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and most importantly - what our AIG students are up to! Enjoy!
and most importantly - what our AIG students are up to! Enjoy!
THE CHALLENGEDesign and build a device that lets you grab different objects and drop them into a container that's at least two feet away from you. THE materials
6th gradeTHE Design ProcessThe test7th gradeTHE DESIGN PROCESSTHE Test
8th gradeTHE DESIGN PROCESSTHE Test
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Gatesville Elementary SchoolBuckland ELEMENTARY SCHOOLT.S. Cooper ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
6TH GRADE7TH GRADE8TH GRADE
Rubik's Cubes have taken Gates County middle and elementary schools by storm. Why stop there? GCHS is offering a "Rubik's Cubes for Beginners" Baron Breakout session this six weeks and our high school students didn't want to miss out on the fun! Check out a few photos of our students getting acquainted with "the cube." Over the next six weeks they will be working together and using a variety of resources to master the act of solving a Rubik's Cube. Good luck guys!
I linked a couple of tutorials to their Google Classroom (one that solves the entire cube in 24 minutes and another that uses short photos and videos to solve the cube in six steps) and let them have at it. They learned the different parts of the cube then dove in, creating daisies, white crosses, solving for the corners, and for some - beyond! With the interest that was shown I know Rubik's Cubes will make another appearance at CMS this year!
I'm so thankful for my middle school students - they are such gracious guinea pigs! The CMS watercraft challenge was such a hit... I couldn't let me elementary kids miss out on the fun!
Take it to the next LevelThe first goal was to float their boat for at least 10 seconds with the added weight of 15 marbles. After that, all bets were off as our teams competed to see which boat could take on the most weight without fully giving in to submersion. BUCKLAND ELEMENTARY
Congrats to the winners: Maiya Simmons + Evelyn Duggar!Buckland Elementary - Third Grade
T.S. Cooper Elementary
CONGRATS TO THE WINNERS: JT Riddick + Ben Pardue!Gatesville Elementary
CONGRATS TO THE WINNERS: |
| Take a moment to check out Adalyn Boone! Addy is a third grader at Gatesville Elementary and just joined our AIG program. She was at GCHS over the workdays (the perks of having teachers as parents!) and grabbed a STEM kit from my office. Look what she created! I literally gave her a box of blocks and gadgets along with an instruction manual - kids can do anything! |  |
 Addy building a Lego car to pull behind her gripper |  There she goes! |
Addy asked if she could show her gripper to her AIG class. We ended a few minutes early last week so that her peers could see the gripper in action. Way to go, Addy! Everybody wants to build one now!
 Testing a cup |  Getting a grip |  Picking it up! |
The Challenge:
Design and build a boat out of straws and plastic wrap that can hold 15 marbles for at least ten seconds before sinking.
Materials (per team):
- 10 straws
- 12-inch strip of plastic wrap
- plastic cup (8-ounce or larger)
- duct tape
- 15 marbles
Brainstorm + Design:
| Considering their materials, our students brainstormed the following points and sketched their idea:
|  |
BUILD, TEST, EVALUATE + REDESIGN:
Teams built and tested their boats by floating them in a container of water and adding marbles, one at a time. Just as our materials for this challenge state, "When you test, your design may not work as planned. When engineers solve a problem, they try different ideas, learn from mistakes, and try again. The steps they use to arrive at a solution is called the design process. Study the problems and then redesign."
Our kids encountered a variety of challenges that they had to prepare for or produce quick solutions for, such as sinking/leaking, sealing up their straws, weight distribution, surface area to hold marbles, and more! After the initial challenge was over many students redesigned their boats using the information that they learned the first time around. It was a super fun challenge!
Our kids encountered a variety of challenges that they had to prepare for or produce quick solutions for, such as sinking/leaking, sealing up their straws, weight distribution, surface area to hold marbles, and more! After the initial challenge was over many students redesigned their boats using the information that they learned the first time around. It was a super fun challenge!
TAKE IT TO THE NEXT LEVEL:
The first goal was to float their boat for at least 10 seconds with the added weight of 15 marbles. After that, all bets were off as our teams competed to see which boat could take on the most weight without fully giving in to submersion.
The Winners
6th grade ELA: Nevaeh Faison and Lena Johnson
6th grade Math: Avery Hall
7th grade ELA: Jason Nistler and Michael Morris
7th grade Math: Andrew Ward and Ace Austin
8th grade ELA: Jonah Dickerson, Chris Nelson, CeCe Candelaria, Camiya Riddick
8th grade Math: Derrick Nowell, Jacob Nichols, Camryn Piland, and Landon Buck
6th grade Math: Avery Hall
7th grade ELA: Jason Nistler and Michael Morris
7th grade Math: Andrew Ward and Ace Austin
8th grade ELA: Jonah Dickerson, Chris Nelson, CeCe Candelaria, Camiya Riddick
8th grade Math: Derrick Nowell, Jacob Nichols, Camryn Piland, and Landon Buck
6th Grade Photos
7TH GRADE PHOTOS
8TH GRADE PHOTOS
Credit where credit is due
The inspiration from this activity comes from https://pbskids.org/designsquad/build/watercraft/. Stay tuned for more engineering challenges! We are just getting started!
After watching the middle school students code the Toss Game using the Blocks 2 Sphero program, I knew my elementary students had to do it, too! Our fourth and fifth grade students (and one special third-grader!) used their newly-acquired coding knowledge to design their own game - setting specific parameters so that when their Sphero reached a certain speed it would make a random animal noise and change colors. They had to guess the animal and if they got it wrong, act it out (because, you know, FUN!). Be sure to pay close attention to the pictures with the lengthy code that had to be inserted to make this game work.
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