Cheshire elementary students complete district-wide robotics and agriscience pilot funded by Cheshire Ed Foundation

At a recent Cheshire School District Board of Education meeting, district staff and two science teacher coaches summarized a pilot STEM program that gave fourth- and fifth-grade students hands-on robotics and agriscience instruction funded by a grant from the Cheshire Ed Foundation and supported through the Board’s budget approved last year.

The presentation, delivered by the district’s science teacher coaches, described a fall robotics unit and a spring agriscience unit aligned to the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). The coaches said the robotics work asked students to design, build and program two-wheeled robot prototypes to carry imaginary supplies and to navigate different terrains and obstacles; the agriscience unit focused on soil, erosion, nutrient cycles and sustainable versus unsustainable farming practices.

The coaches said the robotics kits were purchased through True Robotics and that students built robots in teams over two class periods, then progressed to block-based coding, sensor programming and testing on a classroom “playground.” They described frequent trial-and-error work and use of cause-and-effect investigations to help students observe patterns in robot behavior.

Tanner Monroe, a fourth-grade teacher at Chapman Elementary who spoke during the presentation, said the program “had an incredible impact” on his class, praising students’ engagement, persistence and the teamwork the lessons required. “The hands-on nature of the program allowed them to just get right to problem solving, coding, collaborating,” Monroe said.

Presenters told the board that the program emphasized three-dimensional learning—disciplinary core ideas, science and engineering practices, and crosscutting concepts—and that lessons were explicitly tied to NGSS performance expectations for grades 3–5. They said agriscience lessons included classroom investigations into soil types, erosion experiments, data collection and modeling, and class consensus discussions where students compared evidence and took informed positions about farming practices.

The presenters thanked the Cheshire Ed Foundation for the robotics grant and credited district staff and teachers for hosting the units. They said the district had roughly 37 robots for the pilot and that student teams were no larger than three students per robot. The presenters also described coordination and coaching for elementary teachers: coaches modeled lessons and provided curriculum supports so generalist elementary teachers could take over the unit in subsequent years.

On program timing and scope, presenters stated that students saw multiple sessions of each unit but used slightly different phrasings in describing totals. In one exchange they said students participated in four robotics sessions and 12 agriscience sessions; in the same exchange presenters also described the overall count as “24 sessions across each teacher” and “12 and 12.” (The transcript contains that phrasing from the presenters.)

Board members asked how sources were chosen for grade-level reading materials and how the district defined sustainable versus unsustainable farming practices; the coaches said they curated age-appropriate articles and short videos and adjusted materials to students’ reading levels. Questions about next steps drew a reply from district staff that the agriscience unit would replace an existing curricular unit and that teachers who co-taught this year would teach the unit independently next year with coaching support as needed.

The presentation included short student video testimonials and teacher statements read aloud from teachers who were unable to attend. Presenters also noted that the two coaches brought complementary experience—one with adult coaching experience and one with high-school–level classroom experience—which supported both teacher professional development and elementary student instruction.

No formal board vote on the program was recorded during the presentation. The meeting closed shortly after the presentation; the board moved to adjourn later in the agenda.

Ending: District staff said the pilot’s materials and lesson sequences will allow the district to scale the unit into regular elementary instruction next year, with continued coaching for teachers and ongoing evaluation of student outcomes.