PHOTO PROVIDED / THE VILLAGE REPORTER
STEM GRANT … Bryan High School and Middle School Science Teacher Jason Brown received a $5,000 Ohio STEM Classroom Grant for the purchase of 26 Pasco Code Nodes to be used by middle school honors classes.
By: John Fryman
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
john@thevillagereporter.com
A Bryan Middle School/High School science teacher is bringing new hands-on technology to his classroom. Jason Brown has been awarded $5,000 through the Ohio STEM Learning Network Classroom Grant Program, funded by philanthropy from Battelle.
T he funding is part of a broader effort that has issued 194 grants this year to develop enduring STEM-based educational projects.
“We’ve received this grant multiple times over the years,” said Brown. “I think it’s the first time in maybe 10 to 12 years that we have received it at the middle school. The elementary school had received it a couple of times for roller coasters and various things that are STEM-driven.”
Bryan is one of 165 public schools that have been recognized with this prestigious award. The program has impacted students across 130 of Ohio’s school districts, spanning 68 counties.
The grant enables Brown to purchase the PASCO Code Node, an all-in-one sensor device designed to teach computer science and engineering concepts. It will also allow students to engage in more practical classroom activities and projects.
“Getting the grant was a great thing for us,” said Brown. It’s going to allow us to take what we’re already doing and add an important piece with coding and engineering into our Honors programs, so the kids will get a taste of computer science along with the actual standards that we’re working on.”
The device includes six built-in sensors (Light, Sound, Motion/accelerometer, Magnetic Field, and Temperature), plus two switches.
It allows students to engage in simple block-based coding, enabling projects like coding an alarm system or creating an automatic nightlight that responds to darkness.
“Last year, they didn’t have everything, and it was kind of fairly new,” he said. “They didn’t really have any good pieces of data that I would have used in my classroom.
“So, I kind of waited a year and then trialed a couple of these and liked them. That’s when we decided to apply for the grants.”
Brown applied for the Ohio STEM Classroom Grant in early September and was notified on November 10. They were awarded the grant, which will be disbursed by December.
“This grant will go towards the purchase of 26 Pasco Code Node individual sensors valued at $115 each for a set of eight,” said Brown.
“We already have two of them, so that will give me the ability to have every student to have their own individual sensor while they’re in class. They can code individually versus a group setting, and they can learn to collect data with it.
The individual sensors will allow students to do various things, such as sound wave testing, vision testing, creating light bulbs, and creating an alarm system.
“There are some pre-determined things we will do,” pointed out Brown. “I will introduce this to our seventh graders at the end of the year, after the state tests.
“I will have all of those students the following year, so we will incorporate this in our lessons in the eighth grade.”
Brown had always wanted to add a computer science piece to what his students are currently doing on Chromebooks,
“My classroom is fully digital,” pointed out Brown. “This just adds a kind of new twist to where kids are interested.
“A lot of kids are into coding and computer design. This is maybe a nice piece to introduce them at the junior high level, so they can pursue with one of our high school level courses.”