Jermale Eddie and his sons, Nehemiah, a preschooler at Grand Rapids Early Discovery Center, and Malachi, a second-grader at Grand Rapids Child Discovery Center, build with KEVA planks
Editor’s note: STEMosphere, an interactive expo featuring hands-on and “brains-on” science activities, brought students and adults alike to Grand Rapids Public Museum on Nov. 12. Put on by Share Fair Michigan, it was held in conjunction with a daylong teacher training in science education at Grand Valley State University. School News Network sent photographer Dianne Carroll Burdick to catch some of the action, from gaming and virtual reality to engineering and animals.
Kent ISD’s own STEM consultants, Ebiri Nkugba and Rick Mushing, were among those providing all the activities. Their activities included robots, a drone demonstration, flight simulator and even a virtual reality activity. They report “planting lots of seeds” with students who will become our future workforce.
Here’s a sampling of the day’s fun.
Rozalyn Zachary, left, an eighth-grader at Wyoming Junior High, looks on while classmate Jericha Skinner tries the Robotics Demo/Scrimmage. Justin VanEtten, a robotics coach from Wyoming Junior High, and Rosalyn’s dad, Jason, offer moral supportOlivia Clayton, a fourth-grader at Coit Creative Arts Academy, and her mom, Abby, enjoy the challenge of polka dots. Their task was to create a structure that touches as many dots as possible. They could use five each of paper, index cards, mailing labels, pipe cleaners and paper clips. Olivia just realized that she started to meet the challengeSTEMosphere was nothing if not hands-on for these participants and other students around the areaStudents from around the area and their parents fill the Grand Rapids Public Museum for the daylong STEMosphere on Saturday, Nov. 12Congress Elementary first-grader Emmet Flessner talks into a space phone while his dad, Blake, looks on and Mike Fillman, educational coordinator with WGVU, listens. The space phones show how sound travels in a wave and makes an echo effectCecelia Braun, a first-grader at Wealthy Elementary, looks at Cali the California kingsnake while Jackie Fazekas from John Ball Zoo school stretches out the snake to show it is as long as Cecelia is tall. Said Cecelia, “I think it is really cool to get that close to a snake. I’ve been really close to a dragonfly too”STEMosphere was put on by Share Fair Michigan, part of a nationwide nonprofit that aims to improve teacher instruction in science, technology, engineering and math
Dianne Carroll Burdick has worked as a photojournalist in the West Michigan area since 1991. A graduate of Western Michigan University, she has photographed for The Grand Rapids Press, USA Today, Sports Illustrated, Detroit Free Press, Advance Newspapers, Grand Rapids Magazine, BLUE Magazine and On-the-Town Magazine. She has been covering the many exciting and thought provoking stories of K-12 public education for School News Network since 2016.
