Teacher Spotlight: Hatchet Novel Engineering Project 📚

Monroe Consolidated School
5th Grade, Fall 2023
By: Breanna Fearon

Throughout the fall, the 5th grade students worked with Amanda from WMSI to create a Novel Engineering project for the book Hatchet by Gary Paulsen. 

The Novel Engineering Process! [Tufts University Center for Engineering Education and Outreach]

While the students were reading the book, they highlighted problems that the main character, Brian, was experiencing that an engineer might be able to help with.  By the end of the book, the large list of brainstormed problems was narrowed down to five.  The 5th graders collaborated to pose a list of possible solutions to this problem. 

Doing so they were aware of the constraints to keep in mind when designing a solution that they could make in the classroom that would help Brian with his problem. Within this project they identified a problem within the story, collaborated with others in the class to think about what solution could be designed for the problem, then built it, and tested to ensure stability and functionality of solving Brian’s problem. 

This project emphasized the engineering design process, and allowed the students to redesign, test, and rebuild many times.  They were then able to present their findings to other grades in the school.  The students thoroughly enjoyed this project, and it was a great learning experience for them to come up with the problem, think of the solution, build, test, and present their solutions! 

New Program Instructor Introduction: Katherine Grazer

Kids have some awesome movie ideas! I thought to myself while helping a group of students bring their stories to life using stop motion animation during a WMSI afterschool program. WMSI has a wonderful way of encouraging students to take risks, make mistakes, and learn from those mistakes in a positive and supportive atmosphere. I first saw this when I was a science educator and AmeriCorps member with the Fairbanks Museum & Planetarium. I joined a WMSI instructor to lead astronomy programs with one of WMSI’s partner schools and found it to be a wonderful experience. 

The Ammonoosuc River is beautiful! I couldn’t help but snap a picture as I walked to the WMSI office.

I first began teaching during my time at the University of California at Davis where I worked as a teaching assistant leading laboratory and plant science classes. After finishing graduate school I went to work in agricultural research but continued to volunteer and lead educational programs at Brazos Bend State Park near my hometown of Houston, TX. My passion for sharing scientific knowledge with others eventually led me to accept a position at the Houston Museum of Natural Science where I led educational programs at the museum as well as at their satellite locations including the George Observatory. 

Here I am enjoying a winter hike!

Now I’ve joined the WMSI team as a program instructor! During my first week I shadowed seasoned WMSI program instructors as they brought STEM education to students across the North Country through a variety of mediums from robotics and coding to animating a story about a brave little cat exploring the solar system. 

Teacher Spotlight: Hands-On Science with Middle Schoolers!

WMSI at Monroe 2022-2023

By: Mike Chadburn
6th-8th Grade Science Teacher

Mike worked alongside WMSI over the school year to create project-based, hands-on lessons that could be incorporated into his science curriculum for each of the three grades he taught. Here is a sampling of his experience!

Bionics with the seventh graders:

Seventh grade students were tasked with designing a bionic implement that would assist their clients in their daily lives.  Using LEGO Spike Prime and their imagination they developed some very imaginative products…

These students invented some glasses that alert you when you are about to walk into a wall on your way to the bathroom in the middle of the night!

Makey Makey 3D Interactive Displays with the eighth graders:

After spending a few weeks researching Earth’s Geological past, the eighth graders were ready to teach the Monroe Consolidated School’s community all about their favorite geological time period.  To assist with this, WMSI worked with the 8th graders on the functionality of the Makey Makey.  The 8th graders wired up their three dimensional displays and programmed their kits so other students could interact with their models.

This model is all about the Cretaceous Period. Dinosaurs are the coolest!

This student is a little shy but her underwater world was super educational and entertaining!  This was one of our most popular interactive displays.

Circuits and Electromagnets with the sixth graders:

Have you ever wanted to listen to music but your computer speakers stop working and you just don’t have enough money to purchase a new computer? Don’t worry, with just a few household items and an electromagnet you can build your very own speakers.

These 6th graders are in the beginning stages of turning plastic cups into speakers that they can plug into their computers and cell phones.

Internship Spotlight: Sierra 🎥

Hello! My name is Sierra and I've been an intern at WMSI for about two months. In the time that I've been here I have sat in on lessons being taught, created my own lesson, made a project that can be used by students, and so much more. 

This project was created to help students learn new ways to make cardboard sturdy and easier to use. The only things that were needed to build this were cardboard, tape, glue, and a marker. It was a super easy and fun way to help out around the makerspace.

This project was created to help students learn new ways to make cardboard sturdy and easier to use!

The best part of this learning process for me was that I had the chance to create my own lesson. The lesson focused on teaching students about stop motion animation. I was with another instructor that I leaned on for help. She mainly ran the lesson while I gave ideas and shared my thoughts. This was a really big learning curve for me as I have been looking into teaching. WMSI has made this the best experience it could possibly be and I am excited to see where this takes me. 

 I have learned a lot from my time here at WMSI. Not only have I learned hard skills like work ethic, but I've learned a ton of soft skills as well. This is a community filled with kind motivational people and it was a great experience to be able to have. This helped me tremendously in all ways. I have grown personally but also learned a lot about professional work spaces. It has made me realize what I really need to work on, but also skills that I didn't know I had. This is a creative work space and everyone just comes together as a small family and that's where I feel the motivation comes from. 

Although I haven’t been here long enough to show a bunch of projects I do really appreciate the time that I was given to accomplish personal and academic goals. This is a healthy environment to grow and learn. I will hopefully be able to take what WMSI had given me and shown me to my next work place. 

