Foundation Awards $17K In Technology Grants To Central Bucks Schools

DOYLESTOWN, PA — As part of its latest round of grants, the Central Bucks Education Foundation has awarded $17,500 to district teachers to purchase ChompSaws and 3-D Printers for its elementary schools.

Through the grant program, ChompSaws were ordered for each elementary school. A ChompSaw is a kid-safe power tool used for cutting cardboard.

Subscribe

Cardboard is a bountiful resource inside schools and classrooms, but it is often untapped and unused because processing cardboard is not kid-friendly. The ChompSaw opens a world of elite engineering for kids of all ages across the curriculum.

Technology innovator and Jamison Elementary School 5th-grade teacher Jared Hottenstein has designed four unique lessons in math, science, and character education, which integrate engineering and the ChompSaw into his classroom.

“Students designed an interactive lesson on polygons to teach first graders many different shapes, using a Star Wars theme, and creating cardboard polygon sculptures, mobiles, and a star-gazing experience in our student-created planetarium," he said. "We also break out the ChompSaws to create spinning earth automations for our Earth and Science unit, to engineer our cardboard chemical reaction cars for our matter unit, and push the saws to the limit when it’s time to create cardboard carnival games to help our senior neighbors at The Bridges assisted living."

Cutting cardboard using the ChompSaw.

Hottenstein said more than 100 5th graders engineer and build cardboard creations that serve as low-impact physical therapy sessions. "It is inspiring to watch students design, process, and cut cardboard with the care and precision as if they are cutting expensive mahogany," he said.

Also, through the grant, 3-D Printers were ordered for every elementary school’s Quest classroom.

Using 3-D printing and computer-aided design (CAD) in an elementary STEM program significantly enhances student engagement by transforming abstract concepts into tangible, hands-on experiences, the foundation said.

The tools help students develop critical problem-solving and spatial reasoning skills as they design, test, and refine their own creations, added the foundation.

Integrating CAD and 3-D printing also encourages creativity and innovation, empowering young learners to take ownership of their ideas, and see themselves as designers and engineers. Collaborative projects using this technology promote communication and teamwork, as students share feedback and
work together to improve their designs.

Overall, early exposure to 3-D printing and CAD builds confidence in STEM learning and lays a strong foundation for future technological literacy, the foundation said.

Drones, Airpods, And Sensory Space

Among many other initiatives approved, the CB Education Foundation recently awarded grants for CB West drones, a new sensory space to help self-regulation and emotional wellness at Doyle, 9th-grade attendance at a Tamanend Shakespeare performance, Apple Airpods to enable translation assistance at Buckingham, a snack cart “business” run by autistic support students at Jamison, and the creation by Lenape art students of a new Doylestown Historical Society art mural.

The CB Education Foundation relies completely on private and business donations to enable grant funding. To make a donation, visit the foundation's website cbeducationfoundation.org .