April 18, 2024 • 14 mins
Are you curious about STEM and science activities in our schools? Today, host Katie LaPira chats with Tammy Stone, the Science, STEM, and Challenge Supervisor for Rockingham County Public Schools. Tammy shares exciting insights into the hands-on learning experiences of RCPS students.
From dissecting owl pellets to exploring watershed ecosystems, students of all ages experience captivating activities that bring science to life. Listen in to hear how STEM education isn't confined to the classroom, but extends into engaging programs where students explore the science of cooking, force in motion experiments, and even solar challenges.
With a commitment to fostering the next generation of teachers through initiatives in STEM and science, Rockingham County Public Schools ensures students are not only prepared academically but also equipped with essential soft skills for future success.
For more from RCPS, check out rcps.net.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:26):
Hello and welcome to episode 14 ofthe RCPS Community Partner Cafe.
Today I'm joined by TammyStone, who is the Science, STEM,
and Challenge Supervisor forRockingham County Public Schools.
Welcome, Tammy.
Thanks.
I'm so excited to talk with you today.
Awesome.
So, could you start with what kinds ofexperiences each one of our students
(00:48):
gets with hands on learning andscience activities in our schools?
Oh, perfect.
Yes, absolutely.
So to highlight a couple, I'llstart with just a specific grade.
In our third grade curriculum,all students will get to
dissect an owl pellet, whichis basically where you can...
an owl, when it eats, it actually eatsits prey whole, and then it throws it
(01:12):
back up anything that it can't digest,like the bones and the fur and the things.
And so we get sterilized owl pelletsthat students dissect and figure out
the food chain of what that owl ate.
Yeah.
It's been
So that's one thing.
Another example is, you know, we live ina very, agricultural community and we do
a soil experiment in third grade wherestudents learn how to feel the difference
(01:35):
between soils, and then also learn how tofigure out which soil would be best for
growing plants, and do the different typesof plants matter for each type of soil?
So that's two examples for for, we dofor 4th grade, 6th grade, and 9th grade
expect every kid to go outside anddo a meaningful watershed educational
(01:58):
experience, which means we want themto get in a creek or pond if possible.
Ideally, they look for macroinvertebratesor do water quality testing, or
our high school students will oftencome and help with our elementary
students there, or they'll even dotree plantings or things like that.
Of course, I mean, I could pick anygrade level and go into, you know,
(02:20):
great detail from building circuitsto using makey makeys, which are a
thing you plug into a computer and youmake a circuit and it shows students
that your keyboard is just a set ofmany little circuits, like, and you're
either turning the circuit on or off.
Wow, cool.
There's just so many ways for scienceto come to life for our students,
(02:41):
and I'm sure it really makes a lot ofsense after what they've been reading,
you know, in their textbooks or ontheir Chromebooks, and then really
being out there in the environmentof which they're learning from.
That's great.
So, as we're getting up to thesummer, for us, it's a great time
for us to host enrichment activitiesthrough STEM camps and summer school.
Can you provide a little bit of anoverview of how we integrate our STEM
(03:03):
activities into our summer schoolactivities to make the learning
more engaging over the summer?
yes.
So several years ago, some of ourteachers came together and were mentioning
that sometimes summer school seemedlike it was a little bit dry, and they
were looking for activities that wouldkeep students wanting to come back.
So we got together a team of peopleand we created where there are at
(03:27):
least three units for each grade level.
And they range everything from scienceof cooking where students will learn
how to make muffins and, even likelearn how to make ice cream, and do
different types of things like that.
And they're learning measuringskills and, you know, chemistry.
I mean, cooking is justchemistry in action.
(03:49):
So we have that one.
Then we also have for our Fourth andfifth grade students, a unit called Make
It Move, which is where they do all kindsof experiments with force in motion.
Like they have to protect an eggin an egg drop experiment or,
sail cars and things like that.
And then, we also have a gardeningone, where students can learn
(04:10):
about gardening and how to do that.
And for our younger students, wehave On the Farm, so they can learn
about things like that as well as wealso have a mini chemistry one that's
where they're learning how to makepredictions and do the scientific
method with all these little smallexperiments that the kids really like.
A kid favorite one from the summerwith the outdoor learning is actually
(04:34):
giving them some solar beads thatchange color in the sun and asking them
to build a habitat for an animal thatwould keep them protected from the sun.
Oh, that's really neat.
