Uniondale Kicks Off Super Science Saturdays

Uniondale Union Free School District held its first of five Super Science Saturdays at Northern Parkway Elementary School. Organized by the District's science department, each week will focus on a different theme that will include engaging hands-on projects that are fun for the whole family.

For session one, the theme was engineering and coding. Thirty-two scholars and their respective parents were in attendance. Scholars started the day by learning about DALL-E, an artificial intelligence robot that can draw any picture computed into the system. Scholars were tasked with coming up with creative images for DALL-E to design, such as Kermit the Frog looking through a telescope and seeing heart-shaped stars. Once the scholars selected the image, they raced DALL-E to complete their own drawings before DALL-E finished its version. The scholars quickly realized they were no match for DALL-E, which was completing four pictures in the time they could draw one. Through this lesson, teachers discussed the roles of robots in society and how different robots were created to perform various functions to improve the lives of humans.

Scholars then took their knowledge of robots to the test in a lesson on coding. After watching a short introductory video, scholars were challenged to create a basic code that would allow a robot to make a cheese and cracker sandwich. After writing their code, the scholars had their parents test the code by following the different procedures written by the scholars. Through several trials, scholars learned to revise and perfect the code to perform the designated task, learning that though they did not succeed on the first try, they learned to correct the error and still complete the assignment.

Following the coding exercise, scholars were given Lego SPIKE robotics kits to build a Lego taxi and program it using Scratch, a block-based visual programming language. After learning the foundations of Scratch, scholars engaged in a series of challenges that involved programming their Lego taxis to pick up passengers and drive them to their destinations while avoiding obstacles on the road. The scholars and parents were highly engaged in the testing and revising their code, and every group completed at least one of the complex challenges.

“The engineering and coding Super Science Saturday was a great success,” said Superintendent of Schools Dr. Monique Darrisaw-Akil. “Our Scholars had a blast working with their families, and came away with new-found knowledge, as they completed each challenge. We look forward to our next session in December.”

The next Super Science Saturday will be held on December 17th, 2022. Future sessions are as follows:

· January 28th, 2023

· March 4th, 2023

· April 1st, 2023

For more information about the Uniondale Union Free School District, please visit the District's website at https://district.uniondaleschools.org, and 'like' our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/uniondalek12.