September - The Aid Drop Challenge

During the month of September, the fifth grade students were busy assisting FEMA as the disaster relief agency prepared for this year's hurricane season. The young engineers were challenged to develop a prototype of a parachute that could be used to drop necessary supplies into areas devastated by a hurricane. The criteria for the project required that the parachute slow the descent of the package so that the supplies could reach the ground safely, the parachute stay intact for the entire descent, and that the prototype cost under $5.00 to build. It was exciting to watch the students apply what they had learned about force and motion in their science classrooms as they planned, designed, created, and improved their parachutes.