My students are from a suburban school in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Our school is made up of kindergarten through sixth grade, approximately 400 students. The third and fourth grade children I work with are inquisitive, creative and are seeking activities to challenge their abilities. My students are in need of opportunities to explore hands-on learning that nurtures teamwork and strategy building activities that will help them discover a deeper level of learning. STEAM helps to develop students as a whole-learner as well as sparks creative approaches to learning.
My Project
Children at play are innately enticed with building and taking things apart and project-based learning is the essence of engineering. Engineering is Elementary is a program that will introduce children to various fields of engineering. Throughout the unit, children will learn about earthquake engineering and work to solve an earthquake design challenge. The unit is set in a real-world context and students will design a model earthquake-resistant building and write their own building codes. Students will accomplish this task by applying their problem-solving skills and using consumable items provided in the kit. In the process they learn to communicate, think critically and creatively.
Through the use of this kit students will use a variety of materials such as: foam core board, plastic tubes, hex nuts, binder clips, craft sticks, CD player, bags, rocks, markers/crayons to use the Engineering Design Process.
They will have the opportunity to experience teamwork, develop communication and creative thinking skills.
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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. Kosko and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
