STEM III 4th Quarter Projects
The 4th quarter is almost here! We have an AMAZING lineup of projects and sponsors who cannot wait to work with you. It's also the most challenging quarter of STEM III. Your team will be evaluated on the COLLABORATION, CRITICAL THINKING, and INNOVATION learning targets. Read on to learn more about the PBLs and talk with your team to see what project you want to tackle. This is your final quarter as juniors so make the most of it!
See the submission form in Google Classroom when your team is ready to submit your project preferences.
Working with an amazing group of architects from local firms Franklin Architects, Hefferlin Kronenberg Architects, Cogent Studio, Chattanooga Design Studio, and W.M. Whitaker and Associates, STEM student teams will design architectural solutions to reimagine the future of Lupton City. Located only a few miles from the STEM School, Lupton City was once the classic example of a company mill town. Founded in 1920, the town provided modern worker housing near the mill, as well as community services such as a school, post office, and church, and amenities such as concrete sidewalks, a gym, a movie theater, and a swimming pool. (Wikipedia). However, that all changed when the mill closed in 2009. The property was acquired by an out-of-state company which proceeded to demolish the mill and left a 12 acre site of rubble. Now the future is looking bright again. The City of Chattanooga acquired the property and Mayor Andy Berke and Councilman Jerry Mitchell announced a plan to clean up the site. Then a local developer purchased the adjacent property to build a $200 million community called Riverton. Mayor Berke jumped at the opportunity to have STEM students design the future of the Lupton City mill site. Our sponsors will work with each STEM team to help you apply the architectural design process to discover your solution. If you are interested in design, building, and architecture and working on a project to improve the community that is a personal priority for Mayor Berke, then check out this project!
Songbirds Guitar museum is a big deal! They've gained national attention (see this USA Today article) for their amazing collection of 1,700 guitars valued at $200 million dollars (yes, that's $200,000,000.00). Located in the Choo Choo, Songbirds Guitar Museum is a guitar-oriented, pop culture experience for the whole family. To enhance their exhibits of rare and vintage guitars, STEM student teams will develop multimedia content to tell the unique stories behind these instruments and enrich the understanding of museum visitors. Each team will tell the story of a guitar and how the instruments impacted the world through the creation of short documentary films. These films will blend video, images, sound, and music to tell their stories in a creative and engaging manner. To help you out, we've also partnered with Dynamo Studios. They've provided a mobile recording rig so you can mix your tracks to create a professional sound. It is a privilege for the STEM School to work with this special museum. The team at Songbirds is passionate about guitars and more so, the people and stories behind them. They are truly excited to work with STEM students who share their passion and want to deliver an exceptional product worthy of Songbirds.
Reflection Riding Interactive Website
Question: What combines web design, conservation, and trees? Answer: Our project with Reflection Riding Arboretum and Nature Center! If you're not familiar with this scenic natural wonder, it's a 317 acre nature preserve located at the base of Lookout Mountain. Their website states "Reflection Riding has something for everyone, from a leisurely picnic under the trees, and a paddle down the creek, to a heart-pumping hike on the 15 miles of trails. It is all yours to explore!". Education Director Corey Hagen would like to enhance the experience of visitors with an interactive website to provide information on the trees at Reflection Riding. So naturally he called the STEM School to see if we had any students who could tackle the project. Coding is optional. Your team will use website development tools and curate the information for the website to provide information on the 73 different species of trees at the nature center. The best teams will blend their skill sets with web design, research, and graphics. A little dose of data management will help, too.
Kenco Gamification Project
Kenco is one of the largest supply chain management companies in the country and innovation has been a cornerstone since their founding. That's why I was excited to meet Kristi Montgomery, the Vice President of Innovation for Kenco responsible for the Kenco Innovation Labs. Kenco knows innovation and technology are critical for their future success. One area they are now exploring is called gamification. Gamification is "the process of adding games or game-like elements to something (such as a task) so as to encourage participation." It's one of the hottest topics in industry and Kenco believes gamification can improve employee engagement and reduce turnover in their warehouses. When people talk about gamification, they often think of video games, however, gamification can take many forms. What they all have in common is using games to incentivize work to make it fun. That's why Kenco reached out to the STEM School--who else would have a better idea on how to incorporate games into work?
The Hunter Museum enriches our city through the arts and benefits all ages. The goal of this project is to improve the museum experience for kids, particularly upper elementary-aged students. The staff at the Hunter Museum would liked to better connect these kids with the art exhibits in the museum. Based on their experience working with the STEM School, they reached out to enlist STEM students for help. Ideas might include using digital tablets with info on art pieces, use of Google cardboard to create a virtual experience with places and people depicted in pieces of art, to hands-on activities to encourage kids to create their own artwork. If you lean towards the arts or want to grow in your creative skills, this might be the project for you!
If you haven't heard about the Tennessee Aquarium Conservation Institute, it is awesome! They have a new facility located near the Baylor School on the Tennessee River. Its mission is to support conservation and education--and that's where you come in. TNACI Educator Hayley Wise was looking for creative ways to show the effects of how different terrain types affect water runoff and subsequently impact the water quality of the Tennessee River. What she needed is a rainfall simulator. These table-sized devices use a motorized sprinkler to simulate rainfall and water runoff for various types of terrain. TNACI would like one rainfall simulator to use at their facility and a smaller, mobile rainfall simulator to take to schools. It's the perfect project to take advantage of FabLab capabilities so if making is your thing, check out this project!
The Chattanooga Zoo engages and inspires our community to better understand and preserve wildlife by creating meaningful connections between people and animals. One of the newest exhibits at the zoo highlights tamarins--a species of monkeys found in small regions in South America. The tamarins live in a new building at the zoo but the exhibit design is not complete. That’s where STEM students come in! The zoo education team has asked STEM students to create interactive experiences to better engage zoo visitors. Possibilities include using sound and video to share the story of the tamarins which find their natural rainforest habitats encroached by development. They also would like to experiment with using video conferencing so the tamarins can interact with each other and people. Wild ideas are encouraged for a wild exhibit!
STEM Jubilee
STEM Jubilee is getting bigger and better! This annual event has become a highlight for the school and the community. The event has two goals – spread STEM and spread funds to enrich STEM programs in local schools. STEM Jubilee this year is going to be different. It is being offered as a field trip for elementary students in two days during the week in May. It is also going to be held at Coolidge Park so there are a lot of logistical items different from the past to make this work. With that in mind, Dr. Donen is looking for a team with a passion for people, systems management, and logistics to plan and execute STEM Jubilee. If that sounds like you, this could be the project for you!
