05-03-2025
WVU STEAM TAC brings two-day immersion lesson to Philip Barbour High School
PHILIPPI, (WBOY) — WVU's STEAM TAC (Technical Assistance Center) took a trip to Philip Barbour High School Tuesday to give nearly 50 students a hands-on immersion lesson at its Career and Technical Education Center.
The lesson was primarily focused around coding and will play out over the course of two days, and officials with the program said that they're excited because 'so much of our work is real-world career-focused.'
The lesson was titled 'Coding a Better Path' and gave students a scenario that required them to solve a parking problem. STEAM Specialist Angela McDaniel told 12 News that the students were tasked with coding a tram to be able to travel around the New River Gorge.
'With most of our immersions, we use real-world learning and we try to use West Virginia places. We used Seneca Rocks in another one and this one's the New River Gorge,' McDaniel said.
The students were given Intelino brand smart trains to work with, and they used scratch (or block) coding in order to make the trains move along the track using laptops. They were also given access to AI programs to help code the trains to take voice commands such as 'start' and 'stop.'
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The STEAM TAC will return to the Career and Technical Education Center on Wednesday to conduct the second part of the immersion lesson. McDaniel told 12 News that during this time, the students will talk to the trains more and establish more advanced commands, such as 'pause and 'slow down.'
This is the first time that WVU's STEAM TAC has held an immersion lesson at Philip Barbour High School, making it also its first time working with the school's Career and Technical Education teacher Madisen Tallman. STEAM TAC travels all across the state to bring these immersion lessons to students at any middle and/or high school that requests them.
McDaniel stated that the immersion lessons are tailored for specific grade levels, and STEAM TAC specifically chooses which ones to do based on West Virginia educational standards. 'So we make sure that we're covering standards that they need covered in their classrooms,' she added.
STEAM TAC is available to any school in the Mountain State that serves students from grades 6-12. STEAM TAC specialists will travel to your school to hold an immersion lesson, and you can find more details regarding both middle school and high school immersions on the organization's website.
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