HOUSE OF CARDS

The challenge given was to build a freestanding house of cards with only 12 inches of tape and as many index cards as you want in 10 minutes. We persisted and engineered and here are the results....

"EGGS"CELLENT EGG DROP!

The students of 4K were biomechanical engineers for the day! The problem they had to solve was how to protect an egg dropped from 2 meters. They planned, designed, constructed and tested their containers made to  reduce the impact of the collision. This activity put into use our study of transfer of energy, collisions, momentum and and contact force. 

Egg Drop 1

Egg Drop 2

Egg Drop 3

Did They Survive?

EXPLORING ENERGY

4K explored energy and variables in another way with this task. We dropped three different balls from the same height under the same conditions. They predicted which would bounce the highest. Then, students dropped the balls 3 times each and found the average bounce height. We recorded the data and considered all the factors that would impact the bounce height.

We also explored energy with Newton's Cradle. Here is a video that shows a Newton's Cradle in action.

A "MAZE" ING MARBLE CHALLENGE!

In our first school-wide STEM challenge, students were asked to create a maze that includes obstacles and a track for a marble to travel through. The materials given:
1 paper plate
1 marble
scissors
tape - unlimited
yarn - unlimited
strips of paper - unlimited
Students worked in teams for 3 minutes to formulate a plan and 10 minutes to use as much of the materials given to design and build their mazes. Just look at what 4K made!