White Mountain Science, Inc and FIRST New Hampshire join forces to create new STEM Opportunities for North Country Students

This partnership will expand access to technology and robotics education for students in grades PreK-12.  

LITTLETON, NH (March 24, 2023)— White Mountain Science, Inc (WMSI) and FIRST New Hampshire (FIRST NH) are excited to announce their partnership for the North Country Project, an initiative to provide schools and youth organizations in the northern communities in New Hampshire with the resources they need to introduce and sustain FIRST® programs. 

A student participates in FIRST® LEGO® League Challenge, a program for students in grades 4-8.

FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology), based out of Manchester, NH, is one of the foremost youth technology education programs in the world. Students learn coding, engineering, research, communication, and more through the challenge of building and designing a robot that has to complete certain tasks while also exploring a greater theme such as play, energy, or transporting cargo. Programs are offered for students in PreK-12 and can be done in-school or as an after school activity. 

“FIRST was founded in 1989 here in New Hampshire and now has teams all around the world.” says Frank Grossman, FIRST NH President, “Last year, more than 534,000 students participated globally and FIRST New Hampshire (FIRST NH) was established to be able to better support FIRST programs here in our home state.”

The North Country Project, which is supported by a Northern Borders Regional Commission (NBRC), the Neil and Louise Tillotson Fund and the BOSCH Community Fund, seeks to not only support schools with direct support such as robot kits and entry fees, but also with indirect support as well. 

“This project is not just about providing funding to schools and organizations for registration and robot kit materials.” said Ken St. Hilaire,  FIRST NH Director, “Instead, we are taking a more holistic approach to address all the barriers that prevent student participation, including support for local transportation, hands-on training workshops for teachers, coaches and volunteers, among others.” 

WMSI (pronounced “whimsy”), a Littleton, NH-based educational non-profit, provides STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) opportunities to students and teachers throughout northern New England.  Through this partnership, WMSI will be providing local support to the schools and organizations that are running FIRST programming in the northern communities. 

“When we look at FIRST’s mission and WMSI’s mission,” says Jeremy Knowlton, executive director of WMSI, “there is so much overlap. We are already promoting STEM education in North Country schools. Working closely with FIRST NH to provide more STEM opportunities for students in our area amplifies our impact.” 

On Saturday, May 6th, FIRST NH and WMSI will host a public exposition event for the teams supported by this new partnership at Littleton High School. It will feature a FIRST LEGO® League (FLL) Discover and FLL Explore festival, an FLL Challenge informal “competition”, and FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) and FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) demonstrations. 

This event is intended to feature all that student participants have accomplished over the year and for interested community members to learn more about how to bring FIRST to their school or organization. All are welcome to attend. Interested schools and organizations can also contact info@firstnh.org to learn more. 

About WMSI 

Started in 2013, White Mountain Science, Inc. strives to excite kids and teachers with STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) knowledge and skills and give them rich opportunities to grow as creative problem solvers. WMSI (pronounced whimsy) has offices and runs camp programs in Littleton, NH. Additionally, WMSI delivers programs to students and teachers throughout northern New Hampshire. Learn more: www.whitemountainscience.org 

About FIRST NH

Inventor Dean Kamen founded FIRST® (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) in 1989 to inspire an appreciation of science and technology in young people. Based in Manchester, N.H. FIRST designs accessible, innovative programs to help young people build self-confidence, knowledge, and life skills while motivating them to pursue opportunities in science, technology, and engineering around the world. FIRST NH is New Hampshire’s local organization, and is  dedicated to bringing FIRST programs to all students in the state. FIRST NH strives to make NH the first state in the nation where FIRST is available in every elementary, middle and high school. For more information about FIRST NH, visit firstnh.org.

New Program Instructor Introduction: Taylor Johnson

One thing is for sure- working at WMSI is one seriously fun job.

And it’s not like I don’t have anything to compare to. For instance, attempting to premeditate whether a deadly fer-de-lance snake might be precisely where I’m about to place my foot while my eyes are instead glued to binoculars in search of elusive capuchin monkeys… that’s one type of fun.

Trekking all over the high desert under a 114 degree sun in search of rare native plants- also potentially fun. Even deep diving into curriculum generation to teach about wolf conservation is what I would consider a good time!

But who gets to spend their first week at a new job testing whether their LEGO robot prototype is capable of making its way across a table without breaking apart? Or storyboarding a stop motion movie? Or designing an object in CAD and manipulating the melting temperatures of the 3D printer just to see what will happen?

First week 3D printing creations and welcome gifts from coworkers.

STEM educators at WMSI, that’s who!

White Mountain Science Inc., is truly a remarkable gem tucked into Northern New England, where creative play meets critical thinking through intentional STEM programming, access to state of the art tech, and the guiding enthusiasm of a team of passionate program instructors (a.k.a professional science nerds.) 

Taylor Johnson, Professional Science Nerd

In my first week at WMSI, I had the rare opportunity to find my inner child and experience a selection of our programming from the perspective of a student. This is a typical WMSI approach- instead of sitting through a lecture on coding, why not try it yourself and figure it out? It is clear how much value WMSI places on building a vibrant and authentic workplace culture where every new staff member is encouraged to “walk the talk” from Day 1.

With my first week under my belt and a calendar that is slowly starting to fill up with things like WMSI Winter Camp, LEGO Artificial Intelligence with the Tufts Center for Engineering Education and Outreach, and trips to partner schools near and far, I can’t wait to see how the creative energy of hundreds of young minds across New Hampshire and Vermont are shaping the future of STEM in the region.

And, importantly, I’m looking forward to continuing my quest to iterate the Silliest LEGO Walker of all time! 

