Gorham Middle School SAIL

Throughout the year, SAIL-math students dedicated themselves to a collaborative project with the Gorham Recreational Department focused on designing a new playground as part of the Robie Park Project. They had the opportunity to meet with Cindy Hazelton, the Director of the Gorham Parks and Recreation Department, where they learned about the expansion plans for Robie Park. The students were challenged to design and research various play structures for this new playground, which significantly enhanced their problem-solving and creative skills. They discovered that meticulous planning is essential for creating a new playground that is accessible to everyone. This involved calculating the usage size for their equipment, developing blueprints that adhered to the town's approved square footage, and researching ground surfacing options, ultimately choosing between wood chips and unitary surfaces. Additionally, they contacted companies to obtain sales prices for their selected playgroun...

Our 7th grade USM CubeSAT team (The Ramonauts) has been working hard all year to create a mission proposal for USM's high-altitude CubeSAT balloon launch. They needed to conceptualize and plan a mission proposal that was evaluated and scored by a team of judges. Their proposal scored high enough to advance them to phase 2 of the competition, which involves building an original payload design that meets the UCDC mission objectives and competing for the “Maine Cube Cup” trophy. This competition is designed to challenge student teams to collaboratively perform complex engineering tasks, spur creativity, and gain hands-on engineering experience.  The next step for the team is to build and test their device. USM has purchased the specific hardware and supplies necessary for their design package. During this phase, finalists will be invited to the University of Southern Maine’s Maker Innovation Studio (MIST) and the USM CubeSat Design Laboratory to work directly with USM personnel to con...

  Gorham's  Odyssey of the Mind teams had great success at the tournament last Saturday! This was the largest tournament in over 14 years, with nearly 100 teams competing from Maine, NH, and Mass. Great Falls 4th-grade team placed 1st in the Division 1 technical problem: Village 5th-grade team placed 1st in the Division 1 vehicle problem: Narragansett 4th-grade team placed 2nd in the Division 1 performance problem: Narragansett 5th-grade team placed 2nd in the Division 1 technical problem: Gorham Middle School's 6th grade team placed 3rd in the Division 2 Classicis problem: Gorham Middle School's 7th grade team placed 1st in the Division 2 Vehicle problem: Gorham Middle School's 8th grade team placed 3rd in the Division 2 Performance problem:

Students have been meeting once a week to practice solving the Rubik's Cube. 7th graders are teaching the 6th graders how to solve the cube, and those who already know how to solve it are sharing different algorithms to improve their speed.

This year, the 8th-grade students in the SAIL-math program will be focusing on community-based projects, providing them with valuable learning opportunities. They met with Cindy Hazelton, Director of the Gorham Parks and Recreation Department, and learned about the expansion plan for Robie Park. The students have been tasked with designing and researching various play structures for the new playground, a project that will enhance their problem-solving and creative skills. They learned that so much planning needs to go into a new playground to ensure it's easily accessible for everyone. Their design plans will be shared with the Gorham Parks and Recreation Department, and if approved, they will take on fundraising initiatives to purchase some of the equipment for the new playground. 

Bridge STEM Challenge: Students are using the engineering design process to learn about different types of bridges by constructing a bridge that can hold at least 125 grams. Students have a budget of $70,000 to purchase supplies.  Scenario:  The city of Goinnowhere has contracted your engineering company to build them a bridge to cross over a large river to a neighboring city. It is up to you to determine what type of bridge would have the strength for the task and stay within budget.