STEM club returning to Lincoln Intermediate in fall

The Boy Scouts of America, Missouri 4-H, and We Manage Tech came together in the spring to offer a STEM club at Lincoln Intermediate for fifth- and sixth-grade students.

The afterschool club, sponsored by We Manage Tech, consisted of 20 students who met once a week to learn about programming, electrical circuits, building robots, and to learn about careers in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math).

Two Lincoln Intermediate students work on STEM club projects last spring. The club will be returning in the fall.

Students started off the spring semester by learning how to program Spheros, small spherical robots that inspired the creation of BB8 in the Star Wars movies.

The students competed to see who could program their Sphero accurately enough to get it through different mazes. Next, they learned how to program Micro Bit (minicomputers) to play different songs and sounds.

After learning the ins and outs of programming, the students worked on a variety of electrical circuit boards. They learned how to turn on fans, speakers, and LEDs. It didn’t take long before a couple of students found that if they used enough batteries, they could make the fan launch off their circuit board and touch the ceiling.

The final project of the semester was constructing a solar robot. This was several students’ favorite project. It put their instruction following skills to the test as they assembled the solar panel, engine box, and hydraulics, and put these pieces together to form a robot. Each student got to take home their robot thanks to the generous donation from Jeremy Kee and his business We Manage Tech.

“The future is bright for these students,” said Josh Weibe, innovation teacher at Lincoln Intermediate. “We are excited to continue this program in the fall at Lincoln Intermediate and to welcome in a new set of fifth graders.

“This program would not have been possible without the leadership and resources from the Boy Scouts of America and Missouri 4-H.”