STEM Tuesday

Each Tuesday Challenge students get differentiated instruction to meet their learning needs.  During the day, Ms. Preiss' class joins us for projects that enrich our learning.  Today was part II of our Engineering Design Process Project.  Groups of three began last week with researching various structures and architecture of the late 1800s.  We were curious to know if any buildings, of any kind, were still standing today.  Then the groups were given a task of building the tallest, freestanding structure using the Engineering Design Process.  The initial designs were not successful.  As in not one group was able to erect a structure to stand on its own.  Their homework, for today's session, was to research various designs and geometric patterns found in structures.  Today's session, Rebuild 2.0, was reflection and regroup time.  The reflection was useful as the groups discussed what they saw as strength in the original building.  The regroup was the time, 30 minutes, the competitors had to create the tallest structure.  Collaboration and Out-of-the-Box thinking flowed throughout the room.  Engineers were hard at work.  My most memorable moment was sharing with a 5th grader how a marshmallow can become a great adhesive when you use a little thermal energy to change the marshmallow's texture.  Reflection Note:  We hadn't provided any information except that their supplies were spaghetti noodles and mini-marshmallows on the first session.  Today's session was more about helping them get outside the box, so clues (such as the adhesive marshmallow) were provided as needed.