Spring break was one hour away as third graders made their way into the activities building to watch three teams compete in the final round of the third grade coding competition. Lower School STEM Teacher Cliff Powers welcomed family members who joined the audience of students and described the rules of the competition before announcing the beginning of the race for first place.
The teams were challenged to complete a three-part task utilizing an app-controlled robot named Dash. By creating a sequence of coded commands, the teams guided Dash to push an upside-down plastic cup with a ball balanced on top of it around obstacles without dropping the ball. The first team to move all three cups to the far end of the obstacle course would be the winner. The competition tested students on skills such as estimating and measuring distance, critical thinking, and collaboration.
In the end, the Dash Dudes (Wyatt Brown, Triston Donovan, Perry James, and Alex Rosamond) took first place honors, second place was awarded to the Dash Raiders (Betsy Beard, Lillian Griner, Carson Lester, and Hayden Warren), and the third place win went to the Land Sharks (Caden Alexander, Haley Barbour, and Lambdin Young). Each of the teams received wild applause and cheering from the audience, who waved signs and even performed songs like Baby Shark in support of the competitors.
Powers shares his students’ enthusiasm for investigation and learning, and has continued to offer opportunities to explore the world through his recently launched YouTube Channel Mr. Powers’ STEM Show. Through the channel, Power’s shares projects that students can do at home and a humorous sing-along that parodies a famous country music song. You can view his latest experiment and other videos at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCB5VcozK-jX-ssYDj__10MA
