Teachers from Bay, Gulf and Holmes School Districts in Florida worked alongside scientists and engineers from the Naval Surface Warfare Center to teach more than 100 middle school students at the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Institute, a collaborative effort of FSU Panama City and the Naval Surface Warfare Center Panama City Division.  The training was hosted by the Gulf Coast Community College (GCCC).

The Department of Defense provided $290,000 in grant funding for training, materials and logistics for a summer program as well as classroom materials for the upcoming school year.

The teachers were trained to use inquiry-based learning techniques in their own classrooms.  During the school year, STEM professionals will join teachers for several days to expose students to an actual practicing STEM professional who can share how their math and science studies can lead to exciting careers with the Department of Defense.

Some students worked with sports materials. After cutting open footballs, tennis balls and baseballs, the students were encouraged to figure out why the density and materials of each ball was appropriate for its sport. Some students even began learning about the physics behind the stitches on a baseball.

"It's a fabulous program, using a teaching style the kids aren't accustomed to. Especially in science class, they get a lot of lectures.  This is more hands-on, and the teachers aren't direct teaching, they're more of a coach," said Beverly Barron, a teacher at Everitt Middle School.  "Every day, before [the kids] go home, I ask them 'What did you think?' and they were all like ‘It was fun, why can't class always be like this?'"

Other students worked with programmable robotics kits to solve potential real world problems. The students learned how to program the robots using a graphical programming language that could control movement and an array of sensors, including light, sonic and pressure.  A particular group was tasked with creating a robot that could navigate a course while avoiding toy snakes placed throughout.

"I thought it was fun and educational. If I had the chance to do it again, I would. My favorite part was the robots," said Nick Arias, a student at Bay Haven Academy.

The training sessions focused upon inductive learning strategies, encouraging students to seek out new information and problem solving methods to respond to challenges that arose during their project, reflecting potential situations faced by real scientists and engineers.

"This idea of seeking to share with young students the impact and value of science and engineering is just fantastic. It's very important from the Department of Navy standpoint because we've got to grow and raise those future engineers and scientists," commented Dr. "Ace" Summey, NSWC PCD Technical Director. "We have a lot of challenging problems we've got to be able to solve, and having these students and engineers coming on board and grasping some of the principles right now is critical. It's amazing what the students are able to do."

Pope Thrower contributed to this report.

Photo Caption

STEM Summer Institute participants work on assembling their robot. This particular group was tasked to build a robot to hunt, detect, and record the location of Pythons in the Florida Everglades for removal since the snakes are not indigenous to the region. Pictured from left to right are: Kasey Lugo of Adventist Christian Academy, Daniel Fowler of Rutherford High School, and Casey Doyle.  (RELEASED) Photo by Dan Broadstreet