KINGSFORD — About 2.3 kilowatt hours of electricity can charge a cell phone for five straight months, run a refrigerator for 65 hours or match the power of approximately 4,000 AA batteries.

These are the kinds of questions being answered in Brian Olson’s physics classroom at Kingsford High School, where students utilized the eight solar panels in the building to research, analyze and synthesize information about energy.

From Woodland Elementary to Kingsford Middle School to Kingsford High School, students in Breitung Township Schools get the chance to experience STEM — Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics — learning at all levels.

In Kingsford High School, students can take courses such as Introduction to Engineering Design and Robotics. These are taught by Joe Kriegl, who worked for many years as a mechanical engineer. He also teaches several Computer-Aided Design, or CAD, classes, where students learn to use software essential both for employment directly from school as well as for certain early middle college programs and STEM-related college majors.

CASTEN HART AND Carson Hendricks, second-graders at Woodland Elementary School in Kingsford, work on a Lego League Jr. Discoveries project. (Justin Cowen photo)

“Classes taught by Mr. Kriegl and Mr. Olson provide opportunities for experiences students wouldn’t otherwise have in a typical high school curriculum,” Kingsford High School counselor Kendalynn Sutton said.

As students come up through the grades from Woodland Elementary and Kingsford Middle School, they are preparing for STEM-related courses and seeking more opportunities to apply their knowledge in advanced STEM coursework in high school.

At Kingsford Middle School, students can participate in several different Project Lead the Way exploratories.

Students in Amy Johnson’s class this year worked on a unit called Innovators and Makers. They learned computer programming by not only creating the code but physically interacting with machines called Micro:bit.

Using a hands-on programming method allowed students to see how the code they write affects the physical world.

ANGELO HURTUBISE, A ninth-grade student at Kingsford High School, fine-tunes his VEX Robotics project in one of instructor Joe Kriegl’s classes. (Justin Cowen photo)

In Dianna Peters’ computers course, learners worked with a resource known as MIT App Inventor. Students were able to design and test informational and game-related Android apps. Projects like these help students build problem-solving skills.

Even young students in early kindergarten through fourth grade at Woodland Elementary are able to experience an engineering mindset.

This past summer, 22 Woodland teachers were trained on Project Lead the Way units.

One, Kristin Novara, helped students create a Properties of Matter project, in which students designed a device that could keep popsicles cold for as long as possible. They then used an engineering notebook to test different materials and discover what worked best.

Woodland students also had the opportunity to explore engineering through their STEM-theme class. Students in kindergarten through second grade participated in Lego League Jr. Discoveries; students in third grade did Lego League Jr.; and students in fourth grade competed in Lego Robotics.

Breitung Township Schools is proud to offer a complete curriculum pathway that gives all students the chance to explore what it takes to be an active participant in a world where STEM-related careers are not only in demand but necessary to move forward in the 21st Century.

To learn more about these courses or to register for the 2020-2021 school year, go to www.kingsford.org.