“What is the Electromagnetic Spectrum?”

Last week, 15 TechStart classes proved that they can answer this, and many, many other questions about what they have learned in the Fall 2011 session of TechStart. The last days, before winter break, of TechStart after-school were commemorated with Open Houses–parents, families, and friends were invited to watch our students present their final projects:

Ms. Miller’s class brought 83 of the 150 total items for our canned food drive.

• At GLS and our 4 Highline school sites, students grades 3-6 demo’d their video games they made in Scratch, which they designed to teach users about fundamentals of the Science of Light. Many of this age group also gave visual presentations to interactively reflect on their learning.
• Each of our 2nd grade students at GLS presented their study of an animal species’ life cycles, using Microsoft PowerPoint and their classroom’s SmartBoard.
• GLS middle school students, in teams of two, presented and demo’d their video games, designed in WeScheme using Scheme programming language, to families, TAF staff, and special guests.

In all, over 160 students participated in the Open Houses on December 14 and 15, and almost as many guests attended.  Special thanks to TAF staff, particularly Program Manager Toyia Taylor, and to all our amazing TechStart instructors for making Open House such a success!