Sixth-grade STEM students at LMPS participated Tuesday (2.18.20) in the TSIN (Tennessee STEM Innovation Network) Statewide STEM Challenge in the Lakeland Middle Preparatory School Cafetorium.
Quanta Spears, LMPS 6th grade STEM (Science Technology Engineering Mathematics) teacher said, “This year’s challenge-topic is Food Security. Our students are challenged to derive and defend their solutions to increase access of healthy foods to people in our community and/or people throughout the great state of Tennessee.
“To help with this challenge, students received a visit from Tim and Ruth Belcher, who shared their real-life experiences and challenges as actual crop farmers. Students continued with their research and decided upon an issue with food security, and set out to design a solution that would improve people’s lives.”
She said the work was conducted over the past couple of months. For the Challenge, there were seven groups comprised of 19 students who presented and defended their solutions to a panel of four judges.
Student visuals included PowerPoint presentations, display boards and/or various design models. The exposition began with the “Food Security Crew” sharing a self-made video on wasting food.
Then the student groups took the stage to showcase their problems, solutions and designs.
Mrs. Spears added, “A group finalist from the showcase will be submitted to the STEM Summit and upon the Summit’s review, our students could receive an invitation to present their ideas to the Tennessee Department of Agriculture TD and STEM Summit which will be at the Music City Center in Nashville May 5th. Notifications of acceptance will be determined by April 1st.”
The list of judges for the LMPS event:
Amy Womack – Agency Field Specialist for State Farm
Alison Bryan – Educator for Briarcrest High School
Neville Hess – Tech Advisor for FedEx IT Operations
Charlotte Cantkier – Educator for Arlington Middle School
In addition, LMPS welcomed Dr. Melida Jemmott, a STEM teacher at Millington High School and a professional development consultant for TSIN in West Tennessee, said Mrs. Spears.
… Photos by Jim Willis, Lakeland Currents
