FabSLAM

FabSLAM is another great grant opportunity that was offered by the Idaho STEM Action Center. The STEM Action Center has done a fantastic job of providing educators with grants that provide training and materials. Recipients of the FabSLAM grant received two days of training, a 3D printer, and the ability to participate in a FabSLAM Showcase.

FabSLAM is a 3D design challenge. This year's theme is transportation. Students work over the course of eight weeks to identify a problem and rapid prototype a solution. Student teams create a web page that explains the design process, presentation, and a prototype that uses at least some 3D printing.

The school librarian and I teamed up to offer this opportunity to our students in 5th through 8th grades. We allowed students to create and submit teams they created. They could also let us know they were interested in participating and we would place them on a team. One of the biggest challenge we faced was when could we have meetings so any interested students could participate. If we have meetings before or after school, it limits who can participate due to parents being able to provide rides. Therefore, we established weekly lunch meetings that are optional and created a FabSLAM team on Microsoft Teams for students to be able to collaborate outside of school. I will share updates as time permits. Hopefully, our seven teams will enjoy and learn from the process.

FabSLAM Timeline

FabSLAM Guide

FabSLAM Rubric

Family Engineering Night

Last night was our school's third annual Family Engineering Night.  I am able to run the event all on my own thanks to the fantastic kits by Family Engineering (http://www.familyengineering.org/).  The kits come with activities prepped and ready to go.  It is important to remember to purchase the guide which comes separate from the kits.  Even in the third year of holding the event, I am able to add fun new activities to the ones that came prepared in the initial kit.

The main activity last night was having families create an artistic robot out of craft materials, a small motor, and a AA battery.  I waited to offer help until it was needed, and we had a variety of creative ideas.  Caution: Some ideas did involve ink from the washable markers creating a splatter effect.