The kids are going to be hard to beat!

2022 Profile High School STEAM Class Robotics Competition!

By: Amanda Carron

On November 17th, our Makerspace was visited by the STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, math) class of Profile High School for a day of robotics and competition! For the past two months, I have been visiting Mr. Kevin Briere’s workshop at Profile twice a week to develop skills in areas such as LEGO robotic motion, navigation, autonomy, and end effectors ultimately leading up to a day long event at WMSI to test out their robots.

Founder and guest speaker for the day Bill Church started the competition by discussing artificial intelligence and reinforcement learning with the same LEGO robots that the students were using for the competition!

The five competing groups needed to not only build a robot that could navigate the course and drop off game pieces such as foam balls and styrofoam boxes, they also needed to strategize. Different parts of the course and how it was navigated amounted to different point values based on difficulty level.

Solution diversity was one highlights of the day, including this team that created a robot that could travel along a slackline above the course.

WMSI started Profile’s STEAM class and has been collaborating with Mr. Briere since 2013! This year will be the third year that WMSI has hosted the students to compete against each other. As their instructor, it was a wonderful experience to see the growth and development in the students’ building and coding skills as well as witnessing their resiliency through iteration; an energy they brought with them to competition day. This mixed with their creativity and playful nature made for another awesome program and culminating day at WMSI!

🦖 🤖 🐙

Mr. Briere helping with a student’s robot

WMSI staff supported the day as judges and cheerleaders for the competition!

Teacher Spotlight: Problem-Based Learning Strategies

Written by: Shannon Wydra - Gorham Middle High School STEM Teacher and WMSI Teacher Mentor

This blog post is a little different from others I have written in the past. Normally I write about an activity my students have worked on in my STEM classroom. This post is not only about activities from my small teaching world, but also an opportunity for all teachers and classes of students from grades 6 -12. 

For the past three years my students have been entering the Samsung Solve for Tomorrow competition. I am not sure if I am capable of expressing the impact this contest has had on myself and my teaching through my writing. Yes, the prizes we have won for our school have been fantastic - a Samsung tablet, a Samsung phone, $15,000 to spend on classroom supplies - but the real impact has been non-material. I have adjusted much of my teaching to revolve around identifying, examining, and solving real world problems. The students are then tasked to create a three minute video showcase of their solution. Students work to solve problems they choose that have the potential to impact our community. My students have worked on an app to share local youth events between schools, an app and system to assist in locating lost and injured hikers (see video below), and designed and built efficient indoor plant growing systems to produce fresh local produce during the long winter months. 

My current students have begun brainstorming problems they recognize in the community. I can’t wait to see what problem they work to solve this year!

The training I have received access to simply by joining the contest has been invaluable. I have attended hours of problem based learning virtual training that was made available for all entrants the second year we entered the contest. We were fortunate to make it to the semi-final round of the competition that year, which afforded me the opportunity to become a part of the Samsung Teacher Academy. Since then I have attended monthly virtual meetings with other members of my cohort, a week long virtual training in summer 2021, and a week long training in NYC this past summer. These experiences have been slightly uncomfortable, a little bit stressful, and by far the most valuable and impactful experience for my teaching career. I have experienced the entire problem based learning process I ask my students to complete, but in 24 hours. This summer’s PBL activity culminated in each group of four teachers presenting their solutions to real world problems to a panel of professionals at Samsung headquarters.

The Samsung Solve for Tomorrow competition is now accepting applications until November 2, 2022. I encourage you to visit their website and check out how easy it is to enter. Empower your students to make a positive change in their community using STEM. 

PRESS RELEASE: LEGO Foundation Visit to White Mountain Science Inc. Offers Opportunity for Continued Playful International Collaboration

LEGO Foundation grant and Tufts collaboration has helped local non-profit advocate for more playful engineering-based learning in schools

LITTLETON, NH (September 29th , 2022)— On September 5th , 2022, White Mountain Science, Inc. (WMSI) welcomed the LEGO Foundation and Play@Heart from Denmark and the Tufts Center for Engineering Education and Outreach (Tufts CEEO) from Medford, MA to the White Mountains. WMSI (pronounced “whimsy”), a Littleton, NH-based educational non-profit, provides STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) opportunities to students and teachers throughout northern New England. This international collaboration began in Fall 2021 when the LEGO Foundation awarded a $2.8 million grant to Tufts CEEO to amplify the work of organizations like WMSI that are engaged in playful engineering-based learning (PEBL).

“Our schools and partners have benefited tremendously from this grant,” says Amanda Carron, WMSI’s PEBL Fellow and Associate Director of Programs. “We have been able to consult with more teachers, hire more staff, and offer more programming directly to students. This grant has really amplified our impact and reach to more people than ever before.” In the 2021-22 school year, a record 900 students and 145 teachers participated in WMSI programming across a service area of over 2,000 square miles.

The grant not only has allowed WMSI to expand their reach, but also to be intentional about making programming more playful. During the visit, WMSI, the LEGO Foundation, and Tufts CEEO discussed how impactful incorporating more play has been on students in their respective communities and the strategies each has used to better support schools.

“Whether a school is in a small town in Northern New Hampshire or in a city in Denmark, students benefit from play,” explained Jeremy Knowlton, WMSI’s executive director, “We know that it is a natural way for kids to learn. We see how well they respond to it. The people at the LEGO Foundation are experts in play, and incorporating their feedback, input, and ideas into our programming at WMSI will only make it that much better.”

Of course, the visit was not without time for play and innovation. True to the nature of their missions, the three organizations played together with some of the STEM tools used in WMSI programming- creating a Rube Goldberg-style soccer machine.

