S.T.E.A.M. Program
Wilson Hall is a certified Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math (STEAM) school by the South Carolina Independent School Association (SCISA). To earn the certification, the school met SCISA STEAM standards that include having an inquiry-based learning environment for students that encourages problem-solving, students working independently and collaboratively, and students demonstrating creative and critical thinking.
Other STEAM standards include students using technology resources to conduct research, learning through performance-based assessments, and students demonstrating oral and verbal communication skills to express and elaborate their conclusions. Students in each class, from three-year-old preschool through twelfth grade and across all academic disciplines, participate in STEAM activities.
PS3 Steam Project for Letter U
While studying the letter Uu, three-year-old preschool students write upside down under the table as a STEAM activity.
6th Grade Math Project
Students in 6th grade math create a “figure me out” poster project that requires the use of equations and operations by their peers to find the solution. Questions students asked included their baseball jersey number, how many states they have visited, number of times on a plane, and number of pets they own.
Anatomy Class Studies Neuroplasticity
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Students in the Honors Anatomy class wear goggles that make what they are seeing appear upside down, demonstrating human adaptation to inverted vision. The students were studying neuroplasticity and the lobes of the brain, specifically the occipital lobe which controls vision. While wearing the goggles, students tried a variety of tasks such as a bean bag toss, copying images, writing, and running.
7th Grade Science DNA Experiment
While studying genetics in their science class taught by Mrs. Ashley Morris, seventh grade students extract DNA from strawberries. The purpose of the experiment is to give the students a feel for a basic molecular biology tool which helps in visualizing what DNA looks like physically.
Kindergarten 100 Days Activities
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To celebrate their 100th day of school, kindergarten students, dressed as 100-year-old citizens, held a campus parade to display their projects with 100 items. They sang songs and enjoyed snacks, had 100-way exercises, built towers with 100 cups, wrote about what they would do with $100, and experimented if a lollipop would last after 100 licks.
Honors Pre-Cal Pendulum Lab
After finishing trigonometric graphs, the juniors in the Honors Pre-Calculus work on a simple pendulum lab to demonstrate harmonic motion and the effects length and amplitude have on the time period.
Chinese Class Project
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After learning about the Chinese New Year in their Chinese Language & Culture class, eighth-grade students make lanterns to celebrate the Lantern Festival held on the 15th day after the Chinese New Year.
Kindergarten Groundhog Day Project
After learning about the sun and shadows, kindergarten students made predictions for Groundhog Day by testing their puppets to see if they could see shadows.
PS3 Noodle Necklaces
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While focusing on the letter Nn, three-year-old preschool students practice their fine motor skills by using a safety needle to string their noodle necklaces. Some made patterns and others were more creative with their color combinations.
1st Grade Potato Santa Parade
As a Christmas tradition, first grade students participate in the Potato Santa Parade. For the fun project that encourages creativity and craftsmanship, each student makes a unique Santa Claus by using a potato as a base. The students then parade around campus, visiting other classrooms to share their festive creations.
AP Seminar Presentation
Students in the Advanced Placement Seminar class give a Team Multimedia Presentation on their topic (Should genetically modified organisms be allowed?) at the completion of their first College Board performance task. Each group in the class selected a research topic, and the group members wrote individual research reports on various aspects of the topic. The students then used their research to formulate an argumentative presentation offering a solution to their research question.
Computer Designed Cookies
As a STEAM project students in the lower school computer science classes, taught by Mrs. Emma Ayres, designed sugar cookies on Google Jamboard. Mrs. Ayres baked cookies so the students could then create their computer-created designs before enjoying the finished project as a special treat.
8th Grade Spanish
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To practice telling time in Spanish, 8th grade students play Bingo in their Introduction to World Languages-Spanish class.
Kindergarten Writing
Kindergarten students celebrate with candy canes after completing the first unit of the Lucy Calkins’ curriculum, writing and illustrating a narrative story to read to their classmates. They will also learn informational and persuasive writing this year.
Christmas Ornaments
As a STEAM activity, four-year-old preschool students made Christmas ornaments from plastic cups that were melted in the oven and then, after cooling, colored by the students with markers. Students hung their ornaments on their classroom tree.
