Students in first grade completed a maker experience centered on sound and musical instruments. They were challenged to create an instrument and then observe the sound properties that the instrument produces. This sort of making and creation is an example of guided play where it is important for the students to have a specific goal, but not overly detailed instructions on how to accomplish it. This makes the creation more meaningful and memorable as students make observations and overcome challenges on their own. Additionally, students are exposed to the ASA Design Cycle, a key model that guides students through the engineering process.

Second grade students at ASA explored various material properties in their Solids & Liquids science unit with the goal of using them to build a tower almost a meter tall. Second graders love to build things, and they love to learn how to make the things they build even better! They learned how engineering can help make anything, from a tower of cups to a giant skyscraper, more stable! Before and after making a tower, they learned how to PLAN, DESIGN, and REFLECT following the next steps. Great job second graders! Keep taking any challenge as an opportunity to design and create!

Students in third grade studied the impact of a weather hazard on their communities and engineered flood barriers to mitigate damage. As part of this maker experience, students explored various flood prevention strategies and then used this knowledge to build and test their own ideas. Common household materials were used to simulate construction and industrial materials, such as ceramics, concrete, plastics, and wood. Students utilized the ASA design cycle to guide their ideation, creation, and testing process.

Students in fourth grade used phone sensors through the Arduino Science Journal app to gather data on their environment, such as light, movement, and sound, and then used that data to engineer a device. Students explored the physical phenomenons of waves through this maker experience and engineered their optimization device, whether a parachute, blackbox, or soundproof chamber, using the ASA Design Cycle. This is a great example of ASA student integrating math and science class together into an integrated STEM maker experience.

Students in 5th grade have been exploring space, the sun, and the orbits of planets as part of their larger study of stars and the solar system. First they tracked and measured shadows to study the motion of the Earth. This activity involved asking questions about shadows, recording numeric observations of changing shadows, and looking for patterns that appear overtime. This is a perfect example of applying the Next Generation Science Standards crosscutting concepts of patterns, cause and effect, and scale, proportion and quantity. Next, students developed physical models of orbits in our solar system and explored the phenomenon of solar eclipses. Great job ASA 5th graders for making learning meaningful, engaging, active and fun!

Do you know the Fibonacci sequence? 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21,... Do you see the pattern? The Fibonacci sequence is generated when the two previous numbers are added together to make the next. Using this pattern, elementary art students explored the power of the circle by using Fibonacci numbers as the radius of their circles. Students drew circles using a compass, cut them out into individual circles, and then arranged them in an aesthetically pleasing approach. Check out what happens when you combine art and math!

Elementary students in first and second grade developed their architecture and engineering skills in art class by recreating a famous man-made structure using a medium of their choice. Students can chose from a variety of structures, such as a building, bridge, waterway, or other, as well as a variety of mediums, such as paint, markers, colored pencils, recyclable materials, building blocks, or even digital tools. Guided by their inspiring teacher, Mrs. Johnson, our young engineers and architects have successfully recreated many famous structures, from the Statue of Liberty to the Eiffel Tower, the Golden Gate Bridge to Big Ben, and Stonehenge to the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Check out the amazing creations that they have built!

Students in elementary music explored the Chrome Music Lab as a meaningful way to make music and share their creations through Seesaw. ASA ES music classes challenge students to use the various tools in the lab to discover the patterns in music and see how different patterns can be viewed in different ways. Students can easily explore harmonies, rhythms, and melodies through a variety of visualization approaches that make their creations more controllable and meaningful. This tool gives ASA elementary students control and agency over their play, a key factor in promoting critical and creative thinking.

Computer programming is teaching children how to think. To code effectively, one needs to use logical thinking. Children need to be able to see a large problem and break it down into smaller pieces in order to solve it in an effective manner. Every day we can see more and more code in our world. The industry of robots is revolutionizing from self-driving cars to robot-assisted surgeries. When children learn how to code, they have an advantage in the future—they have the ability to work in any sector, and they will have more career opportunities in the future. At ASA we start coding at early ages with the drag-and-drop visual programming method.

Students in elementary math enrichment went beyond their classroom math content to dive deep into a variety of anchor projects on numbers, shapes, calculations, coding, patterns, and even budgeting, this year. The purpose of math enrichment is to challenge our top performing math students in each grade to dig deeper into the math that they study and discover more connections, relevance, and application to our world. Students wrote math scripts, numerically coded robots, and even uncovered the Platonic solids this year. Check out some of the creations they came up with during the year.

