Foundation approves three innovative classroom grants at PBHS

The Poplar Bluff School Foundation has recently allocated $3,500 for technology upgrades for three high school classrooms through the nonprofit’s innovative educational project program.

Foundation board member Melissa Davis made the motion which was seconded by school board liaison Dr. Mike Price and met with unanimous approval to finance rovers, hubs and graphing calculators for the Math Department; a wall-mounted television and camera setup for family and consumer sciences; and drone kits for computer science.

FACS instructor Missy Cox, who wrote the top-ranked proposal of seven total submitted, requested a smart television with a Go-Pro camera system in order to allow for an aerial view of her cooking demonstrations, enabling students to observe without crowding around.

“I expect that students will gain confidence more quickly because they are able to see the different stages that their product will go through, which will provide them insight into what their product should look like,” Cox stated. She has since reported that the equipment was received last month and is only awaiting installation.

Three mini-drone kits equipped with HD cameras were approved for the computer science essentials class launched at PBHS this school year under Project Lead The Way. Instructor Heather Pullam noted that she plans to order the equipment over the ensuing days so students can practice flying the drones using Python programming.

“The primary goal for this project is to motivate students to further their learning in computer science and use the coding and problem-solving skills that they have learned to operate a codable drone,” Pullam wrote.

The Math Department was approved for six Innovator rovers, hubs and graphing calculators through Texas Instruments, allowing students to program and operate the robots while gaining hands-on experience and seeing “the fruits of their labors in a dynamic manner,” said author Hope Conover, Math Department chair.

“The programming presents opportunities for the students to do immediate problem-solving and apply mathematical directions,” explained Conover, who first introduced the devices to her precalculus class around the new year. “The programs require a line of code for each movement which really makes the kids think about what they are wanting the robot to do.”

The foundation board additionally voted during its November meeting to finance the organization’s annual student scholarship at $1,000 for a graduate entering the teaching profession, effectively applying all proceeds of their annual golf tournament fundraiser toward student success, upon moving half of the reported $9,385 to the building capacity fund per bylaws.

Of the grants not prioritized at this time, an alternative funding source through the federal Vocational Enhancement Grant program is going to be explored before resubmitting a request for an industrial mapping drone through PLTW at the Technical Career Center, and an effort is going to be pursued first through the University of Missouri Extension’s community garden initiative to establish raised gardens proposed at Lake Road Elementary and Mark Twain School.