So if you're going to be at schoolduring the summer, you might as well be
having lots of fun, just what summer isintended for and learning along the way.
That's really great.
(04:54):
So you mentioned working with currenthigh school students during the summer.
Can you talk about how RockinghamCounty Public Schools is growing
the next generation of teachersthrough our Teachers for Tomorrow?
Absolutely.
So, during the school year, we've hadteachers for tomorrow for many years, but
many students couldn't fit it into theirschedule or didn't have the transportation
(05:15):
to a school to be able to go for theteachers for tomorrow experience.
So we started a program wherewe have students sign up to help
with our summer school programwith our Teachers for Tomorrow.
And, they come in and they can ridethe school bus with the students
that are coming for summer school.
And they do read alouds with the students.
(05:36):
We do training with them to teach themhow to help with math techniques, and how
to help with STEM activities, and evenhow to help with classroom management.
Last summer we had, 27 studentswho participated, and this
summer we have 34 students whohave signed up to participate.
We do get a reference check on them fromtheir teachers to make sure that we think
(05:58):
they're going to work well with students,and many students who have done this
have actually come back numerous years.
we even had one studentwho moved out of district.
And, she contacted me and the schoolthat she's done it with the previous
three years and asked if she could justcome volunteer this summer as a senior.
Because she, they don't offerthis program where she moved to.
(06:19):
Well, that's just such a great experiencefor both the younger students and
the older students to kind of learnfrom one another, and especially if
those students are wanting to becometeachers, just giving them the hands
on time of being with the students.
That's a really great opportunity.
So we provide our students withchallenging opportunities to
provide interested students with
(06:40):
in depth research and inquiry options.
And this is, I think, mainlyon the high school level.
You can correct me if I'm wrong, but couldyou just explain a little bit more about
what that looks like for our students?
Absolutely.
So sometimes we'll have, andactually we will have it at
middle school as well sometimes.
We'll have students who just want to dosomething above and beyond what they're
(07:01):
doing in their regular science class.
and kind of explore those things.
And they usually reach out toeither me or to their, to the
challenge teacher in the building.
And, we'll mention that theyjust want an opportunity.
So we have a couple of studentswho have done that this year.
One built an artificial pancreas.
(07:22):
And another one, tested waysto redesign bikes because he
wants to be a bike engineer.
Both of the students had me as a mentor,but it's an independent study generated
in that they, have to do, be self relianton a lot of the work and they get the
assignments and then they seek help.
(07:42):
And sometimes it's not always easybecause they have, might have to wait to
hear from a JMU professor, or they mighthave to wait to hear from these people.
But it's, it's really exciting to seethe students figure out things that are
sometimes even above what I understand,and see what they can accomplish.
And, even just seeing them share andpresent their work is very exciting to do.
(08:06):
We also have, we've hadsome middle school students.
We actually had a middleschool student recently who
reached out to do this as well.
And then we also offer some otheropportunities for kids that they can
do that are just kind of above andbeyond, like our, kid wind and solar
challenges that we do, which I, wouldlove to brag that Rockingham County swept
(08:26):
the states with the 1st, 2nd, and 3rdplace winnings of the solar challenge.
from our two schools of Hillyard and Pencethat participated, and that's exciting
because students have to build that isgoing to use solar power, and they have
to be able to explain all their circuitry.
They have to be able to explain how muchenergy they need from the sun and what
(08:51):
their solar panel capacity is going to be.
They have to talk about how they wouldstore some energy and have a way to store
the energy for when the sun's not out.
So that the device could still be used.
And, you know, kind of to highlight acouple of things that kids have done
there is one team this year builta robotic hand with a 3D printer.
And then figured out how to make thathand move and be coded based on, what
(09:16):
they wanted it to do at that time.
Another group designed a ski lodge andthey had to think about how much tension
was going to be on their ski lift,and They had to and that was probably
their biggest challenge, because thethe wires they chose kept breaking on
them But they 3d printed the ski liftchairs And, they figured out, how much
(09:40):
energy they would need to man that.
And then they also, had, you know, aguard station or a check station that
would light up for people to knowwhere to go and things like that.
So it's exciting to see kids andtheir projects and how their minds go.
It really is, and that's just in middleschool, so it's just exciting to see
what's going to happen as they, as theygrow in their education into high school.
(10:04):
And speaking of which we, we heara lot about STEM and its importance
for the future jobs for our students,and how are we preparing students
to be competitive in the workforce?
Oh, great question.
