Imagine being an aeronautical engineer and optimizing a parachute for the safest landing... my 4th graders have. What about being a chemical engineer to innovate your own play dough recipe from scratch? My 2nd graders have. We do projects like these every week.
Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) careers are the wave of the future.
However, fewer and fewer people come out of college prepared to fill them. My students are a long ways off from college, but that spark of interest is ignited every day in my classroom.
Our school is in an urban area located in Massachusetts, with a very diverse population. Being an urban, high poverty school, budgets have been hit particularly hard. Despite all of this, my students are motivated to learn, and strive to be successful. Each week they look forward to coming to my class because they are challenged to use their STEM know-how to solve problems in a creative way.
My Project
My students need play dough, tools, masking tape, hole punches, squirt guns, and toy cars to fill in missing supplies on our many STEM activities.This year I have many ideas I can't wait to try out! I have some supplies on hand, but a few more that will be needed in order to make the projects possible.
To start off, my students will be learning about fluid dynamics. The squirt guns will be used to see how to maximize the amount of distance a boat can travel in the fewest number of squirts.
The craft sticks, bamboo skewers, and tape are so my kids will be able to learn more about tensile strength and propulsion as they design and build their own catapults.
Some (many) of my students have trouble translating their ideas in the real-world's 3-dimensional space, into a sketch on paper in 2-dimensions. I feel that the planning process is extremely important, and think that having play dough on hand will enable them to do this with much less frustration.
Each week my kids love coming to tech class.
I try my best to make learning STEM topics as fun and meaningful as possible. However, a 100% hands-on class means that there is a huge need for materials. With each of the 450+ students that come through my classroom doors each week, I try to make each and every lesson an exploration of the "magical" world of science and engineering.
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As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Mrs. Morrell and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
