This week, across the nation, schools and communities are celebrating Teacher Appreciation Week. At BFA Fairfax, we are also celebrating and today we want to honor our very own Sandy Brown. For those of you who know Sandy, you know how much she loves teaching STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math). Recently, her love and commitment to teaching were recognized both locally and nationally. She received two honors for her implementation of STEM work in her fifth-grade classroom at BFA. Sandy was recognized at the STEM Challenge Initiative (SCI) Third Annual STEM Recognition Night in St. Albans.
In addition, she was also featured in a recently published book, Engineering in Elementary STEM Education. The book features teachers from New England and builds on the work of the Boston Museum of Science team that has spent 15 years developing elementary engineering curricula. Sandy’s work is part of a comprehensive introduction for elementary educators on how to integrate engineering into their classroom, school, or district in age-appropriate, inclusive, and engaging way.
Sandy’s work also continues to evolve. Earlier this year, Sandy applied for and received a STEM Challenge Initiative (SCI) grant to purchase Mindstorm EV3 Robot kits for her classroom. The kits allowed her to facilitate the development of computational thinking skills with her students. Through a series of challenges, students applied their newly acquired skills for to learn how to program. Here is a link to a previous blog post, THE FWSU STORY: Innovation with Lego Mindstorm EV3’s featuring her work with her students.
Sandy and her students presented the class’s accomplishments, including a demonstration of their programming skills, at the SCI award ceremony mentioned above. You can read more about the presentation in an article featured in the Saint Albans Messenger: Budding Scientists, Teachers Recognized.
Congratulations, Sandy Brown!!!!
The FWSU Story 