And we are back!

Welcome back, STEM fans! We've had a good break, somehow those 16 days off do not quite seem long enough, but I'm excited to be back in school for the second half of the school year. (Well, not quite - the semester ends on the 20th.) I had a couple of wonderful workshops on the teachers' first day back, Twitter for Teachers, and Balsa Wood Bridge building. We also had a special guest engineer join us for TSA today, but more about that in the TSA blog.

We are down to the final two weeks of the Engineering Design Process. I have a couple of groups who would love to spend the whole year just working on their project, but we have to move on. I'm past where I should be and still have 3 more units to get through before the end of the school year - time to get moving!

Most of the classes are finishing up their write up in their journals this week. This is a challenge for some of them, I've noticed, but I have been allowing them to complete this part as a group, in discussion, but each one responsible for writing it down in their own journal. The students are writing and explaining to me the process they took (their group took) to create their solutions/projects. I'm tying this into their Language Arts by having them work on process writing. Since this class is only about 35 minutes long (at the most) and they see me once a week, the students will not be able to fully go through all of the writing process on this piece in their journals. But I'm looking for complete thoughts, standard writing elements (capitalization and punctuation in the lower grades; detailed explanations in the upper grades, along with correct grammar), and the ability to take their words, if they were to verbally explain it to me, and retell it in written format.

Although the students will not be able to physically complete the Improvement part of the Engineering Design Process, they will be completing this part in theory in their journals. I've asked them to tell me, if they were able to make improvements to their pieces, what would they do to make it better, and how would they go about accomplishing this.

First and fourth grade classes are also taking the Engineering Design Process test this week since they missed time during the week we were in the Cafeteria for Christmas program practice. They have already taken a pretest several weeks ago, before the break, and are reviewing before the test, so it should still be fresh in their minds.

A snowflake ornament made from spoons and painted craft sticks.

A few of the groups are still working on completing their creation step this week, like a group that is working on creating the London Tower Bridge from a plastic tray used to hold an laser printer ink cartridge in shipment - they have been gluing the towers and supports for the suspension cables, after painting and trying to cover up the bright orange plastic before Christmas. Another group is working to complete their garden, using plastic straws for the fencing. One of the first grade groups finished working on their snowflake made from plastic spoons this week. I can see the likeness of their finished project to their blueprint drawing they made months ago in their journal.

Its difficult to make out the writing in this picture of their journal
but on the left it says, "Engineering DP Loop
1. Ask the problem - How can we build from a straw popsicle craft stick?
2. Imagine - Brainstorming - See Jasmin's journal (Jasmin recorded
the brainstorming list for this team, but was not the one who recorded
the written plans as in the drawing of the snowflake on the right page.)

Kindergarten is beginning on the Simple Machines unit this week and touring the school looking for examples of Simple Machines in action. They all got so excited when we went up to the front and saw the flag pole. They all recognized the pulley on the flagpole and expressed how it saved the patrols from climbing up and down the pole each day for the flags.

EDP - It all comes together!

Wow! I finally got to see the rocket and launch pad put together today! It was one of the single most amazing moments I've experienced thus far in the classroom as a teacher. I finally got to see into their minds and see how they were putting it all together, even though they drew it out AND explained it to me before building it. I feel they truly captured the essence of the whole unit today with their rocket on the launch pad made almost entirely of a single floppy diskette that the group had taken apart. This group needed my head in putting it together only in that I was needed for the hot glue gun, but they worked together as one team in assembling it before my eyes. It was amazing to watch them in action consulting with one another talking about how each piece was to adhere to the other pieces. I wish I had my video camera handy and had recorded them working together. Each student in their group was fully engaged in the design process and contributed equally to the group's discussion and work.

I've included a few images I captured with my cell phone, but I feel these images do not do this piece justice. Nor were the images able to capture the mechanics of the team work I saw in these 4th graders today. They have one more thing left to glue on there and that is a bit of cut apart red yarn they were using for the ignition flames underneath the launch pad.

The only added pieces here are the
pipe cleaners used to make the USA.

A side view of the launch pad showing
the metal plate used as a side wall.

I was pleased to see how the students used the pieces of the plastic diskette cover and made angled supports for the underside of the launch pad rather than a standard box design for a base. (It should be noted that the students did this part on their own, in fact, the whole design was theirs without any real guidance from me.)

We had taken a short break from first and fourth grade STEM classes this rotation as the Fine Arts team supported Dr. Katz, our music teacher, in preparation for last night's Christmas performance, but now both of these grade levels are back on course. 

