These past weeks in STEM, students in grades 3,4,and 5 are researching a famous STEM figure and presenting to their classes. The mini-biography includes facts about the person, a famous quote from this person, and what areas of STEM they contributed to. Students researched within groups or individually and gathered information from books and online sources. They completed a poster about their person and presented their facts to their peers! Look out for some of the completed posters around the STEM room this coming Exhibit Night!
6th grade students in this 9 week rotation finished their Toy Take Apart projects and movies. Students were exploring the Engineering Design Process by engaging in a controlled deconstruction of a toy that moves, walks, talks, and lights up. The exploration of this is called Reverse Engineering, look out for some of their toys around the STEM room this Exhibit Night! They also are currently finishing their Egg Drop project, which they designed and built a carrier that will protect a raw egg from a drop of more than 6 feet. Students came up with some great ideas including a “nest” creation of fabric and straws, Balloon landers, and parachutes. In this class, we had 3 out of 8 eggs not break!
Students in Grades K-2 are working on their group discussion techniques, utilizing LEGO building challenges. They are practicing how to “agree” and “disagree” within a group and how to solve problems of confusion. We also are talking about creativity and imagination within engineering different creations. Some of the LEGO challenges have been build a creation with only one color of LEGO at their table, build a creation with only one hand, build the tallest tower with only red blocks, and create a LEGO maze for a marbel. They are having a great time creating and learning how to work together within a group.
7th Grade STEM students are working on their 3D design Portfolios through a program called TinkerCAD. They have learned how to navigate a work plane using the X, Y, and Z axes. They are also able to create “holes” in objects and align objects together on a work plane. Currently they have created zipper pulls, a space age spork, a trick die, a custom stamp, and a luggage tag. We are hoping to 3D print our completed objects when the Makerspace is up and running again! Currently they are researching an African American person just like Kamau Bobb who contributed to STEM fields for Black History Month.
