Update for week of March 7th, 2016: Grade 3

Hi Friends!

Here's a quick update on grade 3 aeronautical engineering!

First, most third graders were able to finish creating their final aeronautical technology----a flying technology that could carry a certain amount of photographers and stay in the air a certain amount of seconds in order to take aerial photos of an area in the Empty Quarter.

Groups each picked an area in the Empty Quarter and their air-time and photographer criteria was based on which area they chose. Each area also had a constraint on how many materials could be used.

The kids did a great job staying within their material constraints to build this technology---something they have not had to consider so greatly before. I was able to drop or launch technologies from a tall ladder for testing, and some groups tested in the wind tunnel. In order to improve their technologies, students worked with another group before we started to get some advice on their designs. When all the testing was done, students were able to reflect in writing on how things went. This coming week will be the last week for groups to test their technologies, and perhaps India and Jacob, our student engineer friends, will send along another challenge. We know that India has warned us that the Empty Quarter can be a harsh environment prone to sandstorms---who knows how this will affect the students' challenge and designs. Some third graders got wind of this challenge last Friday, but the others will find out this week!

Happy Pi Day all!

-Mrs. Athearn