So, you know, It's in so manydifferent facets, like one of the
things is, is that you think aboutour Teachers for Tomorrow program.
(10:24):
Even if that's person working inthe summer decides teaching's not
for them, they are learning someof the most important STEM skills
that you could potentially, learn,and that's those soft skills.
You know, the soft skills are,you know, leadership, emotional
intelligence, how to connect withpeople, how to communicate with people.
And how to collaborate or sometimeseven get people who don't want
(10:47):
to collaborate to collaborate.
Because not everybody alwayswants to do what you want them
to do when you want them to.
And that's where them learningthose skills is very important.
But then we also do it in our,in our regular classrooms.
Like, so for example, in our sixthgrade classes, every sixth grade student
this year is doing a microbit project.
(11:07):
And that microbit project, they arelearning how to code a microbit.
A microbit is basically a smalllittle mini computer that you
can get to do different things.
And what they did was they were given thetask of creating an early warning system
for if there was a major emergency, like aflash flood that came and blocked a road.
(11:31):
The micro bit would sense when thewater was flowing too high and would
send a radio message up to the top ofthe, the hill or whatever, where there
was a sign that would say, turn around,
water too deep, or things.
Or they could have done an earlywarning system for when the sidewalk
is too hot for you to walk your dog.
(11:53):
And students could pick what theissue was and then they could
design the system to do that.
And so they learned how to worktogether and problem solve, critically
think through what would youneed to do to be able to do this?
And those are some of the most importantparts, the critical thinking and problem
(12:14):
solving, along with the communicationand the reflection on your work.
So after they finished the project,they then shared it with groups
and got feedback on how that was.
We hear from a lot of the people whoare hiring that those soft skills that
are so important and You know in theseages of when we do a lot of work on
(12:34):
our phone or we're engaged just singlyin our in our own work It's really
great to collaborate with other peopleand getting that feedback and you
know, learning how to work as a team.
Well, I really appreciate all of thetime that you've spent with us today.
Is there anything else you'd like to coverthat we may have missed In talking today?
No, but I'm just always amazed withhow I will, you know, say having,
(12:57):
heard from parents before and workingaround here that I think our students
are well prepared for STEM classes.
do
Like I know I work part time at JMU inthe evenings, and we've had numerous
of our students who've gone through thechemistry and the engineering departments
there, as well as other places.
And I feel like our students are preparedfor the next steps that they take.
(13:22):
Well, this is just another example ofour amazing educators that are getting
our students prepared for the futureand just the really unique and wonderful
opportunities that we offer here inRockingham County Public Schools.
And so, so thank you somuch for joining me today.
Thank you.
Hello and welcome to episode 14 ofthe RCPS Community Partner Cafe.
Today I'm joined by TammyStone, who is the Science, STEM,
and Challenge Supervisor forRockingham County Public Schools.
Welcome, Tammy.
Thanks.
I'm so excited to talk with you today.
Awesome.
So, could you start with what kinds ofexperiences each one of our students
(00:48):
gets with hands on learning andscience activities in our schools?
Oh, perfect.
Yes, absolutely.
So to highlight a couple, I'llstart with just a specific grade.
In our third grade curriculum,all students will get to
dissect an owl pellet, whichis basically where you can...
an owl, when it eats, it actually eatsits prey whole, and then it throws it
(01:12):
back up anything that it can't digest,like the bones and the fur and the things.
And so we get sterilized owl pelletsthat students dissect and figure out
the food chain of what that owl ate.
Yeah.
It's been
So that's one thing.
Another example is, you know, we live ina very, agricultural community and we do
a soil experiment in third grade wherestudents learn how to feel the difference
(01:35):
between soils, and then also learn how tofigure out which soil would be best for
growing plants, and do the different typesof plants matter for each type of soil?
So that's two examples for for, we dofor 4th grade, 6th grade, and 9th grade
expect every kid to go outside anddo a meaningful watershed educational
(01:58):
experience, which means we want themto get in a creek or pond if possible.
Ideally, they look for macroinvertebratesor do water quality testing, or
our high school students will oftencome and help with our elementary
students there, or they'll even dotree plantings or things like that.
Of course, I mean, I could pick anygrade level and go into, you know,
(02:20):
great detail from building circuitsto using makey makeys, which are a
thing you plug into a computer and youmake a circuit and it shows students
that your keyboard is just a set ofmany little circuits, like, and you're
either turning the circuit on or off.
Wow, cool.
