Gorham Middle School SAIL

   The Gorham Middle School has a four-person team of 8th graders competing in the USM CubeSat Challenge. The team, White Heat, was chosen to advance to phase 2. They are working on assembling their CubeSat and are expected to now apply the skills they developed in the concept design phase to meet their mission objectives. The CubeSat launch date is May 27th at 8:30 am at the USM Lewiston/Auburn campus.  

 This year, the Middle School had 5 Odyssey of the Mind teams compete at the regional competition on March 25th. The teams did amazing, and 4 out of 5 teams placed.  1st place:  8th grade team: Classics-Walls of Troy   2nd place: 7 th grade team: Classics-Walls of Troy   2nd place: 6th-grade  team: Vehicle problem 3rd place: 6th-grade team: Performance Problem 7th-grade team: Performance Problem 

 The 8th grade Odyssey of the Mind team earned 1st place at the regional competition in March. They have been invited to attend World Finals at Michigan State University. They have been working hard to raise enough money to cover the expenses of this trip. First place division 2: Classics-Walls of Troy                  We drove around town asking local businesses to help support us by making donations.  We had a carwash!  We currently have a bottle drive with Clynk as well. I will post again after World Finals! :)

 Bridge STEM Challenge: Students used the engineering design process and learned about different types of bridges by constructing a bridge that could hold at least 125 grams. Students had 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.                                       .        Winning Bridge: 6th Grade Boxing Orangutans 560 grams!!   

 Students have transitioned over to using Ev3 robots. They started experimenting with various programming features and had to find a way to program the robot to go around the square platform. Watching the students work together to brainstorm and test out different theories was so much fun!  .         

 A team of four 8th-grade students is participating in the University of Southern Maines CubeSat design competition. Students must  conceptualize, plan and present original payload designs meeting the USM Cubesat design challenge mission objectives. The design competition is meant to challenge student teams to perform a complex engineering task under constraints to spur creativity and gain experience in the engineering design process. Students will submit a design packet and narrative describing their original work to a panel of experts within the space industry. The competition aims to: Engage students in STEM experiential learning and consider future careers within the space industry Increase student confidence in STEM through problem solving within a real space mission experience Allow students to develop and practice soft career skills, such as teamwork, leadership and project management Bolster the CubeSat research and development work being undertaken within the Mai...

Edison robots can use infrared light to send and receive messages to other Edison robots. One robot can send out an infrared message using its two IR LEDs which another robot’s IR receiver can detect. The receiving robot can be programmed to react to specific IR messages. Students used IR messaging with multiple robots allowing them to collaborate and create a synchronized response to the message. Student's also programmed the Edisons to follow a light!