YES! The Make-a-thons are back! For those that have been in the District a few years, might remember Mike and I holding a Make-a-Thon at the middle schools, to introduce students to a new coding tool, as students (and adults) work as a team to solve a problem for someone. Those participating, use the engineering process to design a working prototype (using the technology given and lots of recycled material), that represented a way to best help their “client”. The collaboration skills, along with spending a day with a few friends, created some fun memories, as well as a great introduction to real world Computer Science and Engineering applications.
Fast forward to 2022, and now our HS CTE students have partnered up with us to not only show off what they have been up to at RHS and RVHS, but to hopefully make a connection with our middle school 8th graders, so that they might join them in future CTE courses. It is amazing to see what the high school kids are doing, what they are learning, and what they are creating, as they apply their Computer Science and Engineering skills within their CTE program. With this understanding and encouragement, we hope to see more students heading in that CTE direction (or at least get a better understanding of it).
This year we used Sam Labs blocks and the Sam Blockly platform, along with the Microbit, as our tech tools. 8th graders, with the help of a handful of CTE students, successfully created solutions to their clients problems, were able to share with others how they did it, and ate lots of pizza in the process! Check out the story that aired on KTVZ, March 4th!
A big thanks to the Central Oregon STEM Hub and the RHS and RVHS CTE program teachers for helping make this happen! It was a blast, and we hope to make it even bigger next year!
Planning
Coding
Creating
