Setting Up STEM with VEX GO

Angela’s Story - A classroom teacher

Angela is a classroom teacher in a private elementary school, where she has a lot of autonomy over her curriculum development. She saw VEX GO at a STEM education conference in March, and thought her students would love learning with the materials. Upon returning from the conference, Angela met with her principal and shared what she had learned about VEX GO. Her principal approved the funding to purchase the materials for the next school year.

The following school year, Angela began using VEX GO with her students. She started with the Intro to Building STEM Lab, to get her students familiar with how to build with pins and so many small parts. She found that the storage system helped keep her classroom organized, so she could focus her attention on the students’ learning, and not looking for loose parts. Over the course of the year, she was able to tie VEX GO into many different curricular areas, and each time, her students were engaged and enthusiastic about building things that they could move and code. Angela’s principal saw how well the students were learning, and offered other teachers funding to purchase materials the following year.

Naomi and Paul’s Story - Grade level partners

Naomi and Paul are 4th grade teachers in a charter elementary school. Their school has two classes per grade, so Naomi and Paul are able to make grade level decisions about curriculum together. They found that their students really enjoyed constructing with maker materials and Naomi and Paul loved having hands-on learning experiences in their classrooms. But the two agreed that they needed more structure in what they were trying to teach this way, and thought that VEX GO might offer just that.

Naomi dove right into using STEM Labs with her students, and found that the predictable nature of each Lab, and the structure built into them made it easy to establish routines and procedures with her students right away. Paul started with the VEX GO Activities as a Learning Center and was delighted with how the organization of the storage system helped keep his students accountable for their materials, and kept the space usable every day.

Lorne’s Story - A traveling STEM teacher

Lorne is a STEM teacher in a small school district, where he teaches in his own STEM classroom in one building for part of the week, then travels to the other elementary school in the district in the middle of the day to teach in different classrooms for the afternoon. Over the years, Lorne has struggled with planning and keeping track of lessons and materials with the constraints of travel, and has been looking for a product that would streamline all his planning and preparation. Lorne’s school district purchased a class set of VEX GO for STEM teachers this year, and it has made his traveling teaching so much simpler.

The first thing Lorne noticed was that every piece had a place, and he could grab the handles of the Bundle Storage Bags and get all of his materials to his car in one trip! For the first time, Lorne was able to teach the same lessons on the same day to both of his schools. In the instances where a piece was missing, he could supplement with one from his extra parts box, and his lesson was uninterrupted. Using the same organizational storage system for all of his classes let Lorne establish real routines and practices with his students, which can be a struggle in a once a week class. Lorne’s STEM curriculum is now better aligned between the schools in his district, and he can stay focused on engaging his students instead of travel logistics.

Louise’s Story - A librarian with a Lending Library

Louise is a Librarian in a public elementary school. There is a space in the Library where teachers can sign out materials to use in their classrooms throughout the year. This year, her administrator added a class set of VEX GO materials to the Lending Library, and teachers have been borrowing them periodically to use with their students. This week, the STEM teacher used it with 3rd graders to build a “Helping Hand” grabbing arm, the resource room teacher used it to help a group of students who were having trouble visualizing fractions, and the 5th graders had a “robot parade” through the school!

Louise is responsible for keeping track of who has the materials, and each time they are returned, she checks to make sure all of the pieces are intact. With the storage boxes, she just has to look quickly and she can tell right away if something is missing, so the whole process is quick and easy. Sometimes she has her older student helpers check the kits for her. Louise keeps all of the sign out sheets as well, so she can show her administrator how VEX GO is being used over the course of the year, and that data can be used to make decisions about curriculum for the next year.

Elliot’s Story - A classroom teacher in a shared Maker Space

Elliot teaches in an elementary school that created a shared Maker Space through grant funding last year. The space is assigned on a rotating schedule throughout the week, and teachers can use it to do whatever projects or lessons they’d like. Each class is responsible for cleaning up after themselves each period, which has been a struggle, and Elliot found himself dreading his Maker Space periods. This year, Elliot decided to try working with VEX GO during his class’s Maker Space time, and now he and his students look forward to this period each week.

