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[maxgallery id="37155"]Sports and science may not seem like a friendly mix, but Thursday Henrico County sixth-graders explored the dynamics behind the two during the first day of the two-day “STEAM in Sports” event at Virginia Commonwealth University.
STEAM stands for science, technology, engineering, the arts and math. Students from Short Pump Middle School rotated from station to station in VCU’s Siegel Center, where iPads analyzed their moves. Virginia Commonwealth University and other local partners sponsored and assisted the event. Rolfe Middle School students get their turn at the event today.
“When they actually visualize what they’re looking at instead of someone just explaining it, they tend to understand it a little bit more,” said physical education teacher Josh Gentry. “Having it on the TV or the iPad, they really want to get one more hack at it to try to get their score a little bit higher.”
Gentry coached the baseball station with the “Swing Tracker,” an application that uses sensors to analyze the force of a swing. Students assessed the information and then implemented improvements. Other than explaining these concepts, Gentry also shared tips to increase the students’ batting averages.
“I learned that it matters where your leg position is and when you swing, you want to swing straight, not up and down,” Archit Gupta said, a student from Short Pump Middle School.
Archit initially found this station challenging because he’s more familiar with golf but gained a better understanding through the diagrams on the iPad. He said he also wanted to learn more about basketball and soccer.
Archit was among nearly 700 students in Henrico County slated to participate during the two-day event. They explored the nuts and bolts of various sports including basketball, tennis, golf, scooter racing, and more. Students had roughly 10 minutes to play with equipment before moving on to the next station.
One fan “fave” seemed to be VCU’s basketball training facility, which came right after the basketball station. Students got to shoot hoops, then learn how STEAM comes into play in sports medicine.
Another was the virtual reality station. Through the lenses of VR headsets, students viewed popular sports venues like the Falcons stadium and even how to build it.
The hope is that the past two days were a game-changer for students and educators by expanding connections to fundamental STEAM principles and everyday life through first-hand experience.
“If we give experiences like this through the curriculum for the six graders then it inspires them it helps them find their interests,” said Rachael Toy, Henrico Schools’ STEAM specialist. She said these types of experiences help students make connections that are important to them.
According to henricoschools.us, the county schools’ website, the STEAM curricula will integrate into Henrico county middle schools by 2020.
