Students in Maria Gabrell’s first grade class recently worked on “The Floor Is Lava” STEM challenge with wonderful results!

 

The students learned about the engineering design process. Then, our little engineers worked together in groups to design and build a structure to save as many bears as they could from the lava.

 

They were given just a few materials to build – four cups, three index cards and five popsicle sticks. They had to first make a plan, then build and test their design. They recorded the number of bears they saved. One group saved 29 bears!

 

When  they finished building, we did a gallery walk to discuss each structure. The students were then asked to reflect on their design and discuss how to improve their structure. There were so many creative designs and great teamwork.