Engineering Week

The week of February 22nd was devoted to engineering. The scholars spent the week rotating through various STEMLabs.

1.  Paper Towers: Using apaer and tape only, build the tallest free standing tower possible.

2.  3-D Alphabet:  Using snap cubes, build as many letters of the alphabet possible. The letters must be able to stand up.

3.  Roamers:  scholars first programmed the Roamers to draw a square. Next, they worked in pairs to program the roamer to follow a path.

4.  Keva Planks:  Construct a bridge with the widest spanossible.

5.  Lego Challege:  Using 2 cups of random Legos, build something that represents a real object.

Push, Pull, Go

To continue our study of force and motion, the scholars used dominos. Using the dominos, the scholars explored how force is transferred from one object to another. They predicted and explored what would happen if a part of a system was missing or not working properly. Scholars also continued to build their understanding of how objects move: zigzag, straight line, curved lined. 

The scholars also constructed two different spinning tops. The tops demonstrated the concept that the greater the force that is applied to an object, the greater the change on the object's motion. Scholars also explored what would happen if a part or parts of the top were removed. We had a great discussion on balance! 

Finally, the scholars applied all the concepts they explored/learned in the previous lessons to construct a system using more than one model ( ramp and ball, swing, spinning top, dominos). Their task was to construct an invention, Rube Goldberg style that when set in motion would knock down the dominos.

StudentLed Conferences

This Wednesday and Thursday, February 17th and 18th, the scholars engaged in their first ever conference that was led by the scholars!  As their teacher, I was so impressed and proud of the degree of confidence the scholars displayed while showing/explaining their Student Data Notebooks. Parents were very supportive and asked great questions. The conferences ended with the scholars setting two goals that they wanted to achieve by the end of the year.