Representatives from the LEGO Foundation, Play@Heart, Tufts CEEO, and WMSI craft a Rube Goldberg-style soccer machine during their visit to WMSI in Littleton, NH on September 5th, 2022

The day wrapped up with a viewing of the brand new documentary showcasing WMSI’s work with local schools and community partners, allowing the LEGO Foundation to directly see the impact of the grant on the community. Created by filmmaker Keanu Jones in collaboration with Tufts CEEO, the documentary can be seen on WMSI's website at the link below.

The LEGO Foundation will return to the area in April 2023 to visit local schools and work with teachers. “This visit is the next step in a long term collaboration between WMSI and the LEGO Foundation,” said Knowlton, “and we are excited to continue exchanging ideas on how to make both North Country and Danish schools more playful and engaging for our respective students.”

About The LEGO Foundation

Based in Billund, Denmark, the LEGO Foundation strives to make learning through play a priority for every child. By working with all kinds of partners, including parents, teachers, caregivers, policymakers, academics, businesses, grassroots organizations, NGOs and governments, all over the world, the LEGO Foundation is working on creating and advocating for systemic, evidence-based change to how adults help children learn. Together with their partners, the LEGO Foundation is opening the world’s eyes to the incredible potential in every child – when children are free to learn as they play.

About WMSI

Started in 2013, White Mountain Science, Inc. strives to excite kids and teachers with STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) knowledge and skills and give them rich opportunities to grow as creative problem solvers. WMSI (pronounced whimsy) has offices and runs camp programs in Littleton, NH. Additionally, WMSI delivers programs to students and teachers throughout northern New Hampshire. Learn more: www.whitemountainscience.org

About Tufts Center for Engineering Education and Outreach

Tufts Center for Engineering Education and Outreach (CEEO) is an interdisciplinary center dedicated to creating the next generation of problem solvers, kindergarten through college, through engineering education. Housed within Tufts University School of Engineering, Tufts CEEO is home to students, staff, postdoctoral fellows, and faculty from engineering, education, child development, and computer science who collaborate on educational research and educational tool and technology development. Working to bridge the divide between research and practice, Tufts CEEO’s outreach team works to transform research into programs and resources that can be used by stakeholders and provide continuous feedback to researchers. Partnerships with global corporations and foundations help to further disseminate knowledge and tools generated at the center. Learn more: ceeo.tufts.edu.

Teacher Spotlight: Teaching Evolution with Robotics

Written by: Melissa Jellison - High School Science Teacher at Lisbon Regional School and WMSI Teacher Mentor

It’s the end of the school year and I was looking for a hands-on way to teach evolution. Then it dawned on me the number of changes or evolutions that robots go through as you figure out a way to accomplish a task—enter the Spike Prime Robotics Kits. 

Students just finished a unit on genetics which was a great way to get us headed down the right path. Students started building their F1 generation robots by deciding as a group what traits would be dominant or recessive. To figure this out, students had two days to play with the kits and build robots using the tutorials. Traits such as having 4 wheels or using sensors were determined to be dominant characteristics and traits such as needing “glasses” and having three wheels as recessive characteristics. Students then used the picker wheel to determine which traits their robot would acquire.

Students then coded their robots to get food and water in their environment (food being random toys and water being blue construction paper on the floor). Students and their robots had to overcome the struggle for existence by competing in 5-minute rounds in which they had to go from their pre-determined “habitat” and move their robot to a water source and a food source. Students competed to see which robot species would be the dominant species and had survival of the fittest.

Each robot went through several evolution stages. They practiced natural selection by selecting traits they thought would be advantageous to the environment. As they tinkered with their code (microevolution) they tried different variations and then ultimately had to pick the code that would get them their resources fastest. This determined who the robots “mated” with. The second generation of robots was determined by mate choice and natural selection.

Just as students and robots were feeling comfortable, the picker wheel came on out again. Robots had to evolve to a variety of different scenarios. Some robots had to migrate, some lost their nearest food source due to genetic drift, some gained mutations that made them lose a wheel, and a cataclysmic earthquake occurred that created a rift between a robot’s habitat and their only water source. An unplanned “fortunate” mistake was when a student’s computer battery died. The student wanted to start the competition over but another student pointed out that sometimes species just aren’t “strong enough.”

In the end, some robots survived and others went extinct which is what happens in real life. By building the robots students got to apply their knowledge and apply it differently and saw the concepts come to life. Students were using the vocabulary correctly and they were having deep discussions about what traits or behaviors would be the most beneficial. This was the first time I’ve used Spike Prime to teach Evolution, and I can guarantee that it won’t be the last.

Robots crawl their way into Edd Fenn’s 2nd Grade

By: Jeremy Knowlton

A buzz of excited energy built up in the sunlit classroom as Mrs. Knight called the students to circle up on the rug. Each student patiently waited their turn as Mrs. Knight called upon them to share what they designed last time, how it went, and how they’d like to improve on their work. The students shared their successes, strategized on how to build on their failures, and talked about what they want wanted to build today (a “flying helicopter, a car, a treehouse!”) Soon, students were broken up into groups and eagerly digging into their robotics boxes, ready for another STEM adventure with their partner.

