Golden Apple: Cuyuna Range Elementary Students Crack the Code of Automated Plant Watering

5th grade students at Cuyuna Range Elementary School in Crosby are learning the art of computer programming by growing plants using a special automated watering system.

Starting in kindergarten, Cuyuna Range Elementary students are involved in STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and math) classes and are tasked with learning more advanced coding as they move up grades. After creating their automated watering systems, students in the 5th grade choose a microgreen (a vegetable green seedling) that they have researched and are tasking with using a Micro Bit device to grow it.

Once they receive a plant and a pot with dirt, they code their Micro Bit to set moisture levels for the soil and the duration and speed of the water flow. The pump is put in a container of water and once the motor starts running, the plant starts being watered.

After a few short months, students are able to see their work pay off in the form of freshly grown carrots, radishes, broccoli, and more.

Some students are going above and beyond in their work and applying their what they’ve learned outside the classroom by doing things like coding their own computer games.

“[We want to] introduce as many STEAM concepts to students as possible so that if they see this as a route for a possible career, they can go that way, but also just what we’re doing just teaches them to critically think, problem solve, things like that,” says Allison Larsen, technology and innovation teacher at Cuyuna Range Elementary.