This was the final week of STEAM! The students had the opportunity to explore their strengths and interests in Personalized Learning Week.
As always, the day started with a Design Challenge. This week, we had no idea what the students would be creating…it was completely random
. Using a Google Sheet that generated random results, students had to build an item that did something in a certain location using only one material. 
The students creativity was quite evident as no two designs were the same. The students only had 5 minutes to plan and 5 minutes to build their designs
. They had to present the designs and explain how it met the criteria.
After the challenge, we read the book What Do You Do With An Idea.
The booked talked about having weird, unique ideas that others may not get. It discussed why you would want to nurture the idea and eventually led into a discussion about world changing ideas. After the book the students completed their persuasive letters. The letters had to outline what the students wanted to do and why it piqued their interest.
Before the students were allowed to start their personal journey, they had to complete one last Design Process graphic organizer. They had to Identify their activity and Imagine 3 different ways they could complete it. Once they decided on their idea, they had to create 3 criteria that would let someone know they were complete. 
The criteria had to be specific, for example their 3D design had to have 2 arms and a head, it had to be flush with the build plate, and have to unsupported parts. 
After the criteria were chosen, they moved on to Planning and Designing where they had to list all the materials they required and sketch and label their design. Once the plans were complete, the students spent the rest of the day engaged in their design. 
Some designs included cardboard creations using the Makedo
, developing a game in Scratch, or completing another 3D design using Tinkercad.
The students had to list any revisions to their designs and were encouraged to tweet about what they were doing.
At the end of the day, the students completed a final reflection in which they talked about what they thought they learned, where they think the learnings could take them, and if anything had changed with them since the first day of STEAM.
This concludes the STEAM program. It was a pleasure working with all the amazing students and teachers!