology students at ASA learn how to extract DNA through a series of mixtures and filtrations. Using bananas or other fruits, the students mashed the material together and then mixed in a salt and detergent solution to further decompose the cellular membrane. A filter was used to remove the solids and the resulting liquid was diluted with alcohol, causing the DNA to settle on the top of the mixture. The DNA was then spooled using a stirring rod and pulled out of the solution to be looked at under a high intensity microscope. Inquiry-based hands-on labs are more relevant, authentic, and engaging for students.

Chemistry students engineered models to demonstrate the properties of gas laws. The three main gas laws tell us the following relationships between pressure, volume, and temperature:

Boyle's Law tells us that the volume of gas increases as the pressure decreases. 

Charles' Law tells us that the volume of gas increases as the temperature increases.

Avogadro's Law tells us that the volume of gas increases as the amount of gas increases.

Students had the task of applying the gas laws to a real life scenario. They had the choice to either design a deep sea diver that utilizes Charles' Law, Boyle's Law, Gay-Lussac's Law (taking into account the changes in temperature and pressure in the deep sea - we learned about the Mariana Trench first!) OR they could create a "How Stuff Works" video that explains how a common phenomena occurs that follows one or more of the Gas Laws. (The variables that are at play with these specific laws are Temperature, Pressure and Volume). These videos below are "Why does my shampoo bottle explode sometime when I travel?" or "How does a pressure cooker/Instapot work?" or "How does a hot air balloon work?" These laws are fundamental for applications such as submarines, aeronautics, weather prediction, tidal volume, and any situation related to pressured materials. When students are given opportunities to use the ASA Design Cycle and physically engineer scientific phenomena, they are able to deepen their learning through hands-on trial and error. This sort of learning is what we define as the ASA STEAM Mission, where students “develop engineering, making, and design skills through creative and complex STEAM challenges.” Well done 10th graders!

Every year students in 6th grade learn how to use microscopes. This year the lesson occurred through a collaboration between Mrs. Schumaker’s classes and Mrs. Lederman’s. 6th grade students came to ASA’s science labs at the top of the STEAM building to look at various specimens under microscopes. Microscopes are essential tools in science as they enable scientists to see and study microscopic organisms and structures that are not visible to the naked eye. Microscopes have revolutionized the way we study biology, chemistry, physics, and many other fields of science.We are so lucky to have amazing teachers that create cool collaboration opportunities like this and dedicated students who take these learning opportunities seriously. Well done 6th graders!

10th graders were given the challenge to design an experiment with alka seltzer tablets that would change reaction rates by manipulating one variable according to collision theory. Students modified the variables of temperature, surface area, concentration and catalysts to determine the ideal reaction rate. They measured the rate of reaction by the time it took for the CO2 to build up enough to pop the tops off of old film canisters. They now have an inter class competition for who can make the fastest, strongest reaction by combining all of the factors! Go High School Science!