It's fun to play with stuff isn't it? I remember as a child playing with craft and creating little 'masterpieces'! As children get older we find they have less time to create and play, particularly at school. That's why I'm such a fan of STEAM in education. You may remember from previous posts, Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Maths all have their part to play in these problem solving scenarios.
This week began with the construction phase of our Sphero chariots, which equally frustrated and delighted the students. They persisted and didn't let the obstacles stop them- adapt and overcome was our new mantra!
Next week, we test and trial these chariots with the Sphero and then we have the opportunity to amend our designs. The Sphero is then given instructions via code on the iPad to follow a path with the chariot. Watch this space for future posts as this project develops.
We've commenced our weekly Year 6 STEM rotations! Every Wednesday the Year 6 students have the opportunity to work with students from other classes and with different teachers on STEM challenges. In LA8 today we had the Newspaper Tower Challenge- each group made only 7 newspaper dowels, stuck it together with only 60 cm of tape and had to build the strongest or tallest tower! It was good to see planning, sketching and compromise before building the tower. It makes me laugh when the future lawyers challenge me with loopholes in the instructions in an attempt to persuade me that the are not bending the rules or dare I say cheating- future superstars of Contract Law in the making! Until the next daily learning challenge it's paper, scissors...
