My students need Chromebooks and a Makerbot 3-D printer to explore ancient architecture in hopes of becoming future engineers. We will put the STEAM into STEM!
I believe that my students in the city deserve the same quality education and technology experiences that their counterparts in the suburbs a few miles away receive. Chromebooks and a 3-D printer would open up a world of images and experiences for my visual arts learners.
The students at the public school where I teach are
enthusiastic learners from diverse cultural, linguistic, and
socioeconomic backgrounds.
We are a kindergarten through
eighth grade elementary school. My students face academic
and artistic challenges with vigor and excitement and I am
privileged to be their visual arts teacher. My students are
Ninety seven percent are low-income and are primarily Hispanic-American,
many 1st or 2nd generation, with minimal understanding of
cultures other than their own. They rarely leave their neighborhood, and are bound to the constraints of where they live. Through visual arts, my students will discover differences and similarities that exist between their world and those of other cultures.
My Project
The Chromebooks will open up the entire world to my students. We will create a STEM learning environment where the students will become, engineers, scientists, mathematicians, historians and artists. The students will research and study the architectural "wonders " of the ancient cultures and recreate their own versions of these wonders, using the technology of the computer and the 3-D printer. If the students are studying the architecture of Ancient Greece, they will learn about the mathematics behind the Gold Ratio, the engineering of the structures, the history and beliefs of the culture, and the artistry of the era. After their research, the students will use a student friendly CAD program to engineer their own Greek temple, using the same math, science and artistry of the Ancient Greeks. They will then be able to see their project come to "life" by having their design printed on the 3-D printer.
My students will become 21st learners by studying the cultures from the preceding twenty centuries.
They will make connections to the past, present and future through these STEM activities. They will understand that learning does not happen in isolation, and that math, science, social studies, and the arts are all inter-connected, and often it is these connections that create great objects that stand the test of time! My students will be able to see the world outside of their neighborhood.
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As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Mrs. Manata and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
