Engineering Challenge #1

Hi friends,

This last week in the STEM Pathways class was very exciting! The students were introduced to their very first engineering challenge. First, we learned the Engineering Design Process---the process engineers use to create technologies that help solve problems.

The steps in the Engineering Design Process are:

Ask
Imagine
Plan
Create
Improve

The students were challenged to build a tower that can hold a model astronaut that would be honored at a party. The criteria for their tower was that it had to be at least 10 inches tall, and hold the model astronaut for 10 seconds. Their constraints were their materials (note-cards and tape) and time (20 mins).

Check out some of the model towers below!

-Mrs. A

Trimester 2 is off and running!!

Hi friends,

Trimester 2 is off to a glorious start. Third and fifth graders started trimester 2 off by first practicing how to effectively cooperate in a group. Cooperation is so important for engineers, because they rarely work alone, and their designs are always enhanced by collaboration with other engineers. To practice cooperation, the students were given a challenge game called----Cooperative Cups! Cooperative cups is one of my favorite cooperation games, because it is fun, challenging, and really forces the kids to work together in unison. The kids worked in groups of 3-5 to stack a 10 cups into a tower using only a rubber band with strings attached. The rules are to pick up the cups only using their string tool, The kids could use their hands only if a cup fell over on its side or on top of another cup. After they stacked 10 cups, I gave the groups 11 more cups to make an even larger tower. Many children claimed this challenge was impossible, but once they got their flow and rhythm down as a united team, it became a lot easier. This exercise was as much about perseverance and not giving up as it was cooperation,
Check out their success below!

-Mrs. A

3D Modeling with Tinkercad

Dear students and families,

The 3/4 blnded and 4th grade classrooms wrapped up trimester 1 with some 3D modeling on Tinkercad. Tinkercad is a free web-based 3D modeling program. We used the student version of Tinkercad that can be accessed via Project Ignite. Project Ignite gives guided tutorials on Tinkercad projects. The students started off by creating a model of a button that can be worn on a shirt or sweater. From here, the kids learned the basics of creating 3D models in Tinkercad, and went on to create all kinds of designs. Eventually we hope to be able to use Tinkercad to print some 3D objects in our CubePro Duo 3D printers, Check out some of the cool designs the kids created in Tinkercad below!

-Mrs A.

Welcome and Update on Trimester 1

Hello students, teachers, and families,

I am very excited to finally get my STEM blog up and running! It has been a very busy and productive start to the year in the STEM classroom. As many of you know, I was not able to start here at Wentworth until the end of September as I finished up my commitments in the South Portland schools. Since then, it has been a whirlwind for me as I get to know Wentworth and its wonderful community. Everyone has been so welcoming and supportive. Thank you!

Here's an update on what we've been up to in the STEM Pathways class this past trimester:

We started out by focusing on some essential habits of successful engineers--cooperation and teamwork. We accomplished this by playing some games like cooperative cups and participating in some team challenges like popsicle-stick chain reactions. Next, we moved into learning about the Engineering Design Process and how engineers define technologies. Did you know that technologies can be anything that is engineered by a human and solves a problem? Students were very surprised that not all technologies have to be electronic! Here is an outline of our weekly topics and questions covered this trimester:

• Cooperation and Teamwork

• Engineering Design Process (EDP)
• What makes a technology, a technology? How can we improve existing technologies?
• Aeronautical Engineering: Designing technologies that fly through Earth’s atmosphere!
• Design a Flying Technology using the EDP
• Improve a Flying Technology using the EDP
• Let’s Learn TinkerCad: A web-based 3D modeling tool
• Create a 3D model of your Flying Technology in TinkerCad and print some designs in our CubePro Duo 3D printer

• Enrichment activities: Pom-Pom Design Challenge and TinkerCad Tutorials