Create! Create! Create! Snyder's Young Mad Scientists

     Something new and exciting is going on in the Snyder, America school system and the likes of Amazon are helping foot the bill. That's right, the online purveyor of everything from books to golf balls and more is helping pay for a new mindset.

     "A new mindset," that's what the coordinator for Snyder's STEAM program calls the curriculum still in its infancy.
    The acronym STEAM stands for: Science, Technology, Engineering/Energy, Ag/Art and Math.

TIGER STEAM ACADEMY/Snyder, TX

     The STEAM program in Snyder is about five years old, but the TIGER STEAM ACADEMY is barely in its first year at the Snyder Intermediate School... the old junior high as we call it here in town.

     The information covering everything from the start of the STEAM Lab to who's paying for it to what's its future are long and detailed. So suffice it say that, for this writing anyway, everything is in good hands and many of our local students are willing participants for a new method of teaching and learning.

Tiger STEAM Academy

     Kids learning tasks using Virtual Reality was just one element of the STEAM Lab on display at a Makers Tuesday held this week. I'm not exactly sure if V-R falls into Science, Technology or Engineering. I was told the real point is to get youngsters excited about 'making' things in ways previously not taught in Snyder or many, many other schools.

     Granted, the kids are only making Christmas/Holiday related drawings but they're applying a technology that's developing a "new mindset" into how to make things.
     The Tiger STEAM Academy takes up an entire building at the Intermediate School. There's one large, brightly lit room with at least eight smaller rooms around the perimeter.
     For the purposes of the Makers Tuesday, robotics and engineering design applications took up most of the main room along with free eats and drinks for the many students and parents in attendance.

     I don't have this confirmed, but to me it seemed like all the night's activities focused on the season. For example, the duty of this robot was to move a small snowball. Another station included Toy-Hacks where the students took an existing toy and made modifications.

      I had to make sure I checked all the side rooms because something different seemed to be going on behind each door.

Those kids in the photo to the right are making 3-D Christmas ornaments... some using a type of super skinny glue gun while others drew their decoration using a computer for later 3-D print-out.

   
     And what are the holidays without holiday music? To cover the Arts, the evening's Maker Tuesday included a make your own music video booth.
     The room to the left is sound proof. The man with his back to us is handling the video equipment and I'm pretty sure the performers are belting out Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer.

     Whatever the kids are making, who knows. Whatever the students are singing, can't say for sure. But what is clear, they're all doing what they're doing with excitement. And even though they probably don't know it, they're all learning with a new mindset.

    If you'd like more information of the TIGER STEAM ACADEMY go to https://intermediate.snyderisd.net/

Bill Robertson