STREAM Lab
The Mater Dei Catholic School STREAM Lab is based on the “Maker Movement.” The “Maker Movement” is designed to allow a student-centered approach in the areas of Science, Technology, Religion, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics.
The STREAM Lab allows for students to flourish in an environment where they tinker, create, invent, build, and interact with each other within the curriculum. Students will build confidence in their capabilities and explore the world they live in to develop an attitude to fix, make, change, modify, and customize their world.
See what the students accomplish when working in the Stream Lab.
1st graders experience the cohesive property of water.
1st graders see how many water drops a penny can hold.
2nd graders test the tensile property of spaghetti strands.
2nd graders find that combining spaghetti strands adds to the tensile strength.
3rd graders build traps using specified materials.
3rd graders use decorations to entice the animal into the trap.
4th graders find that certain materials conduct heat better than others.
4th graders find that friction can produce heat.
5th graders find that many different combinations can be made in chemical bonds.
5th graders simulate arrangement of particles in a solid, liquid and gas.
6th graders create wind mills.
6th graders use windmills as a source of energy to lift a weight.
7th graders build replicas of famous landmarks.
7th graders show prowess in their designs.
8th graders make a bungee jump.
8th graders test to find the best amount of stretch in their bungee jump to avoid a catastrophe.
Mrs. Kerr
I am a product of 18 years of Catholic education. I attended St. Louis Elementary School in Yeadon, Delaware County. I completed my high school education at Villa Maria Academy in Malvern. Immaculata College was the school where I received a Bachelor’s degree. My graduate work was completed at Villanova University. I worked in the pharmaceutical field doing kidney research for seven years before starting a family. I have been the comptroller of a small company for the past 48 years. I am the proud parent of 4 children – 2 boys and 2 girls. I started at St. Stanislaus as the first computer teacher. I taught 2 programming languages for 3 years. Then I moved into the eighth grade. During the first 5 years of Mater Dei I taught in the 7th and 8th grades. This, the eighth year of Mater Dei, will be my third year as the coordinator of the activities in the Stream and Science labs for grades 1 through 8.
