Superintendent Update

In LASD students develop their critical thinking skills through all subjects. We define critical thinking as the ability to analyze ideas, data, or objects and make inferences, draw conclusions, establish patterns or solve problems. These skills are used to find solutions to problems, make decisions, and understand the world and each other.

Students put their critical thinking skills to work this trimester through their STEM builds and projects. They were finding solutions to problems by using the engineering design process and connected their learning to the world around them. Check out the amazing projects students created this trimester!

After reading a picture book about a boy who is begging his mom for a pet iguana, students learn about the needs of living things and the diverse habitats that provide those needs. Engineering design comes into play when students apply their knowledge about the needs of animals by designing and building a model habitat for an imaginary pet of their own.

What does the Velcro and the helmet have in common? These were human inventions that were inspired by plants and animals to address a problem or a need. Similarly, students research different animals to identify a special attribute which then inspires them to build a biomimicry invention for themselves!

How could you get more birds to visit the bird feeder? Understanding the different attributes of birds, students sketched and built a bird feeder designed to attract a specific type of bird. With their bird feeder in hand, students tested out their designs and observed the birds up close.

Students explored different bird adaptations then designed a model of their new bird species. They shared their designs and discoveries with their peers.

What can you do with some Christmas light bulbs, some foil, and a battery? Students built their own portable version of a basic breadboard, and explored parallel and series circuits! Students also explored how energy is transferred to different places by electric currents, light, and heat.

Forget about just designing in 3D with programs like Minecraft! Students gained an appreciation for 3D printing by designing something of their own on Tinkercad.

Our first dissection for the year led students to observe the external and internal structures of the frog’s anatomy enhancing their understanding of body systems.

The second trimester district-wide STEM challenge called for students to design a game. Throughout the district, our student entrepreneurs shared a wide variety of creatively designed games and marketable videos highlighting the unique features of their game designs. One of the games in fact was called, “Escape the Covid Trap (marble game)” in which students had to navigate the ball without getting caught with the virus!

What better way to practice your critical thinking skills than through computational thinking. This trimester, students in grades K-6 continued to work on their foundational computer science skills with a variety of challenges.

The Beebot and Ozobot are engaging ways for students to practice their programming and sequencing skills and reinforce their literacy and math skills as well! Students used critical thinking to program the Bee-Bot to travel to different places on the mat. Whether they were going to the days of the week in order or following the algorithm to build a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, the Bee-Bot does exactly what it is programmed to do. Can you guide the Beebot to the number that is added upon the two dice, or to all the days of the week in order?

Anything is possible - from telling a story, to creating a game or even make music. Scratch helps our students become content creators rather than content consumers.

How can you take lines of code made up of words, symbols, and numbers and turn them into amazing animations? Students wrote lines of code in Javascript practicing transparency, random, and many other functions. The journey will continue as students learn to make moving images.

Thanks to funding from LAEF, every LASD student experiences STEM education and has the opportunity to learn to code through the computer science program. A huge thanks to our community for its contributions to LAEF. If you have not had the chance to donate this year, please consider a contribution of any amount: https://laefonline.org/District/1110-Untitled.html