STEM activity

This was my first week of school and boy am I zonked!

I spend the first week or two of school doing team building, routines, procedures, and getting to know you.  Anyway, this activity will get your students minds wondering and help them to work in teams of 2-3 to solve a problem.  I especially like that this activity encompasses all parts of the engineering design process and I use my posters to help the students see the process as part of the lesson.

Here is what you need:

• Straws
• Aluminum foil
• Scissors
• Masking Tape
• Optional:  Wax paper
• Weights (If you don't have any weights to use you can use small found objects of the same size and weight)

Make a kit of all the materials your students will need in a basket and you will also need either a plastic tub filled with water or an aquarium.  I made 8 kits for my class.  To introduce the idea I asked my students to close their eyes and image they were on a beautiful island.  But they were trapped and in order to get off the island they had to build a raft that would hold their whole crew plus some.

Students should work in small groups to draft a plan on paper and develop their model raft.  The winning group was the one that was able to hold the most weight.  If you want to increase the difficulty of the activity you can use Popsicle sticks instead of straws.