Highland Grade 4

After defining the challenge, brainstorming, and designing, students have started to build their windmills! I cannot wait to see the finished products!

(Scroll down for more information about The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind Windmill Challenge!)

This week, we took some time to learn and practice cardboard attachment techniques like making flanges, slots, and using fasteners. Then, students were introduced to William Kamkwamba. The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind is a true story of a man who used the power of the wind to gain electricity and water for his village in Malawi.

Students will hear the story and see the TED talk of William Kamkwamba before entering into the design process. Students will then be tasked with building their own models of a working windmill that will be tested using 3 different forces.

Thanks to the remote learning period, our first big design process project took a little longer than expected. Some classes are needing some extra time. I am so pleased with the way the Shoebox Task Design Challenge turned out! More photos coming soon!

Until our next Design Challenge...

We will read the books in the series with The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds. The next book is called Ish. Ish is about a boy named Ramon who gets discouraged by trying to be perfect and forgets to just enjoy his art. The third book is called Sky Color.

After this story, we will begin to learn some "Cardboard Attachment Techniques." We'll start by learning how to make flanges and slots. Then, we'll move to use brass fasteners and pipe cleaners to connect cardboard. Students will practice these techniques in their next few lessons.

Weeks 3-6:

Students will begin to learn about the Design Process this week. We will look at a graphic of the same design process poster that is used at the Middle School and the High School in STEM and Robotics classes. We will talk about the process as something we've already done many times, but now has specific words for each step of the process.

Next, students will listen to the story Arnie and His School Tools. Students will be encouraged to think about what "fine motor skills" are while listening to the story.

Then, we will begin our official Design Process.

Problem: Some people do not develop fine motor skills as quickly as others. Can you design a Shoebox Task that will help someone practice fine motor skills?

Brainstorm: What are fine motor skills? What is a shoebox task.

Start to Design: What materials could you use when you build your own Shoebox Task. Make a sketch of your idea.

Then, students will work in partners to create their own Shoebox Task to practice fine motor skills.

Test and Evaluate: Students will test their own task then redesign. They will trade their task and then redesign.

Finally, we will share what we've made and talk about what challenges and successes we had.

This is the first of our EMPATHY-based designs.

Lesson 2:

In our 2nd STEAM class, we will be introducing the concept of being an engineer. What do engineers do? They look at problems, design solutions, try out their designs, and redesign. Some engineers also build things. We read the story Rosie Revere, Engineer, and then brainstormed with our teammates about a problem we have at home or at school. After, we sketched a solution to that problem. Then, we built our inventions! Students may bring home items that do not look like finished products. That's okay! I've encouraged them to keep working on their inventions at home!

This lesson will lead us to learning the Design Process.

Students in grades 2-4 also have a STEAM Google Classroom where they can access follow -up notes and videos.