There's just so many ways for scienceto come to life for our students,
(02:41):
and I'm sure it really makes a lot ofsense after what they've been reading,
you know, in their textbooks or ontheir Chromebooks, and then really
being out there in the environmentof which they're learning from.
That's great.
So, as we're getting up to thesummer, for us, it's a great time
for us to host enrichment activitiesthrough STEM camps and summer school.
Can you provide a little bit of anoverview of how we integrate our STEM
(03:03):
activities into our summer schoolactivities to make the learning
more engaging over the summer?
yes.
So several years ago, some of ourteachers came together and were mentioning
that sometimes summer school seemedlike it was a little bit dry, and they
were looking for activities that wouldkeep students wanting to come back.
So we got together a team of peopleand we created where there are at
(03:27):
least three units for each grade level.
And they range everything from scienceof cooking where students will learn
how to make muffins and, even likelearn how to make ice cream, and do
different types of things like that.
And they're learning measuringskills and, you know, chemistry.
I mean, cooking is justchemistry in action.
(03:49):
So we have that one.
Then we also have for our Fourth andfifth grade students, a unit called Make
It Move, which is where they do all kindsof experiments with force in motion.
Like they have to protect an eggin an egg drop experiment or,
sail cars and things like that.
And then, we also have a gardeningone, where students can learn
(04:10):
about gardening and how to do that.
And for our younger students, wehave On the Farm, so they can learn
about things like that as well as wealso have a mini chemistry one that's
where they're learning how to makepredictions and do the scientific
method with all these little smallexperiments that the kids really like.
A kid favorite one from the summerwith the outdoor learning is actually
(04:34):
giving them some solar beads thatchange color in the sun and asking them
to build a habitat for an animal thatwould keep them protected from the sun.
Oh, that's really neat.
So if you're going to be at schoolduring the summer, you might as well be
having lots of fun, just what summer isintended for and learning along the way.
That's really great.
(04:54):
So you mentioned working with currenthigh school students during the summer.
Can you talk about how RockinghamCounty Public Schools is growing
the next generation of teachersthrough our Teachers for Tomorrow?
Absolutely.
So, during the school year, we've hadteachers for tomorrow for many years, but
many students couldn't fit it into theirschedule or didn't have the transportation
(05:15):
to a school to be able to go for theteachers for tomorrow experience.
So we started a program wherewe have students sign up to help
with our summer school programwith our Teachers for Tomorrow.
And, they come in and they can ridethe school bus with the students
that are coming for summer school.
And they do read alouds with the students.
(05:36):
We do training with them to teach themhow to help with math techniques, and how
to help with STEM activities, and evenhow to help with classroom management.
Last summer we had, 27 studentswho participated, and this
summer we have 34 students whohave signed up to participate.
We do get a reference check on them fromtheir teachers to make sure that we think
(05:58):
they're going to work well with students,and many students who have done this
have actually come back numerous years.
we even had one studentwho moved out of district.
And, she contacted me and the schoolthat she's done it with the previous
three years and asked if she could justcome volunteer this summer as a senior.
Because she, they don't offerthis program where she moved to.
(06:19):
Well, that's just such a great experiencefor both the younger students and
the older students to kind of learnfrom one another, and especially if
those students are wanting to becometeachers, just giving them the hands
on time of being with the students.
That's a really great opportunity.
So we provide our students withchallenging opportunities to
provide interested students with
(06:40):
in depth research and inquiry options.
And this is, I think, mainlyon the high school level.
You can correct me if I'm wrong, but couldyou just explain a little bit more about
what that looks like for our students?
Absolutely.
So sometimes we'll have, andactually we will have it at
middle school as well sometimes.
We'll have students who just want to dosomething above and beyond what they're
(07:01):
doing in their regular science class.
and kind of explore those things.
And they usually reach out toeither me or to their, to the
challenge teacher in the building.
And, we'll mention that theyjust want an opportunity.
So we have a couple of studentswho have done that this year.
One built an artificial pancreas.
(07:22):
And another one, tested waysto redesign bikes because he
wants to be a bike engineer.
Both of the students had me as a mentor,but it's an independent study generated
in that they, have to do, be self relianton a lot of the work and they get the
assignments and then they seek help.
(07:42):
And sometimes it's not always easybecause they have, might have to wait to
hear from a JMU professor, or they mighthave to wait to hear from these people.
But it's, it's really exciting to seethe students figure out things that are
sometimes even above what I understand,and see what they can accomplish.
