Students in the STEAM program at Polk County Middle School kept busy as the first six weeks of school ended and new faces arrived for the second six weeks.
Eighth graders finished their chocolate adventure, making their own chocolate bars from scratch, and the new set of eighth graders moved into studying “Light and Color” by exploring RGB lights that make up all the colors we see on our screens. Students also painted ultraviolet-active pumpkins to deeper understand the role electrons have in the light we see.
Sixth graders have been exploring solar energy by examining how thermal energy generated by the sun can lift a very large bag. Students designed their own experiment to gather data of the effect of color on thermal energy absorbed so that they could select the best color for their solar ovens.
Seventh graders are readying themselves to build Rube Goldberg machines by building and testing some simple machines such as an Archimedes screw.
