Warm-Up Challenges

Getting Started with Some Fun Challenges

Our first week of STEM challenges was very informative and productive, as well as fun and engaging! Our focus was on getting students involved in team work, outlining what team work looks like, and the engineering process.

Activity 1: The 'Pipe Cleaner' or 'Fuzzy Stick' Challenge

• Materials - pipe-cleaners - we gave 10 per group; pack of playing cards (for sorting random groups)
• Activity: (takes about one hour)
  • We started with a general discussion about how to listen to others and what a good listener looks and sounds like (we use the 'listen with care' model to show how to listen with your ears, eyes and heart).
  • We then broke students up into random groups of 4 by giving out playing cards and students with the same card group (example all the Kings) would go to the same table.
  • We gave them the 'Pipe Cleaner' Challenge - Build the tallest tower your group can with 10 popsicle sticks in 10 minutes.
  • We set a timer (visual is best) to time the 10 minutes.
  • We allowed students to struggle with this - if some students were left out, we encouraged other members to include them or if they were stuck, we encouraged them but did not offer suggestions.
  • After 10 minutes, we stopped work and allowed students to see each other's towers. We examined any common features and any words they remember about structures, such as stability, base, supports, triangles, etc.
  • We discussed how the group work went by asking them to self-reflect: Did you feel part of your group? Did your group listen to your ideas? Did you include all members of your group? Did everyone have a job in your group? Did you listen to the ideas of all members when building?
  • We asked students to take apart their pipe-cleaner towers and return the pipe-cleaners to the teacher for future use.

Activity 2: The Straw Cup Holder Challenge

Materials: straws (straight is best; 10 for each group), masking tape, small Dixie sized cups

Activity: (takes about 2 one hour sessions; we split them over two days)

• Day 1
  • We met as a large group and came up with a list of rules of how to work well in a group, remembering our discussion after the first challenge; we wrote these guidelines on the board as a reminder when working with groups. We also reviewed the terms we remembered from the first activity about structures.
  • We began the Challenge, this time in pairs (or individual/trios if needed): Build a cup-holder out of straws and tape that will hold a small cup as far off the table as possible - the cup will be filled with 10 mL of water for testing. (the time needed may vary - we gave a 5 minute warning to finish once the first group was completed)
    • We allowed students to 'hack' the challenge - some students taped the cup-holder to the desk, some taped the cup to the straws, some extended the tower over the cup as high as they could to see if they could build the tallest tower - we let them interpret the challenge differently to investigate the rules of a challenge!
    • After they build their cup-holder, we allowed them to self-test their cup-holder with the water. They measured 10 mL of water and tested them carefully! (Be prepared for spills!)
    • We allowed them the opportunity to be real engineers and modify their original build based on the test results to see if they could come up with a working design. We saw some real engineering happen as we walked around!
    • When they were finished their builds, we got together as a class to do a gallery walk through the class to check out the designs of other groups.
  • Day 2:
    • The next day, we gave them the same challenge but with some additional stipulations: Build a cup-holder out of straws and tape that will hold a small cup at least 10 cm off of the table to pass - the cup will be filled with 10 mL of water for one final testing. The structures must be free-standing - not taped to the table. (We let them vote on the stipulation related to taping the cup to the cup-holder and they voted that it could be, so we let them do that.)
    • We gave them the same amount of time, and encouraged them to think through their building plan first before building.
    • When they were finished, we gathered the structures and the students watched as they tested each one, one by one, grouping them by like characteristics (for example, the ones that were shaped like rectangular prisms went together, the pyramids went together, etc.) What we found was that the structures that looked similar either passed or failed in similar ways, and we could compare the stress points and stability of them. The students were very excited to see the structures tested! These activities gave them a great review of structures, math concepts, and engineering. They really learned to not give up and keep trying, changing, adapting, and working together as a team.
• After finished both challenges, we were ready to tackle future challenges with the ideas of team work, engineering, and structures reviewed and ready to be used again!

Testing our structures was fun, and full of oooooooohs and aaaaaaaaaaahs!!!