OFFERING GUIDANCE — Calculus teacher April Corbin provides some hints to students from Oak Glen and Weir high schools, Tuesday, as part of a project offered by the West Virginia STEAM Technical Assistance Center. -- Craig Howell

NEW MANCHESTER — Measuring the force of gravity can involve some heavy math, but high school students in Hancock County were able to have some fun with the process Tuesday.

Calculus students from Weir and Oak Glen high schools gathered in the Oak Glen Media Center for a hands-on learning experience made possible by the West Virginia STEAM Technical Assistance Center.

Through the Zipping into Ecotourism immersion project, students were tasked with designing and creating a model for a recreational zipline, then testing their setups for both function and safety.

Melissa Bane, a former Hancock County educator now working as a STEAM specialist, explained the experiment was inspired by the idea of installing a recreational zipline at Seneca Rocks, a natural landmark located in Pendleton County, W.Va.

“We just thought it would be really neat,” Bane said, noting there are no plans to build an actual zipline off of the sandstone crag.

LEARNING TO FLY — Students from Oak Glen and Weir high schools took part in a program offered by the West Virginia STEAM Technical Assistance Center, where they were asked to design a model recreational zipline. -- Craig Howell

STEAM is an approach to education combining aspects of science, technology, engineering, the arts and math.

Students were divided into groups of up to three, and provided with kits including string, suction cups and a device to measure acceleration.

“It will measure how fast it goes down the zipline,” explained April Corbin, who teaches calculus in the county and is one of three teacher partners in the state for the STEAM TAC program.

For the first part of the lesson, each group was tasked with determining what they felt would be the ideal rise — or vertical drop — and the ideal run — the horizontal measure between the two ends of the line — and then calculate the slope to be used for their zipline.

Through experimentation, they learned the effects of gravity on their measuring device, based on the slope of their zipline, with a target of approximately 2.5 G forces.

For the second half, they selected their slope, and then calculated the best rise and run for their zipline. For an artistic twist, Corbin provided the groups with books describing various cryptids, ghosts, or other legendary creatures said to have existed in West Virginia, and asked them to create an artistic design and slogan to market their project.

“You decide which one you want to theme your zipline after,” Corbin told the students.

Presentations were based on the Flatwoods Monster, the White Thing, the Greenbrier Ghost, the Thunderbird and the Wampus Cat.

West Virginia’s STEAM Technical Assistance Center was first announced on Dec. 8, 2021, and implemented in middle schools beginning the following February. It now is available to middle schools in all 55 counties, and has begun making its way into the state’s high schools.

The program is overseen by West Virginia University, the West Virginia Public Education Collaborative and the West Virginia Department of Education.

For information on the program, go online to steamtac.wvu.edu.