Brainstorming with Mrs. Knight

Designing a ride that only operates when a sensor is triggered

My visit to Mrs. Knight’s and Mrs. Morin’s 2nd graders wrapped up a two month collaboration with the goal of getting engaging robotics curriculum into the hands of Ed Fenn students. Mrs. Knight and Mrs. Morin were excited to collaborate and add something new to their STEM curriculum. With WMSI support and coaching, they framed goals, discussed strategy, underwent training, and borrowed robotics kits from WMSI’s lendable library. This project was supported by SAU 20’s larger initiative to evolve the way teachers create, facilitate, and assess projects

A brainstorming tool WMSI and Ed Fenn teachers used to frame this project and begin the coaching process

Mrs. Knight, Mrs. Morin, and I worked to give the students a structure that would emphasize exploration, choice, challenge, and an environment of learning through play. The unit we built together gave the students opportunities to collaborate, iterate on their ideas, deal with failure, be silly, and play their way to some beautiful and useful designs!

At the height of problem solving and play as these students code their helicopter to spin

Students excitedly explain the ins and outs of their draw bridge

Students designed four builds during the unit. They began by exploring guided builds that increased in difficulty and problem solving. Students designed moving bridges, helicopters, treehouses, and amusement park rides. By the end of the unit, students began foraying into their own designs, coming up with innovative new ways to combine motors, sensors, and building blocks to solve problems.

Just a robot and its code

These 2nd grade students will continue to be challenged and play with STEM throughout their time at Ed Fenn and then Gorham Middle High, with engaging science and engineering units waiting at every grade, robotics clubs, a state of the art STEM Lab, and after school programming with WMSI and others. These builds (the first robots these students have ever put together!) will be proceeded by many other engaging adventures in STEM!

Teacher Spotlight: A Lesson in Persistence

Written by: Shannon Wydra - Gorham Middle High School STEM Teacher and WMSI Teacher Mentor

This activity is facilitated using the Paper Walking Robot activity published by: jegatheesan.soundarapandian on instructables.com.

I utilize the paper dog as an opening project for a quarter long robotics course. Students are tasked with creating a paper dog that will walk down a cardboard ramp and pass the finish line.

Supplies are easy: some different weights of paper, scissors, rulers, and a cardboard ramp. Most times it takes about one hour for almost all students to complete the task.

Simple tools for a cool project

All of these dogs were made by one student on day 2. 

The best part of the project is that students will get frustrated! They will also cheer each other on, help each other, and share in a common goal. This quarter’s students did not have a single walking dog at the end of their first class. I told them not to worry they would be able to work the next day too.

At the end of day two there were two dogs that walked down the ramp. Every student in the class was successful eventually. They:

• Never gave up.

• Kept iterating and testing their dogs

• Tried different paper, different folds, different angles until they found a workable combination

They were all persistent!

New Program Instructor Introduction: Erin Glocke

When I first moved to Littleton in 2016, I remember being instantly smitten. With the mighty Ammonoosuc as its ever-present, ever-flowing backbone, the town felt like a true hidden gem tucked away in the mountains; bursting with budding friendships, engaged community, art, music, and potential. It somehow captured the sweet spot I craved between slow, simple pleasures and a vibrancy that foretold growth and opportunity.

I dug through my phone and found an old photo I took several years ago - the Ammonoosuc has always captivated me!

Despite my love for Littleton, a decision steeped mostly in antsy-ness led me to leave after a few years and venture off. One master's degree, three moves, and two jobs later, Littleton crept back into my life like an old friend - the kind you only talk to a few times a year, but when you finally get back together, you laugh late into the night and pick up as though no time has passed. Where I had felt transient, like a seed blowing in the wind, I instead felt an absolute surety - it was time to go back home and plant my roots in a community that, even after years away, still held a special place in my heart.

My newest view of the river - I love starting the day with a cup of coffee and watching the morning light shimmer off the water

The open Program Instructor position at WMSI felt like a sign that my decision to return to the North Country was universe-approved. I remember talking to Jeremy Knowlton when he first moved to Littleton about the science education job he was working in a scrappy, bold, and imaginative organization based in Bethlehem. I was thrilled to learn that in the years that I had gone off and grown, WMSI had done the same, building itself into a hub of youth-centered innovation and collaboration that had space for a new team member right at the time when I was looking for a place to land.

My first week at WMSI simultaneously felt like the beginning of an exciting, new adventure and a return to something deeply familiar. The week consisted of tinkering with robotics, conversations about equity in education, walking meetings along the river, and several opportunities to shadow Mobile STEM Lab programs in action. As I’ve sat in various classrooms across the region, surrounded by the sounds of students rifling through LEGO bins, collaborating animatedly, and problem-solving the challenges of their projects, I have been reminded of why I’ve been pulled to education at almost every turn of my life - to help people get excited, curious, and confident.

Working on code for LEGO Spike Prime robotics with students at Colebrook - a new tool for me too!

In only one week, WMSI’s mission of exciting students and teachers about STEM and growing creative-problem solvers has been evident in all that the WMSI team does, both internally and externally. I am thrilled to have found myself enveloped in a culture of constant question-asking and improvement-seeking, where elevating youth experience and growth is always the top priority. Returning to Littleton and joining the WMSI team really feels like a homecoming, and I am excited to see what the future here holds.

Teacher Spotlight: Learning Physics Through Play

By Melissa Jellison, High School Science Teacher at Lisbon Regional School and WMSI Teacher Mentor

When you think of a high school Physics class you might imagine blackboards covered in formulas and students sitting at their desks with graphing calculators punching numbers to predict how far a weighted sled might travel if pushed down a hill. What you might not imagine is kids actually sledding and playing.

Learning through play is important at any age; high school included. Playing has a way of bringing concepts to life. The use of play in the classroom helps students to explore the world around them and naturally helps to develop creative problem solving and creativity. In my physics classroom, we utilize play a lot. While learning the relationship between distance, velocity, and time, before students plugged variables into calculators they designed sleds and we went sledding. Based on childhood memories, students built cardboard sleds. The available materials were cardboard, duct tape, and plastic sheeting. Students used the engineering design process to build their sleds. They had to set goals for their sled, advertise their design, and test their design. 

