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This year students in the 3rd and 4th grade have been diving into exciting STEM related projects with the help of Mrs. Tami Schillinger (Olana Schillinger ’24) and Ms. Jennifer Hess (Ana Van Plew ’23 and Nick Van Plew ’21) who have volunteered their time to guide the group through a variety of projects that utilize a number of different skills and processes. STEM education is an interdisciplinary approach to learning that removes the traditional barriers separating the four disciplines of science, technology, engineering and mathematics, and integrates them into real-world rigorous and relevant learning experiences for students. The engineering process is accomplished through Project Based Learning (PBL). Students go through an extended process of inquiry in response to a complex question, problem, or challenge. Rigorous projects help students learn key academic content and practice 21st Century Skills, such as collaboration, communication & critical thinking.
Every month Ms. Schillinger and Ms. Hess will focus on a STEM theme. They will meet each week with the 3rd and 4th graders to carry out challenges related to the theme. So far, this year groups have participated in activities and tasks centering on shelter, and what factors might one considered when building a shelter for different climates. Students also learned how different shelters were constructed in the past when materials and/or resources were limited.
During the “Storm Shelter Challenge” students imagined that the year was 1815 and a huge storm was coming. Students had to build a shelter to protect themselves from the wind and rain, and it had to be constructed out of clay that they would make… without a recipe! Each group was given $30 to spend on building materials. As a group they had to budget the money they were given in order to purchase the materials they would need to build their shelter, using only flour, salt, oil and water. During the next challenge, “Let it Snow,” students were given a similar task, but this time there was a huge snow storm (flour!) on its way and they had to build a shelter using paper, tape and popsicle sticks.
Students were asked to brainstorm the different types of weather that would affect the kind of shelter they would build, as well as how to best construct their shelter based on those types of weather. Then, as a final test, both the shelters were tested under the extreme conditions one would expect during a storm.
VIEW 3RD AND 4TH GRADE STEM PHOTO GALLERY!