..and it was a huge success! Students completed this challenge, which covered 3-D Shapes. Each student was given the task of designing a triangular prism, rectangular prism, or cylinder. They were only allowed to use one 8 1/2 X 11 piece of copy paper and a section of painter's tape given to them. They had to figure out how to fold the paper to correctly get the shape {faces, edges, vertices}. After each student constructed, we tested which shape would hold the most using softcover books. Most students went with the cylinder design and one student's column was able to hold seven books! The giggles and triumphant shouts were wonderful and the resiliency learned during this first task is monumental as they take on more difficult challenges to come!
Check out this great article on why engineering is important to teach students even before they can spell it!
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/14/education/14engineering.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
Check out this great article on why engineering is important to teach students even before they can spell it!
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/14/education/14engineering.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0