STEM through VUSD

Vision: Every student graduates from Vista Unified as a resilient, agile learner and creative problem solver who navigates the world with confidence and kindness and eagerly embraces local and global challenges.

Mission: The purpose of Vista Unified School District is to inspire each and every student to persevere as critical thinking individuals who collaborate to solve real world problems.

Check below to see the STEM activities that have been happening in our elementary, middle and high schools.

Second grade students were challenged to create two of the same structures of their choice. They compared the strengths and weaknesses of each building material they chose and how each of them performed.

Third grade students learned about the history of coding and how “computers'' used to be humans (like Katherine Johnson). Then they practiced coding paths to the moon.

Fifth graders engaging in a structural engineering challenge. They had to build their structures with supply constraints and it needed to hold the load of a jumbo marshmallow.

Kindergarteners learned about the engineering design process. Students built their names using various building materials.

Second graders learned about the butterfly life cycle. Students designed their butterflies symmetrically and then had to engineer a way for it to stay on their finger, like in the story Velma Gratch and the Way Cool Butterfly.

Fourth grade students learned about the Engineering Design Process. Students invented something that would solve a real world problem. This student created a robot vacuum cleaner to pick up trash outside.

Fourth graders study internal and external structures by doing reverse engineering electronics.

Second and Fourth graders practice coding with different robots and lego creations.

Kindergarten engineers practice using electric drills, screws, and screwdrivers.

Fourth Graders investigated the diet of a barn owl by using clues from owl pellets to identify the bone structures of possible prey.

Fifth Graders investigated how to convert kinetic energy into electrical energy by designing and building their own wind turbines to light up LEDs.

Students investigated the internal structures of squid, and built siphon models with balloons to compete in ‘Squid Races’.

Seventh grade Sea Glide Design Lab students are soldering their arduinos to their limit switches in preparation of their Sea Glide build. Sea Glide is an AUV, Autonomous Underwater Vehicle. In Sea Glide students learn basic arduino code, soldering skills and buoyancy. Project completion will include a functional AUV that can be tested in water and refined with new code.

Students in the Construction and Welding Career Technical Education (CTE) Programs are moving onto the next steps of working with materials. In welding they being with a virtual program to practice this skill. Some students are now ready for the real deal! Photos shown below of a student using a saw and measuring materials before they weld them.

Taresa McSpadden - Elementary TOSA -

taresamcspadden@vistausd.org

Craig Gastauer - Secondary TOSA -

craiggastauer@vistausd.org

Michelle Daum - Secondary TOSA -

michelledaum@vistausd.org