Tanielle Kazmierczak and Jared Jacobson

Kazmierczak and Jacobson’s innovative teaching idea, “Remote Controlled STEM,” is focused on developing a robotics program for Circle Cross Ranch K-8 STEM Academy elementary students that will connect with the current middle school robotics program, while developing a flying elective for the middle school students. The elementary robotics program would start in kindergarten where students will learn how to program basic robots through a series of hands-on activities. Moving on to second and third grade students, the focus would be on building LEGO robots and programming them. Finally, the fourth and fifth grade students would use the LEGO middle school robotics program to learn how to build more complex robots and to program them to do multiple tasks. The middle school drone elective, on the other hand, would have students learning about the uses for drones, researching designs for their drones, and working in small groups to design, build, and program their drones.