And, even just seeing them share andpresent their work is very exciting to do.
(08:06):
We also have, we've hadsome middle school students.
We actually had a middleschool student recently who
reached out to do this as well.
And then we also offer some otheropportunities for kids that they can
do that are just kind of above andbeyond, like our, kid wind and solar
challenges that we do, which I, wouldlove to brag that Rockingham County swept
(08:26):
the states with the 1st, 2nd, and 3rdplace winnings of the solar challenge.
from our two schools of Hillyard and Pencethat participated, and that's exciting
because students have to build that isgoing to use solar power, and they have
to be able to explain all their circuitry.
They have to be able to explain how muchenergy they need from the sun and what
(08:51):
their solar panel capacity is going to be.
They have to talk about how they wouldstore some energy and have a way to store
the energy for when the sun's not out.
So that the device could still be used.
And, you know, kind of to highlight acouple of things that kids have done
there is one team this year builta robotic hand with a 3D printer.
And then figured out how to make thathand move and be coded based on, what
(09:16):
they wanted it to do at that time.
Another group designed a ski lodge andthey had to think about how much tension
was going to be on their ski lift,and They had to and that was probably
their biggest challenge, because thethe wires they chose kept breaking on
them But they 3d printed the ski liftchairs And, they figured out, how much
(09:40):
energy they would need to man that.
And then they also, had, you know, aguard station or a check station that
would light up for people to knowwhere to go and things like that.
So it's exciting to see kids andtheir projects and how their minds go.
It really is, and that's just in middleschool, so it's just exciting to see
what's going to happen as they, as theygrow in their education into high school.
(10:04):
And speaking of which we, we heara lot about STEM and its importance
for the future jobs for our students,and how are we preparing students
to be competitive in the workforce?
Oh, great question.
So, you know, It's in so manydifferent facets, like one of the
things is, is that you think aboutour Teachers for Tomorrow program.
(10:24):
Even if that's person working inthe summer decides teaching's not
for them, they are learning someof the most important STEM skills
that you could potentially, learn,and that's those soft skills.
You know, the soft skills are,you know, leadership, emotional
intelligence, how to connect withpeople, how to communicate with people.
And how to collaborate or sometimeseven get people who don't want
(10:47):
to collaborate to collaborate.
Because not everybody alwayswants to do what you want them
to do when you want them to.
And that's where them learningthose skills is very important.
But then we also do it in our,in our regular classrooms.
Like, so for example, in our sixthgrade classes, every sixth grade student
this year is doing a microbit project.
(11:07):
And that microbit project, they arelearning how to code a microbit.
A microbit is basically a smalllittle mini computer that you
can get to do different things.
And what they did was they were given thetask of creating an early warning system
for if there was a major emergency, like aflash flood that came and blocked a road.
(11:31):
The micro bit would sense when thewater was flowing too high and would
send a radio message up to the top ofthe, the hill or whatever, where there
was a sign that would say, turn around,
water too deep, or things.
Or they could have done an earlywarning system for when the sidewalk
is too hot for you to walk your dog.
(11:53):
And students could pick what theissue was and then they could
design the system to do that.
And so they learned how to worktogether and problem solve, critically
think through what would youneed to do to be able to do this?
And those are some of the most importantparts, the critical thinking and problem
(12:14):
solving, along with the communicationand the reflection on your work.
So after they finished the project,they then shared it with groups
and got feedback on how that was.
We hear from a lot of the people whoare hiring that those soft skills that
are so important and You know in theseages of when we do a lot of work on
(12:34):
our phone or we're engaged just singlyin our in our own work It's really
great to collaborate with other peopleand getting that feedback and you
know, learning how to work as a team.
Well, I really appreciate all of thetime that you've spent with us today.
Is there anything else you'd like to coverthat we may have missed In talking today?
No, but I'm just always amazed withhow I will, you know, say having,
(12:57):
heard from parents before and workingaround here that I think our students
are well prepared for STEM classes.
do
Like I know I work part time at JMU inthe evenings, and we've had numerous
of our students who've gone through thechemistry and the engineering departments
there, as well as other places.
And I feel like our students are preparedfor the next steps that they take.
(13:22):
Well, this is just another example ofour amazing educators that are getting
our students prepared for the futureand just the really unique and wonderful
opportunities that we offer here inRockingham County Public Schools.
And so, so thank you somuch for joining me today.
Thank you.
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