Showing posts with label engineering design. Show all posts
Showing posts with label engineering design. Show all posts

Wednesday, January 11, 2017

Full STEAM Ahead: Christmas Tree Engineering by Preschoolers

Christmas Tree Engineering
Lesson Plan for Preschool
Prepared by Mrs. Yandell

OVERVIEW & PURPOSE

Can you build a Christmas tree that will stand up by itself with the material you have been given?

EDUCATION STANDARDS

  1. Children will express their individual creativity
  2. Practice fine motor skills
  3. Children will experiment and find the best solution for the activity
  4. Children will explore engineering through interactive play

OBJECTIVES

  1. Ability to roll four pieces of playdough into balls
  2. Ability to stick four straws into the balls
  3. Ability to build a standing Christmas tree using the materials given

MATERIALS NEEDED

  1. Playdough
  2. Four Straws

VERIFICATION

Steps to check for student understanding
  1. Did your Christmas tree stand up
  2. How do we remain persistent through challenges

ACTIVITY

Describe activity that will reinforce the lesson
Students will work individually to build a standing Christmas tree out of limited supplies. They will be given playdough and four straws.  First, roll four balls out of the playdough.  Next, place four straws into the balls of playdough.  Last, gather all of the straw at the top and put playdough around them so they conjoin to make the top of the Christmas tree. To finish the project, each child will be given one star to play on top of their standing Christmas tree.  


Christmas Tree Engineering Recap by Jessica Yandell


Students were able to explore engineering through interactive play, express individual creativity, and find the best solution to completing the activity.  This is a great activity for preschool children to practice fine motor skills and the ability to manipulate different materials using their hands.  The task was to build a standing Christmas tree using the given materials, and if they accomplished this task they were given a sparkling star to go on top of their tree.   There was so much excitement going on in the room because everyone wanted to earn their star! If students finished early, they were encouraged to take apart their tree and rebuild it a different way.  Students were really engaged and loved this participating in this lesson.  

Wednesday, January 4, 2017

Full STEAM Ahead: 2nd Grade Builds Lego Campus Model

STEAM 2nd Grade
Lego Campus Model Lesson Plan
Teacher: Mrs. Yandell
Date: 11/21/16

Overview & Purpose
In this activity, students across three 2nd grade classrooms were challenged to design and build the buildings here at CCS.  Students will investigate the properties of building sturdy structures by constructing lego walls.  Good communication and collaboration are necessary to complete this project.

Education Standards

  1. 21st Century Communication and Collaboration
  2. Engineering Design Engineers typically work together to solve the problems that face society. Engineering design is the process of creating solutions to human problems through creativity and the application of math and science knowledge. The basic steps within the design process include:
    1. Identifying a problem – Observing a problem and seeing a need for a solution.
    2. Researching possible solutions – Coming up with ideas to address the problem.
    3. Picking the best solution – Determining which idea best addresses the problem. This decision may involve monetary, practicality, material, and property concerns.
    4. Building a prototype – Build a working model of the chosen design v. Testing the prototype – Be sure the working model solves the problem and holds up to any important material property tests.
    5. Repeating any steps needed to improve the design – The engineering design process is not always a step-by-step

Objectives

  1. Determine the best design for a sturdy structure
  2. Define engineering design as the process of creating solutions to human problems through creativity and the application of math and science knowledge.

Materials Needed

  1. Legos
  2. Building board

Verification

Steps to check for student understanding
  1. Did your group work well together?
  2. Was your building structurally strong, or did it fall apart?
  3. What is something that your group could have done better?
  4. Was your group able to complete the project?

Activity

Describe activity that will reinforce the lesson
The goal of this project is to build the CCS campus using lego bricks.  Students will work in groups of four to five students and be assigned to build one of the buildings here at CCS.  Students must address the critical steps to a design process, and they must build structurally strong walls.  When all classes have completed their buildings, we will put them all together on a poster board to represent our campus.  We will display this projects at grandparents day!

Overall, I want this projects to represent how God created us all differently. Each person has unique God given talents.  Let this project be a representation of how when we come together, united under Christ, we can do great things!
Romans 12:4-8

For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.

Recap written by Jessica Yandell:
The goal of this project was to build the CCS campus using lego bricks.  Students worked in groups of four to five students and assigned to build one of the buildings here at CCS.  Students addressed the critical steps to a design process, and build structurally strong walls. Engineering design is the process of creating solutions to human problems through creativity and the application of math and science knowledge. The basic steps within the design process include:
    1. Identifying a problem – Observing a problem and seeing a need for a solution.
    2. Researching possible solutions – Coming up with ideas to address the problem.
    3. Picking the best solution – Determining which idea best addresses the problem. This decision may involve monetary, practicality, material, and property concerns.
    4. Building a prototype – Build a working model of the chosen design v. Testing the prototype – Be sure the working model solves the problem and holds up to any important material property tests.
    5. Repeating any steps needed to improve the design – The engineering design process is not always a step-by-step
Excitement filled the room during this project; each students was eager to participate and accomplish the task.  If there was conflict among any of the groups, I reminded the students to revert back to conflict resolution contract, such as a game of rock paper scissors to settle the conflict.
Prior to the project, I reminded the students to take into consideration the height of the buildings here at CCS.  I asked the students, “is the highschool gym shorter or taller than their classroom building?” I wanted them to build strong structures, but also accurate representations.  However, by the second week we were running low on legos, so I asked the groups to build the outline of the exterior walls, and then build the walls taller if there were remaining legos.  During the project,  I provided a poster board with a simple sketch showing where each building would be placed, as well as rough dimensions.  This was used as a guide to for each group to know the size and shape of their buildings.
Once all of the classes completed their buildings, I placed their structures on a poster board to display the CCS campus.
**Overall, I want this projects to represent how God created us all differently. Each person has unique God given talents.  Let this project be a representation of how when we come together, united under Christ, we can do great things!
Romans 12:4-8 For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.