STEAM classes at Polk County Middle School have not slowed down their work efforts as the end of the current school year has approached.
Students in the STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics) program spent the fifth six weeks building and racing CO2-powered cars. Students learned to use power tools to shape their cars and learned to practice some patience when exercising their creative side to paint their cars.
Following a couple of days of drag racing the cars in the school library, students then created an advertisement to sell their car.
Class members currently enrolled in STEAM for the final six weeks are in the midst of learning about the environment around them and conservation activities around them.
Students have completed several hikes on the community land behind the school, including one outing with Pam Torlina of Conserving Carolina, who taught the hikers about the preservation of more than 1,000 acres of Polk County land.
On another hike, students made and threw out pollinator flower bombs to help bring back milkweed for the local pollinators. Students have also spent some time at Laughter Pond to evaluate the water quality using Vernier labware to measure pH and temperature as well as observe and catalog some of the animal life around the littoral zone of the pond.
