He's Baaaaaaaaack......
Everybody's favorite mad scientist, the zany Mr. Cary Less, paid yet another visit to our 5th graders and showed dozens of examples of what NOT to do during a lab experiment.
He was up to his old shenanigans: sneezing into mysterious powders, taste-testing blue potions, balancing drinks on the heads of unsuspecting students......pretty much anything that you can think of, this man did it, and did it poorly. Luckily, students were able to leave in one piece with a greater sense of the do's and don't of their STEM Lab existence this year.
Students were also presented with their first of several STEAM challenges last week. Ten straws, a pair of scissors, and two feet of tape was all they were given. The challenge? Create a......well, a SOMETHING that could catch a golf ball dropped from seven feet.
After brainstorming for a short while, students went right to work on their original designs, which were all modeled, reworked, and remodeled (sometimes scrapped completely).
Once we moved beyond the planning stage, students enjoyed the beautiful sun in our amphitheater. Unexpectedly, the wind posed a few challenges that students did not plan for, which demanded a plan or system for making sure all materials were kept in order and not blown away!
Eventually, students put their designs to the test. Of our ten groups, only one was able to successfully navigate this STICKY conundrum. Their original idea, to use the adhesive nature of the tape as a sort of catcher's mitt was brilliant! Well done to all groups!
Students have also begun their coding curriculum with Mrs. Maciorowski, and have started to study various forms or commands and algorithms during their twice weekly Tech classes.
Kids, adventure is out there!
'til next time....
