STEAM ACADEMY
Steppingstone’s STEAM Academies support the integration of robotics in Middle Grades partner schools with instructors identified by the partner school leadership. Through Steppingstone’s partnership with Penn Engineering, instructors are trained and their teams compete in the First Lego League (FLL) competition. Adult coaches assist their FLL teams in developing a solution to a real world problem such as recycling, energy, or food safety (the 2016 theme is Animal Allies). Also, they must design, build, and program a robot using LEGO MINDSTORMS technology. The focus on science, technology, engineering, art, and math concepts (STEAM) builds critical thinking, presentation skills, and team building while practicing the core values of the FLL. In May, the season culminates with our partnership schools competing in the Steppingstone Robotics Competition, which is supported by Penn Engineering, Temple University, and Central High School’s Robolancers.
Along with integrating Robotics for grades 4th – 8th grade, SSI’s STEAM Academies is Critical to providing opportunities for STEAM education, Steppingstone holds several large-scale events that offer unique college and career opportunities for students including
• Step Into College Conference - hosted at the University of the Sciences (for 8th graders)
• Career and Technical Education Fair - Hosted at Temple’s College of Education (for 7th and 8th graders)
Partnership schools provide:
• Identify of faculty to be trained as robotics coaches
• Access to space at school for Robotics programming
• Funding for Partnership
• Data Sharing Between partnership school & Steppingstone