Birch School students accept new challenges

Merrick District hosts STEAM Day

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After fifth-grade students at Birch School in Merrick finished completing a series of puzzles to unlock several “Breakout Boxes,” Assistant Principal Chris Hoisik led them in a dialogue on modern technology and instant gratification.

He said that the activity required patience because students couldn’t look up the answers on their phones. “Breakout Boxes,’ provided by a site called Breakout.edu, was one of many multidisciplinary activities students participated in for the district-wide STEAM Day event.

Throughout the gymnasium and auditorium, and in the classroom, students spent the day engaging in challenges that were designed to test their creativity and problem-solving skills. Fourth through fifth-grade students from the science enrichment program mentored their peers using what they learned through the extracurricular club.

“It teaches [the students] to plan out their thinking,” said fifth-grade student Ryan Arstark, about an activity called “Newspaper Tower,” in which he aided third through sixth-grade students. The project involved building a structure using 10 pieces of newspaper and balancing a basketball on top of it. Arstark asked the students to imagine the architecture of New York City towers and they concluded that a solid base was necessary to keep them from toppling over.

Birch School STEAM Coordinator Abbe Cohen said that the student mentors experience each project from the point-of-view of an instructor. “It’s all about exploration,” Cohen said. “It’s about making a plan and making mistakes— and learning from them.”