We have awarded our EdTech grant for the month of February to Justin DiMatteo! Justin is an elementary STEAM teacher in Trumansburg, NY and heads up the school’s new STEAM program and, in addition, embodies the goal of providing his students with learning experiences in which they can create, learn, and express joy. He works with all of his elementary students once a week on ‘STEAM Fridays,' which has helped give them the opportunity to bolster their computer science and digital fluency skills. Looking to expand his offerings a bit, Justin applied for our grant. We’re happy to help support him and his students as they integrate more real-world learning into the curriculum!
For his award, we're providing Justin and his students with some micro:bit V2 kits to use in their STEAM program. He is working on tying his STEAM instruction to the five concept areas related to the most recent state standards. Since the micro:bit’s allow students to complete standalone activities as well as take part in new experiences that are tied to their existing PBL units, they’ll make a great fit. Even before applying for our EdTech grant, Justin was already working on this. He'd regularly work in teaching his elementary students about computational thinking and networks and system design. This has helped create experiential learning opportunities that are helping them build a solid STEM foundation at a young age.
Justin is planning on creating some new micro:bit classroom activities as well. His students regularly use Chromebooks in the classroom and this will make it easy for them to start coding with MakeCode whether they’re in class or at home. It will also empower them to create original projects, learn what it’s like to troubleshoot, and find joy in successfully completing physical computing tasks. His plan is to ease them into the micro:bit and all they can do with it. Once they get to know more about its potential, they will start with some introductory MakeCode projects. Then, they'll move on to a debugging activity once they build up their skills.
There are certainly a lot of opportunities for students to collaborate using the micro:bit. Working together to debug issues in their code will serve as great real-world experience for them. All of the projects Justin and his students will try involve helping them develop targeted skills and understandings. Whether it’s computational thinking, debugging, or recreation, they’ll certainly gain a lot of valuable experience with their new micro:bit’s as a result of receiving the EdTech grant. As they get further along, Justin hopes to tie the projects even more closely to real-world experiences. Students will start trying some of the same practices computer scientists use on a regular basis!
As an end goal from these hands-on coding experiences, Justin hopes to empower students to create, learn, and experience joy. He also believes this is how each of his students will ultimately meet or exceed the desired digital fluency standards. Whether they’re designing digital models, creating algorithms, or identifying bugs in their code, they’re all valuable experiences—especially for children to start having at the elementary level. He’ll also be guiding students as they create digital portfolios so they can store and reflect on their coding projects. A schoolwide practice, this surely helps them keep an organized collection of their projects and allows them to see how far they’ve come!
Some of the work in their ePortfolios include media projects, videos, and writings. With the new micro:bit projects they’ll get to do, the students will be able to really build up these collections! At the moment, we’ll be sending Justin a couple of micro:bit V2 Club Packs as part of the EdTech grant. This will help ensure there are enough micro:bit boards for each student to share. Justin hopes this will help highlight the importance of tinkering, creating, collaboration, and perseverance for all of his students. From there, he’s hoping the STEAM program becomes even more substantial! We definitely think his philosophy of focusing on creation, learning, and wonder is also a great approach.
We thank Justin for applying for our grant and again congratulate him on his selection! We’re confident the new micro:bit’s will certainly have an amazing impact on his students and we’re happy to provide assistance in the form of our grant. If you would like to apply for our next EdTech grant award or know someone in your school or district who would benefit, the application for March is now open! You can apply here and be in the running for the monthly opportunity. If selected, you'll be able to acquire up to $500 worth of STEM tools from our store! Follow us on Twitter and Instagram, too, for all of the latest updates.