Last month’s Pennsylvania Keystone STEM Competition challenged nearly 1,000 students across the state to offer real-world solutions to authentic challenges in today’s classrooms, and two teams from St. Francis Xavier School in Gettysburg answered the call with prototypes that focused on the wellbeing of their fellow students.
Assigned with the prompt to improve Pennsylvania’s schools, St. Francis’ seventh- and eighth-grade team brainstormed a classroom door and window barrier to stop intruders with the push of a button, and the fifth- and sixth-grade team designed an entire classroom to benefit students with ADHD.
The STEM competition – held in October in New Oxford – pushed teams’ creativity and problem-solving skills, as students were given the prompt on the day of the event. Not only did they have to come up with a solution to a classroom problem, they also had to conduct research and build a protype from supplies like cardboard, rubber bands, paper, straws and popsicle sticks.
“We came up with the idea for a classroom barrier after hearing about and praying for the students in the school shooting in Minneapolis at the start of the school year. We thought for the prompt that it would be something helpful for students and schools all over,” said Chloe Parry.
“We were looking at new ways to help protect students and teachers. We wanted our barrier to be something that would unroll across the door or window at the push of a button,” Rebecca Baldwin explained. “For the prototype, we used a sheet of paper as a model for the barrier that would be unrolled for use and rolled back up when it was put away.”
For Chloe, Rebecca and fellow teammates Jaxson Duble and Renata Lepiz-Cardenas, the project was all about keeping students safe and thinking about the best materials to achieve such a critical goal.
For their grade-level project, the fifth- and sixth-grade team of Shea O’Connell, Megan Staub, Jack Phelan, Maci Runyan and Luca Harchick designed a classroom to benefit students with ADHD.
“We have some students here who have ADHD and one of our teachers has ADHD, so we were trying to figure out how to make a classroom that would be more suitable for them,” said Shea.
As other teams conducted online research about protypes for SMARTdesks and collaborative furniture, the students from St. Francis Xavier School thought about their own experience in one of their classrooms furnished with flexible seating and fidget spinners.
“Our goal was to have a classroom that students could really focus in but also do work in and be engaged without being distracted,” said Jack Phelan. “Our room had items you can work with to help you stay focused and comfortable.”
“Those items included flexible seating with yoga balls, a classroom pet and fun colors. We also eliminated windows so students wouldn’t be distracted,” said Megan Staub.
Luca Harchick added, “The judges asked us to describe the classroom purpose and how it would help in a real-life scenario and said they really liked the idea.”
It resulted in a third-place award.
STEM lessons are woven throughout the curriculum at St. Francis Xavier School, especially in the classroom of Tiffany Stultz, who teaches science to grades 5-8.
“I’ve always loved science, and I think I enjoy it so much because we get to put our education into practice,” Chloe said. “We do labs every week and that allows us to do something hands-on from what we learn in our workbooks.”
The school has a dedicated Makerspace with a 3-D printer, tech tools and K’Nex for students to collaborate, create and explore. Stultz further engages students with guest speakers who talk to students about their work in STEM careers.
“I am so impressed about their teamwork, their level of collaboration and their efforts at the Keystone STEM Competition and in the classroom,” Stultz said of the students.
She’s also proud of how they applied STEM education to the wellbeing of their fellow students. Their projects didn’t just focus on a prototype; they focused on the health and safety of others.
Megan and Chloe explained why.
“St. Francis is a smaller school and we essentially know everyone here. It’s like a family,” Megan said. “We don’t just recognize other students’ faces, we know them to heart.”
“This is my third year here and I know everyone from middle school to the little kids. I might not be in class with them, but they are like my siblings that I care about. We all want the best for everyone here,” Chloe said.
(Group photo by Jen Reed, The Catholic Witness. Competition photos courtesy of St. Francis Xavier School.)
By Jen Reed, The Catholic Witness
