Local educators familiarize themselves with BeaverBot at STEM Supper Club

Two individuals are working at a wooden workbench in a makerspace or workshop setting. The bench is equipped with various tools, including hammers, clamps, and pliers mounted on a pegboard. Both individuals are engaged in hands-on activities involving colorful craft materials and small mechanical components. In the background, there is a large 3D printer labeled “Fusion3” and additional supplies on the table, such as paper, markers, and a red plastic cup. The environment appears organized for creative or technical projects.

The past few months marked the first sessions of the ECU Center for STEM Education’s STEM Supper Club, aimed at bringing together enthusiastic educators for evenings of high-quality professional development and community-building over a shared meal. The 21 selected teachers and community STEM leaders meet monthly in the STEM Center’s Seminar Room. From September to April, they learn about the applications of various STEM kits and how to incorporate them into hands-on STEM programming in their classrooms.

At the October Supper Club, educators from surrounding counties gathered to work with BeaverBot, a kid-friendly and accessible cutting tool for cardboard. With the addition of reusable tools and fasteners from MakeDo, teachers used their creativity, cardboard, and some fun accessories and premade parts, to turn boxes headed for the recycling bin into engaging remote-controlled robots. Earlier in the fall, the center welcomed teachers and guests for an open house, highlighting the plethora of new STEM kits and resources available for any educator to check out from the STEM Education Resource Library. The kits featured in upcoming Supper Club sessions, including Makey-Makeys, Finch robots, and Spheros, have all been made ready to borrow from the center for free.

Educators leave each Supper Club inspired and ready to empower their students with new STEM tools that promote creative thinking while learning. One teacher wrote that the most recent event combined “inquiry-based exploration and engineering design. It was a perfect example of thinking outside the box!” Another participant wrote that the Supper Club “[showcases] the creativity and problem-solving at the heart of STEM learning” and that she couldn’t wait to begin incorporating new STEM activities into her school. The enthusiasm and continued commitment of the educators in the Supper Club in turn inspires the STEM Center to continue supporting innovative professional development for eastern North Carolina teachers.