Engineering Club
Fourth and Fifth grade students were given an opportunity to apply to participate in an Engineering Club after school. The purpose of the club was to give an additional opportunity to use their teamwork skills (communication, collaboration, critical thinking, creativity) with students other than their classmates while designing and creating. There were so many applications that a waiting list was formed! Many others expressed an interest but had other afternoon conflicts. Our Engineering Club Teams participated in the yearly Engineering Challenge sponsored by Science Buddies. This year's challenge was to design a device that could pick up and move a ping pong ball as far away as possible BUT with the fewest materials. Our teams met four afternoons to design and test different prototypes and modify them to perform even longer distances. We were so proud of their teamwork, effort, and creativity! Mrs. Larsen and myself enjoyed working with such a fabulous group of students!
Once our teams understand the goal and the amount and type of materials allowed, they are ready to collaborate design ideas. and devise a plan for their first prototype.
Now let the building begin!
The testing of our devices has specific rules we must follow, so our results are fair. We must test how well our devices can pick up the ping pong ball and bring it back to the starting line. The further the better! Continual testing and modifying is necessary to improve the performance of our devices.
Our engineering teams were so proud of their efforts, devices, and teamwork! Such a great feeling of success and pride!
