In the fall of 2019, Mountain View School Foundation purchased a new class set of MacBook Air laptops which are essential to the Mountain View School STEAM program. The new laptops allow students to learn about programming, 3D printing and drafting, robotics and much more.
Here are some examples of how the new laptops are being used in the STEAM curriculum :
- Grades 1-2 — Current trimester focus is on 3D Design. The students will create addition and subtraction themed board games with invented rules that utilize 3D printed tokens. The students will design the game tokens using Tinkercad software.
- Grades 3-4 — Current trimester focus is on coding. The students will design a video game using the block-based visual programming language Scratch. They will identify an object to their game and manipulate variables using coding commands to create a logical control flow.
- Grade 6 — Current trimester focus is on mathematical understanding and mechanical engineering concepts. The students will design a carnival ride using Vex Robots. Students will assemble the base model Vex Robot first, and then modify their robots according to their own ride design.
