At Lakewood Catholic Academy, we believe that hands-on learning experiences promote innovation, engagement, and growth, particularly in the areas of science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics (STEAM). Students and teachers work collaboratively to design, create, problem solve, test, and modify on their way to achieving challenging goals. While STEAM projects are integrated throughout the curriculum, the following are some of our signature experiences:
grade K
FRIDAY STEAM CHALLENGES
Kindergarten students engage in a STEAM challenge every Friday, working in teams to complete the activity. A student favorite is making marshmallow toothpick towers that can stand tall and strong!
grade 1
LOOP PLANES
First graders apply their natural curiosity and inventive spirit to design, build, and test loop planes. Their growth as engineers is supported by reading the book, Rosie Revere, Engineer. Lessons from the book include the importance of courage and perseverance in the face of challenges, and that failure is often a necessary step on the way to success.
STATES OF MATTER: ICE CREAM SCIENCE
Facilitated by a team of scientists from the Great Lakes Science Center, students explore the properties of solids, liquids, and gasses. A guiding question is, “Can we turn hot chocolate into ice cream?” This hands-on lab fosters important scientific knowledge and results in a tasty treat!
grade 2
FROST ON A CAN
Second graders apply the scientific method to hypothesize what will happen when they add salt to cold water. They mix the ingredients together in a metal can and record the data to document what is happening in their can. Eventually, they will see frost forming on the outside of their can.
RUGGED ROBOTS
Second graders learn programming skills while coding Pitsco’s award winning STEM kit, Rugged Robots. Students program the robots, which have a memory of up to 256 steps, in order to achieve a variety of challenges.
grade 3
FORENSIC FINGERPRINTS
Third grade detectives learn how to collect fingerprints using professional forensics methods. Students compare and contrast fingerprints and gather a variety of data. Finally, they develop and analyze their own fingerprints and those of their peers.
OWL PELLET DISSECTION
Third graders become Ornithologists as they complete guided activities before, during, and after their investigation and dissection of owl pellets. Students study the life cycle and diet of owls, which inform predictions related to pellets. Data collected during the careful pellet dissection is synthesized into charts and graphs and analyzed with classroom peers.
grade 4
SOLAR CAR CONSTRUCTION
Fourth graders develop a respect for God’s earth throughout their year of scientific studies. Toward the end of the year, they learn about renewable and sustainable energy sources and engineer a small solar car. Students must take precise care to line up gears and connect wires properly in order for their cars to successfully drive.
INVENTION PROJECT
Fourth graders innovate to design new inventions out of recyclable materials. While enthusiastically collaborating, students move through all stages of the cyclical design process: Investigate, Plan, Create, Evaluate.
grade 5
HYDRAULIC ROCKET BUILD AND LAUNCH
Fifth graders participate in an interdisciplinary unit focused on space travel. They develop a respect for the history and challenges of advancements made during the 1960s “Space Race” by reading the award winning book, Team Moon: How 400,000 People Landed Apollo 11 on the Moon. The unit includes engineering challenges, a field trip to the Great Lakes Science Center, and a variety of science topics. As a culminating challenge, students build a rocket that is then launched using hydraulic power.
DNA INVESTIGATION LAB
Facilitated by a team of scientists from the Great Lakes Science Center, students explore how traits express themselves and even extract their own DNA.
grade 6
UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE SITE MINIATURE GOLF COURSE
Sixth graders embark upon an interdisciplinary unit in which they research United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organizations (UNESCO) World Heritage Sites. In order to bring each unique site to life, students team up to engineer representative features that are then displayed on a working miniature golf course hole. Throughout the unit, students apply artistic engineering skills to ensure materials are sturdy and aesthetically pleasing.
COW EYE DISSECTION
Facilitated by a team of scientists from the Great Lakes Science Center, students explore the complex structure of an eye and how it functions by cutting into and dissecting a cow eye.
grade 7
BIO - INNOVATION: PROSTHETIC CONSTRUCTION
During a health unit investigating biomedical innovations in science, students learn about advancements in prosthetics. They then are challenged to design a working prosthetic from recyclable materials. Finally, they team up to construct a hydraulic arm that can successfully perform several micromovements.
ARCHITECTURE AND DESIGN
Student mathematicians redesign an area of the LCA campus. They construct a scale drawing maintaining proportionality and promote their creative ideas to LCA administrators, teachers, and students.
grade 8
PIG HEART DISSECTION
In partnership with The Great Lakes Science Center, eighth graders are presented with the intricacies of the heart, including details of common heart surgeries. Students then use scalpels to dissect the pig hearts, revealing delicate yet strong features such as valves, arteries, and chambers.
WIND TURBINE CONSTRUCTION
Theology students reflect upon Pope Francis’s encyclical, Laudato Si: On Care for Our Common Home. They then use a Climate Action Kit to build a robotic wind turbine and code the micro:bit which controls the functions of the turbine.
GREATER CLEVELAND COUNCIL OF TEACHERS OF MATHEMATICS PROBLEM SOLVING TOURNAMENT
Teams of students in grades 4 through 8 compete to solve highly challenging problems against other teams from Northeast Ohio.
JOHN CARROLL UNIVERSITY SCIENCE OLYMPIAD
Teams of students in grades 4 through 6 participate in a variety of Science Olympiad events on the campus of JCU.
LAB LEARNER
Students in grades 7 and 8 experience a fully immersive lab-based science curriculum. Labs are conducted at least once per week and guide the learning of each unit.
VISUAL ART
Students work in a variety of art modalities in two and three dimensions as they creatively grow as artists. The LCA kiln enables clay projects to become permanent pieces of art through a chemical process.
DESIGN CLASS
Students become inventors, entrepreneurs, coders, and animators as they apply all steps of the design process.
