When asked why she chose STEM Fuse, Melinda stated that finding good curriculum is super difficult in this field. She says that in the past she has written her own curriculum, but found that she was quickly becoming burned out. “I like the fact that STEM Fuse courses are web-based, targeted to High School students and very easy to use,” she stated. She also loves the fact that STEM Fuse provides competitions as this is something that is required for her in the CTE department.

“I would highly recommend this course to my colleagues as my students absolutely love the course and the Got Game competition!” she said.

I used the remote robotics curriculum to remind my students of the core lingo associated with coding: flowchart, sequencing, algorithms, pseudocode, and loops. They loved downloading the meeper app and being able to use Blockly to command the meeperbot at my house. The experience promoted collaboration and perseverance because we kept running into little challenges, like: How far is a klik? The difference in traction on an area rug compared to a hardwood floor? How do the three speed settings influence the length of a klik? We did a project on the last question in breakout sessions. Students collected data in at least three trials, they created a data table, averaged their data, and generated a line graph to visualize their group's results. The meeperbot lessons are among my most fond memories of remote learning this past year.