Monday, October 9, 2017

An Engineering Challenge: Design a PaperClip

This week in enrichment students in Grades 1-3 spent time participating in an engineering design challenge. At the beginning of the year I like to use these challenges to build teamwork as well as to have students use their creativity!  This is the first year I have done this challenge, and it is  a lot of fun.  First we watched a film about how paperclips are made. Next we looked at other student paperclip designs...and then the challenge:  Build a unique paperclip that holds five pieces of paper.  




I know that RES students are creative, but their ideas and creativity really blossomed.  It was also cool to watch students iterate their designs through the class period if one strategy did not hold paper, OR to create another type if one worked.
Students brought their paperclips home, but here are a few pictures of their work:



My idea for this challenge came from:  http://stemactivitiesforkids.com/2017/06/27/quick-stem-challenge-kids-engineer-new-paper-clip/

No comments:

Post a Comment

Thanks so much for commenting on the RES Enrichment blog--your feedback increases student engagement and interest in writing and sharing! These comments are moderated to keep our students safe. Once Mrs. Rankin has reviewed the comment, it will show up on the blog feed. Come back and comment again soon!