Flint Energies Bright Ideas Grant Proposal

Written by Wimberly Tyler

Benefitting Warner Robins Middle School Media Center
2022-2023

Project Title
21st Century Media Center: Full STEAM Ahead

Brief Project Description

The purpose of this grant is to broaden the spectrum of resources available in the school media
center, increasing opportunities for knowledge exploration and curricular collaboration. By
adding Makerspace stations that address STEAM principles, more students will be drawn into
the media center, and it will be utilized for a wider variety of purposes founded in critical
thinking and problem solving. Fostering Makerspace and STEAM activities within the media
center models interdisciplinary thinking and provides the opportunity for students to interact with
information inquiry in twenty-first century outlets. The overall concept of a media center by
definition is becoming less like traditional literary libraries and more like a dynamic,
collaborative learning hub at the center of the school’s educational programs. Adding such
resources and tools brings this school media center one step closer to becoming such a place.

Amount of Funding Requested

$1000.00

Total Project Cost

$1004.97
The additional $4.97 will be funded through media center budget funds.
Itemized List

Item Title Number Cost Per Total Cost Link

of Items Unit

Strawbees Robotic 10 $38.99 $349.99 https://www.demco.com/strawb

Inventions for (special ees-reg-robotic-inventions-for-
Micro:bit pricing for microbit
ordering
10)

Demco Deluxe 1 $259.99 $259.99 https://www.demco.com/demco

Maker Collection -reg-deluxe-maker-collection-c
Challenge Guide hallenge-guide-binder
Binder

Strawbees STEAM 1 $394.99 $394.99 https://www.demco.com/strawb

School Kit ees-reg-steam-school-kit

—---------------------- 12 —---------- $1004.97 —-----------------------------------

What are the curriculum areas addressed by the project?

STEAM - Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Mathematics; Critical thinking; problem
solving; innovative thinking; creativity; cooperative and collaborative learning

How does the project encourage teamwork?

In order to complete any of the challenges or to build anything with the kits, students must work
with peers. They must problem solve and combine ideas to come to effective solutions, which
also increases communication skills. Without effective communication among the collaborative
group of students, they will be unable to complete the challenges, teaching them that everyone
has something to offer and that it is important to consider other perspectives. With multiple
Strawbees Robotic Inventions for Micro:bit kits, students can use them to create tools and
inventions that work together. This also requires collaborative work, meaning that each student’s
creation will be useless without addressing the other student creations. When working together,
they can create a complex, dynamic invention with these tools, showcasing just how valuable
teamwork can be when done effectively.
What makes the project creative and innovative?
The items being purchased are not creative by themselves. It will be the students that must use
their creativity skills in order to turn them into something dynamic. Providing students with these
tools and challenges encourages creative and innovative thinking. It pushes them to consider how
each piece works by itself and in conjunction with the other pieces. The challenges have them
use their imagination to think outside of the box and determine the end product for a specific
purpose. Then, they must use their inquiry and innovation skills to use the basic pieces to create
the product.

How will the project benefit students?

This project will benefit students by providing them with greater opportunities within the media
center. It will show them how many of the concepts they learn in their classes are
interdisciplinary and how they can be combined to create something innovative and dynamic.
The project will also help foster teamwork and communication skills among students, which is
crucial for their social-emotional development. Taking part in these STEAM challenges will
push students to deeper levels of thinking and showcase their creativity, hopefully additionally
building confidence in their abilities as thinkers and learners.

How will you implement the project?

This project will be gradually introduced to the students in a scaffolded manner. First, challenges
and STEAM activities made possible by this project will be facilitated during class visits to the
media center. I will make all content teachers aware so that science, math, and social studies
teachers can arrange class visits instead of just language arts teachers, which is the trend. I will
explain the items and their functions to the students the first few times they interact with them,
and I will model how to complete the challenges, working collaboratively with the teachers for
assistance. During class visits, students will first be allowed to choose their collaborative groups,
as well as the challenge they attempt. As they become more comfortable working with the items
and working with each other, I will mix the collaborative groups up and randomize the
challenges they must complete. Once several classes have had the opportunity to engage in these
activities, I will implement the challenges from the project during additional learning times.
During these times, I traditionally have a variety of stations set up throughout the media center. I
will add stations that include these items, as well as a challenge for each station. Students can
choose to come to the media center during this time, so the students who arrive will have to
complete the challenges at the stations with whoever the other students are who chose to come to
the media center. Oftentimes, these will be students they have never met before, pushing them
one step further to build their collaborative and communicative skills. Eventually, I will add
timed components to the challenges, and create a “leaderboard” so that students can work toward
completing challenges faster, and more effectively, than their peers. I will also showcase student
innovation and creativity through the media center website and social media pages by posting
photos and descriptions of their creations.