Blue Mountain Academy in Hamburg received a $10,000 Lemelson-MIT InvenTeam Grant to solve real-world problems through invention.
The Lemelson-MIT InvenTeam Grant promotes STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) education.
“It’s recognizing innovative programs that allow kids the space to invent and tinker,” said Judd Pittman, Department of Education Special Consultant to the Secretary of Education on STEM Education after the school assembly Oct. 25 announcing the $10,000 grant for their prototype of LightTelegence, a lamp designed to help optimize the circadian rhythms of teenagers by limiting green and blue light waves during night hours. “Not only is it a great piece for Blue Mountain Academy but it’s a really good thing for Pennsylvania to say look at what innovation is happening in our schools.”
Blue Mountain Academy is the fourth school in the state to be recognized by the Lemelson-MIT InvenTeam Grant in 12 years, said Pittman. Blue Mountain Academy’s elementary students were present at the assembly and had a chance to see STEM in action.
“We really need to be making sure that we’re starting with our youngest learners,” he said. “To be able to play, to invent and to tinker. All of that builds the skills set that after high school that colleges and business and industry folks are really wishing our kids had.”
Skills include critical thinking, problem solving, communication, collaboration, resiliency, the ability to use failure as a platform for inventing something greater, he said.
“What Blue Mountain Academy is doing here with their STEM work creates the conditions so that the kids can take that risk and start to build that skill set,” said Pittman. “The grant I think is a tipping point. Getting an opportunity to get some seed funding to inspire more kids.”
Blue Mountain Academy won the Berks County PA Governor’s STEM Competition last February for their invention, a lamp to help optimize the circadian rhythms of teenagers by limiting blue light waves during evening hours. Students wrote a grant to continue to improve this invention with the Lemelson-MIT Program. BMA was awarded one of the 15 yearly grants given to schools from across the nation.
Pittman also likes that the students will have the opportunity to visit MIT and be able to connect with the 14 other InvenTeams located across the country, “See themselves in other places and learning with one another. This exposure allows them to build what we call their STEM identity so they can see themselves later in life being part of this work force,” said Pittman. “By 2018, roughly about 300,000 in the Commonwealth will be associated with STEM. That could be things related to agriculture, environmental sciences, advanced manufacturing, robotics, software developers. It’s such a broad spectrum that students will need these skills that this provides some great opportunities.”
Anthony Perry, Invention Education Associate of the Lemelson-MIT Program, visited the school for the assembly and workshops with the STEM Club.
“I’m really excited to be here today and celebrate with Blue Mountain Academy,” said Perry. “I’m excited to see what they produce throughout the year.”
Perry will be providing technical assistance to the students.
“I think it’s important to recognize young people as inventors who are going to solve the problems of tomorrow. It’s really a chance for them to work on a real problem that many high schools don’t get to work on and put all of their STEM skills, arts, creativity, problem solving, and resiliency into practice on a project that’s going to have an impact on their lives. They’re inventing this device for themselves, which is really neat,” said Perry. “I’m excited to watch the team’s journey throughout the year.”
Blue Mountain’s STEM Club will be presenting, with the 14 other grantees, at Eureka Fest, a three-day celebration of invention at MIT in June.
“We are so excited. I think this is really going to awaken the inventive skills of my students and they’re going to have fun because there’s fun built into invention,” said Blue Mountain Academy Science Department Chairperson and STEM Advisor Rosemarie A. Bechtel.
She said this program expects and encourages failure and multiple re-dos.
“They’re going to be able to fail and it’ll be okay and they’ll grow from that failure and build great things so I’m really excited. And I’m looking forward to see what it will do in their lives as they go on to careers,” said Bechtel.
Blue Mountain Academy’s STEM Club has grown from five students to 20 participating students in grades 9 through 12. Their invention, LightTelegence, is a lamp designed to help optimize the circadian rhythms of teenagers by blocking dangerous green and blue light waves during night hours to help them fall asleep and with melatonin production. Bechtel said the lamp will also help their bodies fight disease.
“I think it has empowered them to be able to see that they can do more than they first thought they could. They can reach higher goals than they thought they were capable of doing,” said Bechtel. “It allows them to be able to say I can do this type of job in the future.”
According to the Lemelson-MIT Program release, the InvenTeam initiative, now in its 14th year, inspires youth to invent using hands-on, active learning strategies in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) in which students engage, think about and solve problems. In a recent study conducted by the Lemelson-MIT Program, 67 percent of InvenTeam alumni college graduates reported they are now working in a STEM field, demonstrating the impact of this learning approach in empowering and educating the next generation of scientists and engineers.
