STEM In Action at Fishburne Military School
Even Superintendent Morrison was getting into the action this week during Fishburne’s Week of Code.
(Waynesboro, VA) – This week at Fishburne Military School, the Corps of Cadets was challenged to spend at least one hour exploring the world of computer coding. Inspired by the international Hour of Code initiative, FMS Instructors Tom Galloway, Joyce Mello and Roxanne Rodes issued the challenge and invited Cadets to the FMS Media Center to try their hands at using JAVA script or, for the more advanced, HTML coding to complete a number of assigned tasks.
The Cadets showed a remarkable amount of interest and some soon began displaying a natural talent for learning these new 21st-century languages. Galloway noted, “every one of my fifty students was engaged…some of my previously unmotivated students even became engaged and enthused for this project. They love to code things and see the results. All my students enjoyed the program.”
The week of coding at Fishburne Military School has already begun to spark some changes to coursework. Capitalizing on the enthusiasm of the Cadets,
Cadets who completed the assigned tasks during the Hour of Code challenge earned certificates of achievement…this photo was taken mid-week.
Galloway has added a new type of lab to his syllabus: programming calculators. “To carry over the idea, we have also programmed TI-84 calculators this week as an extension to the Hour-of-Code,” Galloway explains, “the calculator programming is even more hands-on.”
In fact, these new lessons and skills dovetail perfectly with lessons being learned elsewhere on campus by groups such as the FMS Rocketry Club. “The TI-84 calculator activities include programming a quadratic equation solver and programming TI-Basic code into the calculators, then hooking them up to a robot and executing commands to have the robot do various tasks. This project comes from NASA. The Cadets will have until Monday to finish the last of three NASA-backed Missions where their robots must negotiate an obstacle course.”
“The purpose of an initiative such as this,” notes FMS Superintendent, COL Gary Morrison (VA), a 1981 graduate of Fishburne, “is not only to prepare our young men to enter the world as technologically fluent as possible, but also to spark a love of learning in general which will serve them well for their entire lives.”
Fishburne Military School is the oldest and smallest of all military schools for boys in Virginia. Its college-prep curriculum is built upon the structure of an Army JROTC program. FMS is designated as a JROTC Honor Unit with Distinction and may nominate qualified candidates to the United States Service Academics. Fishburne hosts one of only four Summer JROTC programs in the nation, accredited by US Army Cadet Command.
