For the second year in a row, Salem Community Schools was awarded the STEM Integration grant. Totalling $44,582, STEAM Director Jessica Morgan is thrilled to have received the grant again.

“This year, the focus will be on computer science,” she said. “We will have training for 10 teachers to learn how to integrate computer science into core classes.”

Morgan has started using the funds already to purchase more supplies for the lab including robots and micro:bits that can be used at all three school buildings. She said a new 3D printer has been bought for Bradie Shrum and computer science building and design kits have been purchased for 6th and 7th grades, which will include coding. 

“All of this falls in line with the conference that I went to this summer, along with Crystal Mikels and Casey Fields,” said Morgan. “We went to Computer Science Professional Development (CSPD) week in Bloomington in June. This grant will help us incorporate a lot of what we learned at the training into our classrooms.”

Some examples of ways computer science will be included in the classroom are for math class: using micro:bits to put on shoes and count steps, using different speeds and then taking the information and creating graphs.

In history class, students can make games by taking famous people in history and making informational links about the person for people to click on and learn more about them in presentations.

Morgan is looking forward to school starting and sharing these ideas with teachers to make learning more hands-on and fun for students at Salem schools.

“This grant will help us integrate technology into the classroom even more than we have already,” she said. “It’s going to be a great school year.”