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PLYMOUTH — Families recently gathered at Rising Tide Charter Public School to visit exhibits that highlight technology and student work and to engage in a number of activities for the schools’ Stem Night.
From prosthetic hands to an augmented reality app, the evening showcased activities and projects students are undertaking in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
Students and parents spent time in the ideas lab, imaging, designing, and using their perspectives to connect technological artifacts to their world. They tried out an augmented reality app created by students in the Software Development class, which celebrates art and technology together. The AR app superimposes digital content in student-created paintings, inspiring visitors to see technology as a creative outlet. The app will recognize the actual physical painting on display and then add digital art that was inspired by it to the scene.
Visitors also had the opportunity to see Rising Tide’s Inductively Coupled Plasma machine in action, a rare find in schools across the US. Donated by Dion Tsourides, a parent and director at Spectro Analytical Instruments, the ICP machine is an analytical method used to detect and measure elements to analyze chemical samples. Currently, students in Advanced Biology are using it to detect the presence of lead in water samples and learning how the lead content affects the nervous system. A group of students in the Local Ecology Lab class are using the ICP machine to detect nutrients in pond water and learning how these findings affect plant growth. Another class is building water filters and using the machine to test the effectiveness of their filters.
Students from the Technology and Engineering class showed off custom, functional prosthetic hands they created from a wide variety of everyday materials. Visitors also tested and navigated robots the students built and programmed to perform simple functions.