Through the testing of the sleds, they learned fundamental concepts of physics without opening the textbook. Building and working through the design and play process allowed students to ask questions and make observations without fear of “getting it wrong.” Play creates a safe zone for learning new content.

New Program Instructor Introduction

By Emily Stanislawski

When I told my friends and family back home in Wisconsin that I had accepted this job as a Program Instructor here at WMSI, many were curious as to my “why”. As in: “Emily, WHY in the world are you moving halfway across the country by yourself for a job?” And, honestly, though I had some ideas forming, I didn’t really know myself. All I knew was that I had a feeling that good things were happening at WMSI and that I wanted to be a part of them. I took that feeling and ran with it and after a long drive filled with twisty back roads and plenty of podcasts, I made it safely to 23 Ammonoosuc St for my first day of work. 

That’s me!

Now, I do have a background in STEM and in education, but I have generally focused on ecology. Working with coding, robots, and electronics is all relatively new to me. So, my first few days I took some time to familiarize myself with the materials. I made a game in Scratch using a controller I made with Makey Makey. I made a stop-motion movie. I built several LEGO models using SPIKE Prime- all using the same lessons that we use with WMSI students. Even better, later in the week I tagged along to observe that programming in action- and learned even more about the lessons from the students themselves.

With those observations, I completed my first week. Through these experiences I have been able to start putting to words just what it is about WMSI that drew me here- my “WHYs”.

WHY: The mission. 

I’ll let you read it here: “At WMSI we strive to excite kids and teachers about STEM knowledge and skills and help them grow as creative problem solvers.” I have seen this mission be put to action in every interaction I have seen so far and it is clear that everything is done with the mission in mind. The words “excite” and “grow” give space for learners to truly engage with the materials without having to focus on an end product- an important part of process-focused learning and definitely how I want to learn and teach. 

WHY: The people. 

From my new coworkers, to the interns, to the teachers, students and everyone in between, each person who I have met through WMSI has been a joy. I have seen so much curiosity, creativity, kindness, resiliency, and drive- how can you go wrong with that? 

WHY: The culture of change.

My first day, I was shown some tables that were built so the white-board covered tops can come off and nest in the rolling base (see below) so that they store nicely when they are not being used. Much of the space was intentionally designed to move, change, and constantly be a work in progress so that it can fit the needs of the myriad programs that are held here. And, that attitude is not limited to the physical space. Even in just a week, I have heard so many conversations about how to keep bettering programming, community interactions, and more. Reflection and evaluation make progress and it is great to see it in action. 

How neat are these tables? Useful and efficient!

I know that as time goes on and I start to settle into my new role, I will be able to add more “whys” to this list. There is so much more to come, and I am so excited to continue to grow as both a teacher and a learner with WMSI.

A token of welcome from the team.

WMSI's Inventors Camp for Girls & The Return of Dr. Zibi Turtle!

We just finished our 2021 Inventors Camp for Girls! A week where we welcome all girls/non-binary to join us in a week of innovation, creativity, and WMSI-cal fun. Over the week, we were fortunate enough to speak with two inventors! One was Whitney who works with a company in North Carolina making armatures for stop-motion animation puppets!

Learning about Whitney’s job as an armature inventor!

Our other inventor showcased was Dr. Zibi Turtle, a planetary scientist, who was also able to speak with us back in 2019 for our Inventors Camp.

Dr. Turtle joining us over Zoom in 2019

This year, Dr. Turtle was not able to join us live virtually, but after watching her TED Talk, our campers asked her some questions via email regarding a project she is a part of called Dragonfly: a robotic rotorcraft that is going to be sent to the surface of Titan, the largest moon of Saturn!

Here is what we were curious about and Dr. Turtle’s responses…

How’s Dragonfly able to live on Titan without recharging its battery? Or how is it powered? Can it be charged using something from Titan?

Dragonfly is designed to use the same power source as the Mars Curiosity and Perseverance rovers.  It's called a Multi-Mission Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator, so people like to call it an MMRTG for short :)  We can't use solar power because of how far Titan is from the Sun and because Titan's atmosphere is hazy, which reduces the amount of sunlight at Titan's surface even further -- Titan's day is about as bright as a night on Earth with a full Moon, so it's pretty easy to see, but it's not bright enough to generate solar power.

Dragonfly is designed to use the MMRTG to charge a really big battery.  Most of the science measurements and all of Dragonfly's flights will be done during the day on Titan, and then we'll recharge the battery overnight.

Days and nights on Titan are much longer than on Earth -- each Titan day is 8 Earth days!

How long did it take to come up with the idea for Dragonfly?

People have been thinking of ways to explore Titan for a few decades, including orbiters, different types of flying robots like large balloons or an airplane, landers, and even a capsule that would be able to float on a Titan sea!  With all of the work that went into these earlier mission ideas, and all of the data from Cassini and Huygens, there was a lot of information to start from, and the idea for Dragonfly actually came about pretty quickly over just a few months.  Then we had to spend a lot of time working out all of the details of how all the parts of the lander and mission will actually work!

We started working Dragonfly in winter 2016, and our first proposal describing Dragonfly to NASA was submitted in April 2017.  There was another round of proposals between December 2017 and April 2019, and happily NASA selected Dragonfly to become a mission in June 2019 :)  Of course, there has been a lot of work to refine the mission design throughout this process and since Dragonfly was selected, but the basic mission idea has stayed the same.