As part of an integrated math and science unit, ASA 7th graders explored the power of wind and used their virtual modeling to determine how to maximize energy output. Students explore three different sites for a wind farm: offshore, plains, and mountains. From here, students changed key parameters, such as the blade length, blade pitch, and turbine height to determine how engineering changes would influence total output. This project started in science class where students read about wind turbines and explored the associated terms. Then they collected their data and went to math class to determine any linear patterns.

Students in 7th grade social studies classes explored agricultural ways that innovation and engineering are used to make Paraguay a modern and sustainable nation. This STEAM project from semester 1 asked students the question, “Is Farming Still Innovative in the Modern World?” and challenged students with a creation and Maker task to address this question.This hands-on, distance learning project expected students to connect with their community, collect and analyze feedback data, and make creation decisions based on their evidence.

In this STEAM-driven project, students mapped out 1 sq km of their neighborhoods using an app called Google My Maps and proposed both social and environmental enhancements for Asuncion. From solar panels to community fridges, the goal was for students to plan urban improvements and defend these sustainable improvements with convincing research. With their research and sustainable project ideas, students then took their ideas into their art class and used TinkerCad to 3D model their community improvement ideas. They used the ASA design cycle to plan, create, and improve on their innovations.

Art classes and Engineering Design classes collaborated together online to introduce students to famous artwork by exploring various code-based generators that can be used to recreate masterpieces. Students in the Engineering Design class learned how to use various generators by modifying sliders, buttons, and computer code and then created tutorial videos for Art students. Art students used these tutorials to then recreate their own artwork based on communication prompts. Check out the amazing student work below by visiting the various project websites linked.

This middle school elective explores units that integrate the components of science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics through creation and design challenges. Students approach these challenges by initially researching the math and science phenomena at play, using computer assisted design programs to model potential solutions, and then creating and testing physical prototypes. Check out some of the projects that our middle school ASA students have created over the course of a year.

Students in the high school World History 2 classroom actively collaborate together on a “State of the World” Conceptboard. Student groups are assigned a specific region of the world to study, such as India, Italy or Japan. They researched the defining geographic, economic, historical and political characteristics of their region and collect evidence in the form of text and media. Students took their evidence and actively built a rich and descriptive visual image of the world during this time, including river and border lines, images of key political and religious figures, and other defining characteristics of the region.

Students in high school biology, taught by Mrs. Katie Barnett, are studying genetics as part of their power standards for the year. To better understand genetics through a relevant and modern application, students were asked to research one of the various covid vaccines and make an informational poster to explain how they work in terms of genetics and cells. Suffice to say, they turned out amazing and we want to share some of them with you. Vaccines and immunization is a necessary step towards stopping a pandemic and removing the virus from our ecosystems. While they are a natural part of our biological world, we can manage them to create a more sustainable and healthy environment.

Grade 10 students in Mrs. Avila’s Guarani class took the coding challenge seriously and creating their own cultural mythology games using the language Scratch. Using the block based coding language, students created question and answer games about popular Paraguayan myths. Projects included visual images, music files, voice recordings, and points systems for playing the game. Rather than read about it, go ahead and play the games here.

If you're interested in building your portfolio of digital tool competencies, grasping the essentials of digital systems, and devoting yourself to a digital personal project, then this course is perfect for you. This course will start by exploring a focused suite of digital tools that introduce web design, app making, coding for beginners, and more through a growth mindset and design cycle learning approach. Students will culminate their classwork through a personal project that focuses on one or more tools through an extended application.

Take a deep dive into robotics and engineering with this elective course! Powered by virtual simulators and hands-on design challenges, high school students in this STEAM elective at ASA will explore a range of problem-based software/hardware applications that allow them to research, design, build, and test various solutions to physical and digital engineering and robotics challenges. Students will culminate their investigative studies by building their designs as a hands-on activity, showcasing their final products to the ASA community, and displaying their completion of the full engineering process.

Data Systems Managementexplore common ways to record, analyze and leverage data in our modern world, with an emphasis on understanding the systems and tools involved and feel comfortable tackling real world scenarios with confidence. This class explores various data management tools in various platforms, such as pivot tables in Excel and in Google Sheets. Students use data models, as well as the sample sales data to forecast trends. Learn the bridge between data and big business by putting numbers to use for you.