Other pieces that were finished this week included a bird made originally from a plastic spoon with other additions from the materials cart, an airplane made from a plastic spoon and a craft stick, a book mark made from a craft stick, a kite made from straws and paper, a few rockets made from straws, another book mark - this was made with small drinking straws taped together then covered in decorative paper, and Breast Cancer Awareness pins made from clear straws tied into a knot shape with pink ribbon and a small safety pin on the back. Most of the items were team created items and only one creation per team, but I allowed this team to each make one of their own pins, since the supplies needed were minimal, and they had asked to be able to share them around the school with some teachers. (I still have my pin on my desk. I need to get a picture of someone wearing their pin to upload here.)

Bird made from a plastic spoon, with craft stick legs, foam sheet
body, googly eyes, and pipe cleaner beak that is holding a small
piece of yarn for a worm. The group found a piece of round
cardboard and covered it with green felt for the grass.

As we rap up this unit, students this week, except for first and fourth graders (and Kindergarten) will be taking the Engineering Design Process test for a grade (but not a large portion of their grade, since this is mostly a hands-on participation based class).

Kindergarten, on the other hand, will be exploring the science of how candy canes are made and creating their own, although not so sticky, versions to take home. They will be view two different short video clips from Discovery Education about how candy canes are made and contrasting the two methods.

Engineering Design Process projects coming together

Most of the groups are just about done with creating and building their Engineering Design Process projects, and although it is taking longer than I anticipated, I am pleased with the students' work and progress. They are learning to work together, taking turns in helping to build their final product, learning to stay with their plan (with encouragement from me, this is easier said than done with some of the groups), and enjoying seeing their designs take shape. Some groups are learning that what looks good on paper doesn't always work out when they put everything together. These groups are starting to work on their Improving step. The students are all so creative and inventive. I love seeing all of the different items they have created out of basic materials.


Some of the designs I am seeing take shape this week include a picture frame made from straws, a man made from spoons, a tent with the original straw as the center support, Christmas ornaments from floppy disks, several different hot air balloons, spoon turned to a ladybug, a snowflake from spoons (although not quite finished, but coming together nicely), a scarecrow that started with a plastic Easter egg, headphones that started with a plastic Easter egg, several different airplanes including one that started with a plastic tray used to hold a laser printer ink cartridge in shipping, a table hockey game, a golf club made from a straw, a couple of fish made from floppy disks, and several different cars made from straws, spoons, or floppy diskettes.

An airplane from what once held an ink cartridge in shipping.	How to turn an disk into a fish, just add fancy foam scales like this.
Wrapping the handle of a straw golf club.	Trying out the new wireless headphones of the future.
This tent started with a straw, and sleeps one plus a dog.

Creativity Unbound - The Engineering Design Process

The classes are all well underway on creating their design solutions. For some, they are finding it difficult to stick to their original designs from their technical drawings in their journals. I can see them trying to modify their designs as they build/create. While other groups are moving along smoothly, just as they planned. One thing is certain, though, all the students are really enjoying being creative and building with their hands. I've pulled an AV cart off to the side of the room filled with crafting materials that the students are able to "shop" from for their projects. The students must show me their materials list and use this list to go "shopping" for their supplies. Some groups are even telling me, "but you didn't tell us you had all of THIS STUFF!" which makes their materials selection process a little more difficult.

I'm so impressed and inspired by their creativity and ingenuity with some of the items they are coming up with from simple items blinding drawn from a bag. We have floppy discs turned into notepads and Christmas ornaments, plastic Easter eggs turned into furry legged spiders and shiny tin foil wrapped sharks, and plastic spoons turned into watering stations for birds, sailboats, and eye patches.

Using a scrapbooking paper cutter to easily cut stripe for the flag.

One of the classes had all of the teams that all drew straws, literally, (each group ended up with a straw) and almost all of the groups in this class has decided upon making flags. The amusing part is how they all have to salute the flags each week as they start to work on them, and by salute, I mean, say the "pledge of Allegiance" to the flags. The other group in this class decided to take a different route for their straw, and is working on creating a letter using pipe cleaners for the base shape, then stringing cut up pieces of the straw to form the letter.

Stringing straw pieces together to form the letter "P".

One group that I am curious to see how their project turns out is a group working together to create a rocket out of a floppy disk. I've seen their blueprints (technical drawings) but am unable to visualize it as a finished product. Another thing that intrigues me is that they require very few materials besides the original floppy diskette they started with. In fact, they have taken their disk apart to create their rocket. Will have to keep my eye on them - this should be interesting to see in the next few weeks as their plan comes together. However, they seem to have a clear vision of where they are going and are working together seamlessly.

From floppy diskette to rocket, we have a plan!