NEWS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
BULLITT COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS
Keith Davis, Superintendent
John Roberts, Media Relations
John.Roberts@bullitt.kyschools.us
PHONE: (502) 869-8000
FAX: (502) 869-8019
Cedar Grove Elementary School
Introduces STEM Lab to Students
No one could blame Matthew McCubbins if he ran down the hallway to Rebecca Morris’
science classroom.
“It’s time for STEM Lab,” exclaimed the fifth grader from Theresa Whicker’s class as
he took a seat.
The Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Lab is void of desks.
Tables form a circle around a cart which immediately captures the gaze of students.
On the cart are LEGO WeDo Kits. Each Kit has all the ingredients for powerhouse
learning.
“This is the first year Cedar Grove implemented a STEM Lab as one of the special
areas,” Morris said. “The Lab is focusing on how these subjects are connected in the world
around us. Students will work as scientists answering questions and engineers solving
problems about their world.”
Principal Andy Moberly has long wanted to implement a STEM Lab and modified the
school special area schedule time to work through the design process on a project.
“Students come to the Lab for five consecutive days on a three-week rotation,” she said.
And even that is not enough time when each class only lasts for 50 minutes.
“I could stay here all day long,” Thomas Holland said as he worked on the midsection
of a giant LEGO.
Each table features a group of students who manage their WeDo Kit. An instruction
manual details how to create a specific LEGO model, which can then be connected to a
computer for students to make animatronic.
Due to each Kit containing numerous pieces, some of them quite small, Morris
systematically allows each table group to inventory their Kits components before and after
each session.
“Sometimes, the biggest challenge is slowing them down because everyone wants to
work with the WeDo Kits at once,” she smiled.
Amid the buzz of student chatter, Brady Bowlin stood next to a computer monitor as
Matthew clicked on commands causing their LEGO alligator to raise and close its jaws.
“It took about three hours total to build the robot then program it to move,” Brady said
proudly. “It’s cool when it does what we want it to do.”
Or, in the case of Nick Bishop and Trevor Wilkerson, it was watching the head of their
LEGO lion take an unexpected flight, thanks to an experimental computer command.
“The plan was for the mouth to open, not the head to pop off,” Nick said. “We’ll call
this a learning curve.”
Morris said students have progressed in working together as engineering teams to meet
design challenges.
“They see the benefit of sharing ideas and analyzing results from their initial plan as
they make improvements to the technology they created,” she said.
Learning targets such as identifying the main LEGO WeDo components and explaining
how they are used and vocabulary terms such as robotics, USB hub, motor, tilt sensor and
motion sensor have been mastered by STEM Lab students.
“Students are also learning to think logically and create a program to produce a specific
behavior of their robot,” Morris added. “They are becoming our future scientists’ and
engineers.”
Bullitt County Public Schools has over 13,200 students in grades preschool through 12.
There are 25 school facilities, a certified staff of over 900 and a classified staff of over 800
working to make the district the leader in educational excellence.