How can it fit all the supplies there and back?

This is a big challenge, and the engineering team is working hard to find ways to make sure everything fits for each stage of the mission.  The lander needs to be able to carry everything with it: all of the instrumentation, the power source, the antenna to communicate with Earth, etc.  And the lander itself needs to fit into the vehicle that carries it to Titan and protects it as it enters Titan's atmosphere.  There are hundreds of people working on Dragonfly at this point, and finding ways to make everything fit is one of our major activities!

How heavy is Dragonfly?

Dragonfly is about the same size as the Mars rovers.  We're still working out details of the lander design so we don't know the mass yet, but it will be several hundred kilograms!

Is it called Dragonfly because it kind of looks like one?

We liked the name Dragonfly because, as you say, it resembles one a bit in how it looks, and also how Dragonfly travels, flying from place to place and landing at new sites to explore.

What got you interested in what you do?

When I was a kid, I was always interested in astronomy and space exploration, and I watched lots of shows like Nova about the Voyager and Viking missions, NASA's Space Shuttle, etc., and I spent a lot of time at the Boston Museum of Science too :)

I remember it being so exciting to see new places being explored and to see how much we still didn't know about our own Solar System, and even our own Earth when seen from the different perspective of being in orbit.  It was also really interesting to see how people built robots and machines to travel to and to work in such distant and different environments, and to think about how people might be able to one day get to explore them in person!

I feel really lucky to be able to work in this field that has fascinated me since I was a kid! 

Internship Spotlight: Coltrane & LEGO Education SPIKE Prime!

Hello! My name is Coltrane and I’m an instructor here at WMSI. In the past I’ve worked with several STEM tools such as Scratch, EV3, and Micro:bit, and I’ve made lesson plans and other materials for them. The one I’ve worked with the most is Scratch, which is a website that makes it easier for kids to code through a system of connecting blocks together instead of having to type out lines of code. In the case of Scratch, I’ve created a number of “1 Page Guides” which explain how Scratch works and are tutorials of sorts, walking people through how to create small games and programs in Scratch and teaching them how to create their own programs in the process. I even combined a bunch of them into a Scratch handbook that went over almost everything Scratch-related.

Over the past couple months I’ve been working with a new piece of hardware called LEGO Education SPIKE Prime. SPIKE Prime is the next generation of EV3, and works pretty similarly to an EV3 but with a new coat of paint and a very different coding interface, along with a handful of new features and improvements. When I first started working with SPIKE Prime it wasn’t too hard for me to start coding with the program, as it uses practically the same interface as Scratch, but the motors and sensors that the SPIKE Prime uses weren’t so easy to effectively utilize.

One of the 1 page guides I made was The Safe Cracking Game: it shows how to use a motor with a wheel and how to develop a code that allowed the user to sense the position of the wheel, similar to a safe.

I did a lot of experimenting with the different sensors and unique code blocks that SPIKE Prime had to offer, and I made some of the previously mentioned 1 page guides explaining things as I experimented with them and learned how to use them effectively. I built a bunch of different SPIKE bots and cars, and tried to use each one to further my understanding of a certain topic in SPIKE. For instance, one of the builds that I made was a car with two motorized wheels and a third motor to move a distance sensor and a color sensor up and down. I made some programs that used the color and distance sensor for different purposes, like making the robot do different things when it sensed different colors (pictured below).

While I’ve learned a lot about SPIKE Prime so far, I still plan to continue using it and continue learning about all the different ways that the hardware and software can be used to make fun and educational programs and robots. I might even use what I’ve learned to create a handbook similar to the one I created for Scratch as an introductory tool to help more people get invested in SPIKE Prime in the same way I did.

WMSI Interns continue to creatively solve problems remotely this school year.

Internship Spotlight: Joe’s 3D Printed Marble Run

The step by step process on how my marble run was made!

By Joe Woodson

I was inspired to create a marble run for the WMSI maker space after I saw some of the amazing marble runs that are located at The Montshire Museum of Science.

While the marble runs like the one shown in the picture above are made with metal, the pieces for the marble run that I have created were made by using a 3D printer. Plastic wax was melted through a nozzle and a step by step code was used to print the individual pieces out. Magnets are used to hold the pieces onto the board which form the actual marble run.

Most marble runs are enclosed in a glass case so people won't be able to mess around with the inner parts that could be easily damaged, but my marble run is kid/young inventor friendly. The main purpose of this marble run was to have it be interactive for kids so they would be able to move the pieces around to different spots on the magnet board themselves rather than having them look at one big constant loop. Since the individual pieces are made of hard plastic, they are almost impossible to break, making them perfect for kids to play and experiment with.

How the pieces were printed

The codes for all of the individual pieces were created on an online website called Tinkercad. On this website you can create all sorts of different types of designs and objects by only using basic shapes like cubes, cylinders, pyramids, and many more! 

Once the pieces were completed, they were all placed into a measuring system called Cura that shrank them down to the size of the bed of the 3D printer. After the codes were then placed into a small removable drive, the removable drive was then placed into the 3D printer and all that was left to do was to set the printer up and wait a couple of hours for the pieces to finish printing.  

The Backboard

The base for the marble run is made of a standard strip of wooden peg board. The original plan for the marble run was to have small pegs stick into the individual pieces and have all of them line up in the peg board holes to form the actual structure the marble will roll down. Unfortunately there were some problems with how the pieces lined up on the board. The marble continuously fell off of the pieces and dropped to the floor. The whole structure was not very strong, so I eventually decided to change the whole design of the marble run from wooden, to magnetic.  

