The Brandon Sauve Blog

  This week in class, pairs of students had to lead their own STEM activity. My group led an egg drop activity, for grade 5’s, with our aligned curriculum expectations being D2.1 - D2.2: Identify internal/external forces acting on a structure, and describe their effects on the structure. -D2.3: Describe forces resulting from natural phenomena that can have severe consequences for human-built structures, and identify structural features and materials that can allow such structures to withstand these forces. -E2.1: Identify a variety of forms of energy, and describe how each form is used in everyday life. -E2.2: Demonstrate an understanding of the law of conservation of energy, including how energy cannot be created or destroyed but can only be transformed from one form to another.  Our activity was very engaging for our peers and after the activity I questioned what made it so successful. I believe the freedom and open ended nature of the activity encouraged exploration. St...

   With no end in sight for a deceleration of technology it is evident technology would be implemented into classrooms and education as a whole. It was seen throughout the pandemic with virtual classrooms and calls but what other technological advancements have there been? The move to online and computer oriented classrooms was made easier by the push to get computers in schools in 2011, when 71% of students in OECD countries reported access to computers and internet at school (59). Another advancement in classrooms includes the implementation of the use of robots. Over the 2022 summer, working in a grade 6 class, I had the privilege of watching students operate robots first hand. It amazed me how efficiently students programmed their robots to perform difficult tasks like shooting on miniature basketball nets, playing songs on xylophones, navigating obstacle courses, and dancing. The experience allowed me to reflect on how in schools I never had access to operating robots. I ...