Mayfield Middle School students in Jennifer Gream's 8th grade Computer Science class look forward each 9 weeks to visiting the Paducah Innovation Hub as part of the West Ky Educational Cooperative's Gear Up program. During the most recent visit, students presented several items they designed and produced to Katie Jenkins who provides students with additional hands-on experience with 3D printing and design at the Hub. Among the items were a croc jibbitz, pin, gyro ornament, and bag tag designed and printed by MMS student Brayden Ingrum to represent the Hub.
At the end of the visit, Timothy Franklin, Makerspace Director, presented Gream's class with an Artillery Sidewinder 3D printer, much larger than the class's current printers, to enhance students' experience in the Computer Science classroom at MMS. Pictured along with the 3D Engineering class are Franklin, Gream, and Denise Traughber of the West Kentucky Gear Up Program who, among many other tasks, organizes and oversees the trips each quarter.
When completing a survey after the visit Mimi wrote, "I LOVED IT THERE!! Having the chance to walk around and view all the different classrooms really made me think about the career paths there. My favorite spot was looking into the car engineers." Arya stated, "The tour gave me a couple more ideas about jobs/classes I would like to do." While most of the young men liked the virtual reality headsets with gaming, Brayden most enjoyed having been presented with an extra challenge; "3d printing because I was doing something harder than the others." "There is no better reward for a Computer Science teacher than to hear a student loving a challenge and witnessing perseverance with a growth mindset," said Gream.
Find out more about what the Paducah Innovation Hub Makerspace offers students in the Four Rivers region at https://www.facebook.com/PaducahMakerspace