The Magnetic Wall

I replaced the wooden peg board wall with two large magnetic boards and took all of the individual pieces and hot - glued small magnets onto them.

The magnetic system is much better than the old wooden peg board system. All of the pieces fit to the board much better now, and it is a much smoother running for all of the marbles.

The Elevator

The marble run is equipped with an elevator made out of LEGO Technic pieces that carries the marbles to the top of the run and drops them onto the first piece. Since the marble run was created for it to be played with by small hands, the elevator is operated by a pulley system that kids can operate themselves rather than having a motor turning the gears for them. The elevator’s skeleton is made with LEGO Technic beams and a variety of small gears. The chain holding the marble is made up of LEGO treads and the prongs holding the marbles are also made up of pieces from the LEGO Technic set. 

At the bottom of the marble run, there is a bin that holds all of the pieces that are not being used. The bin also contains a hole at the bottom so that when the marbles fall into the bin, they roll through the hole and into the Scoop.The Scoop at the bottom of the marble run is where the marbles are loaded onto the pulley system where they are brought to the top.

This 3D Printed Marble Run took a very large amount of time to create and a large amount of imagination too. Made up and held together with just plastic wax, wood, LEGO pieces, and a good amount of glue!

Listed below are the websites that were used to create the marble run pieces. If whoever may be reading this likes the idea of 3D printing, you can click on the link below to start designing your own creations! 

Tinkercad:  https://www.tinkercad.com/ 

Cura: https://ultimaker.com/software/ultimaker-cura

WMSI Interns continue to creatively solve problems remotely this school year.

A WMSI Story, Part 2

In part one of this blog post I wrote about how I began my career as a STEM educator and saw WMSI evolve during my first year as an employee. In this installment, I’ll explore some of the organizational structures that took root as WMSI continued to grow and explore different projects.

Early Remote Work Systems

In the months after living in Franconia, New Hampshire my life fell into the rhythm of seasonal work and a rock climbing wanderlust that led me across the western U.S. Throughout this time I wondered about ways that I could continue to make STEM education a part of my story. The opportunity came when I was back in New England for a couple months at the end of 2017. WMSI was beginning to create our own web-based educational tools and I leapt at the chance to build an “Internet of Things” demo for a storefront window in Bethlehem. 

This web page was part of a public demo for controlling robots via the Internet

This development time enabled us to set up our own web server and host a site on it called wmsinh.org. I was thrilled by this opportunity to build a web application (something I’d always wanted to do) and the many branches for potential learning. Our web development efforts opened a door for me to keep working with WMSI as long as I had Internet access! From places as distant and diverse as Moab, Utah and El Chalten, Argentina I was able to log on and continue building our web app. 

More importantly, these experiences laid the groundwork for remote work systems that became increasingly a part of WMSI’s infrastructure as time went on. Thanks to the flexibility of my coworkers I was able to continue contributing to our projects from thousands of miles away. These experiences helped me achieve a better work-life balance than I had ever thought possible, while continuing to hone my technical and educational skills. 

Web App Exploration

Our first forays into hosting a web application felt more like adventurous bushwacking than a well-planned hike along a trail. We experimented with the idea of helping users create and plot their own “data stories” through wmsinh.org and a Scratch extension of our creation. This was my first time working with a completely open source project like Scratch, and I was both humbled and excited by the opportunity to collaborate, even tangentially, with the inventors of a worldwide educational platform. Though these development efforts never became a full-fledged part of our program offerings, they did help me acquire the skills to build other online tools for WMSI.

Our custom Scratch extension and data-tracking web page.

Sharing STEM Resources

In August 2018, the New Hampshire state legislature voted to add computer science (CS) as a core K-12 subject. While this may have created some stress for school administrators, we were glad to be in a position to help schools meet these new standards. As part of this effort, we began creating a Computer Science Resource Site in early 2019. The goal was to create a gathering place for CS activities that teachers could easily sort through and find lessons for their classrooms. The final rendition of this site would go on to include activities from all STEM disciplines, including WMSI originals and lessons sourced from our favorite educational sites.

This version of the Computer Science Resource site was eventually expanded to include lessons from all STEM fields.

Working Through 2020

As much as my role as a remote developer/ educator felt like a fun side gig at times, this changed completely in spring of 2020. Suddenly working from home became the norm, and around the world people were struggling to answer the question of how to effectively teach through computers. At WMSI we launched the Learn Engineering Online (LEO) initiative, an umbrella project that grew to encompass everything from restructured professional development to remote summer camps. Consequently the scope of my work with WMSI also changed, and meeting with the rest of WMSI’s staff suddenly became more routine. Though I appreciated this increased connection with my coworkers, I was mostly saddened by the learning opportunities lost to so many students. 

Writing about the pandemic is hard because it still feels so present. However, something that really stuck with me from this spring was how quickly the WMSI team adapted to continue offering programs to anyone who still wanted to create and solve problems. Through an immense effort by our Youth Programs staff, we soon began hosting Family Fun nights and Game-Building workshops, giving young STEM learners much-needed activities to do at home. Within a month of LEO starting we released a summer camp schedule with many of the same topics that would be in a typical summer. The innovative program structure even brought new learners to our programs, who could join from places as remote as New York and California.

My time supporting these programs hit a big transition stage at the end of summer 2020. After 4 years of seasonal and part-time work I had finally accepted a full-time position in the role that WMSI has taught me so well: being a STEM educator. Looking back, it’s abundantly clear that I would not have the skills I do today without the mentorship, support, and playful environment that I found at WMSI. I know that this doesn’t mark the end of my time with this organization, and I look forward to continuing to celebrate our shared passion for creative problem solving.