Decimals in the Dark
As an interesting and unusual classroom activity, students in the Pre-Algebra II class participated in Decimals in the Dark. The class used black lighting and fluorescent markers to complete a variety of problems using decimals.
7th Grade Basic Aid Training
While studying basic first aid in their health class, seventh grade students learn how to administer CPR on a model of a medical simulator used for teaching both emergency workers and members of the general public. Soldiers with the U.S. Army Central Headquarters conducted the training for the class.
AP English Language Analysis
Juniors and seniors in the Advanced Placement English Language class, taught by Mrs. Molly Matthews, confer in groups about sample rhetorical analysis essays and predict scores based on the AP rubric.
PS3 Studies Life Cycle
Three-year-old preschool students study the life cycle of a pumpkin, from harvesting the seeds of a pumpkin to planting the seeds to harvesting the grown pumpkins.
4th Grade Colonial Day
As part of the curriculum in their U.S. History class, the fourth grade students participated in the Wilson Hall Colonial Day which was held at the Carolina Backcountry Homestead at the Sumter County Museum on November 10. This recreated homestead, which hosts living history events, includes a log cabin, settler’s house, a smokehouse, barn, commissary (storehouse), loom house, outhouse, blacksmith shop, and gardens. Colonial Day offers a hands-on learning experience about daily life during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Dressed in period costume, the students participated in a wide variety of activities including colonial cooking and a militia drill. Also dressed in period costume, parent volunteers and teachers assisted the museum’s staff and volunteers with the different activities throughout the day.
7th Grade Robotics
Students in the 7th G
rade Robotics class reassemble and level the 3D printers in the Engineering Lab.
5th Grade Science
While studying mixtures with different densities, fifth grade students visit the STEAM Lab during their science class to make density towers. Using heterogeneous mixtures called suspensions, students determined the densities of the liquids by the layers created.
AP Statistics
Students in the Advanced Placement Statistics class begin a new unit on calculating and interpreting regression lines. Throughout this unit, the students will gain all the tools necessary to calculate and execute a successful Barbie Bungee jump. Their calculations will be tested from the rooftop garden.
2nd Grade Science
After studying the different types of spiders, second grade students created spider climbers as a STEAM activity. Using paper, tape, and ribbon, each student built a spider that could climb a string.
1st Grade Reading & Art Project
As a STEAM project, first grade students designed masks based on the main character of a book they read. From the point of view of the character, students described to their classmates the story elements of setting and main idea.
7th Grade Literature Project
Students in the 7th grade literature class collaborate on a STEAM project in conjunction with their required summer reading, a game of their own creation which incorporates literary elements.
7th Grade Science
During a STEAM lab investigating freezing point depression, seventh grade students make ice cream in their science class.
8th Grade Chinese Project
While learning Chinese in their Introduction to World Languages class, eighth grade students practice their Chinese calligraphy as a STEAM activity.
9th Grade Robotics
Freshmen in the Robotics I class construct a hydrobot arm, which uses hydraulics as a power source.
Preschool Science
Three-year-old preschool students conduct their first science experiment of the year, observing the different reactions to apples that are clean or dirty.
8th Grade Spanish Project
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As a fun STEAM project conducted outside, 8th grade students learning Spanish in the Introduction to World Languages class create “greetings” shirts to reinforce their vocabulary.
6th Grade Vocabulary Project
Students in 6th grade history participate in a STEAM activity to reinforce their learning of vocabulary words. The assignment was to break into groups. randomly select a word, and then draw with sidewalk chalk a representation of the word, without using any words. After the groups were finished, they viewed each drawing to determine what vocabulary word it represented and explain how they reached that particular conclusion.
8th Grade Spanish
Eighth graders practice conversations in their Spanish class which is part of the required Introduction to World Languages course. All 8th graders will have Chinese, French, and Spanish for one-third of the year before they choose which world language they will pursue in high school. All students are required to complete at least three years (four years are offered) of the same world language.
Anatomy Project
Students in the Honors Anatomy class
practice body region terminology in a STEAM activity this morning.
Students in the Algebra II Plus class utilize X-Y coordinate peg boards to graph the transformations of figures. This STEAM activity focused on performing and describing translations, reflections, and compositions of these transformations.