The Classroom Bundles and Kits are all labeled, so when the students enter the room, they can immediately get “their” Kits out, and get themselves ready. Elliot began with the VEX GO Activities, and found that his students were delighted to be able to make things and use them so quickly! But the best part for Elliot was that when it was time to clean up, it took just a few minutes for builds to be deconstructed, pieces organized, and Kits put away. Shortening his clean up time gave Elliot the confidence to try STEM Labs and found that he could bring his classroom curriculum into the Maker Space in more meaningful ways.

Austin’s Story - A STEM coordinator

Austin, a STEM Coordinator, purchases VEX GO Classroom Bundles to enable the 4th grade teachers in his school to pilot VEX GO as part of their STEM curriculum this year. He lays out a schedule, where each classroom has the materials for a 9 week time period, and gives the teachers this schedule from the start of the year so they can prepare. During their In Service time with Austin, the teachers pay particular attention to how all of the Classroom Bundles and Kits with Storage are organized.

The teachers keep a log with the materials of “tips and tricks” that they learned along the way, so that when they pass on the set to the next class, they can learn from each other’s experiences. When VEX GO reaches the last class for the year, that teacher now gets to learn from the other teachers, AND has all of the materials as organized and well kept as the teacher who started off the year. Instead of being at a disadvantage by having to wait until March to use VEX GO, that class is eager to get the experience. At the end of the year, Austin notices how well the system worked, and purchases more materials so that more students can use VEX GO in his school.

Joe’s Story - A principal in a large school

Joe, a principal of a large elementary school with a very limited budget, is always looking for ways to bring more active learning into his school. His teachers are resourceful and share devices and technology all the time, but with their class sizes, often struggle to bring hands-on learning activities into their classrooms on a regular basis. Joe presents his teachers with an option of trying out VEX GO in the upper elementary grades for a year, to see if this system can help address some of their STEM curriculum concerns, while still fitting into his budget. He draws up a plan, and each classroom teacher signs up for a month that they will have VEX GO Kits in their classrooms.

Joe visits the classrooms that are using VEX GO regularly, and notices how engaged the students and teachers are. He sees different implementations of the materials - from Center based activities, to full blown science lessons using the STEM Labs, to his 5th graders coding robots to drive around the classroom. The students are eager to show “Principal Joe” their robots, and their enthusiasm and excitement about learning is undeniable. Joe works with his administration to write a grant and do fundraising, in order to purchase more VEX GO Bundles for the following year.

Terry’s Story - A principal in a large school

Terry, an elementary school principal in a large urban school, received a grant for STEM education for next school year. Terry has been wanting to find a way to unify the STEM curriculum across the school, to provide some continuity and scaffolding for students, particularly those in the upper elementary years. After looking at many products and platforms, Terry saw the benefits and versatility of VEX GO to reach a broad range of students, and the broad range of STEM experience of the classroom teachers as well. Terry purchased Classroom Bundles for each class in 3rd-5th grade, and created working groups among the teachers to give them a place to ask questions and to share their learning and experiences.

Sonya’s Story - An administrator in a Charter School

Sonya, a charter school administrator, tried VEX GO in her school’s STEM class this year. The STEM teacher and the students enjoyed learning and working with VEX GO so much that Sonya has decided to make it a part of the upper elementary STEM curriculum. She is able to purchase enough Classroom Bundles, that even with varying sizes of her classes, each class can have their own set of materials. The STEM teacher will continue to have a set, and has agreed to be a mentor teacher for the classroom teachers as they use VEX GO with their students this year.

Dana’s Story - A principal in a small school

Dana is the principal of a small independent school that specializes in offering maker-based learning experiences to its students and families. Because the school is so small, Dana struggles with having as many high quality materials as she would like to have for each classroom, teacher, and student to be able to bring project based learning to life. Dana found out about VEX GO and was delighted to see that the price point of the product could make it possible to outfit multiple classes with materials in a short amount of time. She uses State funds, and supplements with fundraising efforts, to preorder more Classroom Bundles, and reinvigorates the STEM learning in her school from one year to the next.