POULSBO — Fifth-graders at Poulsbo Elementary School had a unique opportunity for hands-on learning.

With the help of their teacher Mike Hickam and Puget Sound Naval Shipyard engineer and education outreach coordinator Corinne Beach, the class designed and built Remote Operated Vehicles, or ROVs, for underwater use.

“It’s all about engineering and next-generation science standards, which really emphasize engineering,” Hickam said.

At the beginning of the week, the students worked on designing their underwater ROVs in teams, then built them out of PVC pipe, three engines and motorcycle batteries. On April 15, they tested the vehicles for neutral buoyancy; on April 16, they took their ROVs to the Puget Sound Navy Museum in Bremerton, where they put their ROVs through an obstacle course, including tasks such as picking items up from the bottom of the pool and navigating through squares.

“Most of the groups have been through five or six different changes that have gone through the process so it’s been powerful,” Hickam said. “It’s been about real life and seeing how the science and the engineering happens in the real world.

“We had someone here yesterday that actually works for the Navy and what their job is is to go out and purchase underwater remote vehicles for the Navy, and he said that the process we’re going through is the exact same process that the Navy uses to build and purchase underwater remote vehicles, so it’s very true to real life.”

Ellie Lewis, Kailey Hawkins and Madison Weiler work to adjust the buoyancy of the remote operated vehicle they built in class at Poulsbo Elementary School.

Hickam said one of the benefits of projects like these is the hands-on, real-life experience.

“You can learn all the science out of a book and that’s great,” he said, “but to see it in action and to be able to actually go through the engineering project to be able to design something, and then try it and see how it works and make changes … (is) powerful.”

Beach, as an education outreach coordinator for PSNS, has participated in projects like this with “several elementary schools,” as well as middle and high schools. She also felt the hands-on learning opportunities were important for the students.

“Here, they’re seeing it, they’re doing it and they’re immersed in it,” Beach said, “so the understanding and the learning, I think, is much better, because they’re doing.”

Hickam said the students get this opportunity because of a Department of Defense grant, which enables the North Kitsap School District to have a science leadership team to oversee science education in the district. This helps the school district get in front of the new standards for science education, Hickam said.

And the community response, he added, has “been very positive.”

“The parents are thankful that the students are able to go through this process,” he said. “The students are so excited. They’ve been looking forward to this and they really get how the science comes into play.

“They’re going to remember this for the rest of their lives.”