What’s Right With Our Schools: RAFB workers teach students STEM

HOUSTON COUNTY, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – Huntington middle school students are working with Robins Air Force Base workers to get a better understanding of STEM and how things work.

“Everything that we have now is engineering. Cameras, phones, tvs, anything; desks, are made by engineers,” eighth grader Jalexia Alexander says.

The students build robots, air rockets, snap circuits, do 3D programming and more through the Starbase 2.0 Program.

STEM Program Manager LaTondra Oliver says, “Some of them we’ve introduced them to several STEM careers and they had no clue that those were jobs that they can do.”

“I always wanted to be an engineer and this helps me understand more, that there’s more to it than just building and drawing blue prints. This help me grow with my team and leadership skills,” Alexander adds.

STEM Program Assistant Brandon Jones says, “We come in we bring in different materials. One semester they built prosthetic legs, prosthetic arms,so basically it will give them hands-on and keep them out of trouble.”

The students say they enjoy working together and being able to get that real world experience, makes their learning more exciting.

Eighth grader Joshua Jones says, “It’s definitely a lot more fun than just the standard class because you get to see what you’ve created and made.”

“They don’t tell us this is how you do this, this is what you do. They kind of show us one thing and let us build off of that to get what we want. It’s kind of like how we get the booklet to build something and you modify it and you add on to it. They give us the basic principles and they show us how to expand and they let us expand for ourselves,” seventh grader Jaren Zimmerman adds.

Students also learn the fundamentals of flying an airplane. In class, they go over the principles of law and motion, the history of flight and then take a test using a flight simulator on a computer.

The students who create flight patterns, know altitudes and speed and pass the test, are able to use the actual flight simulator in class.

“They’re not only getting the interest of like robotics, air crafts, flights and rocketry.All these things combined together, these kids are able to learn real world knowledge from engineers and they’re able to ask questions. That way, they have that critical thinking going on as well as that divergent thinking going on,” Technology Engineering Teacher Rodney Johnson explains.

The program meets on Tuesdays after school.