The Disney Challenge Part 2

During the month of January, each fifth grade engineering team focused on turning their 2-dimensional theme park ride plan into a 3-dimensional working prototype. Take a moment to see the videos on the fifth grade STEM Lab page highlighting their progress.

Grade 5 STEM Assembly

On January 7th, the fifth grade students spent the afternoon acting as structural engineers. The students worked in collaborative teams as they engineered a track for a marble that was free standing, stood at least 15 cm. tall and included at least one right angle. The marble had to ultimately land in a small paper cup. The team work was amazing and the structures themselves were inspiring. Great job 5th grade!

Lighten Up Challenge

The fourth grade students were recently challenged to use all that they have learned about light and angles to engineer a lighting system for an Egyptian tomb. 

Dear Optical Engineers,
Archaeologists have recently discovered a long lost Egyptian Tomb. When they explored the inside of the tomb, they found valuable antiquities as well as numerous painted hieroglyphs no the interior walls. The country of Egypt would like to allow visitors to enter the pyramid, so the entire world can view the hieroglyphs to learn about life during ancient times. However, the hieroglyphs are very sensitive to light and must never be illuminated with direct or intense light. Please work as a group to design a lighting system that will illuminate the hieroglyphs on the inside of the Egyptian tomb.

Criteria and Constraints:

• The hieroglyphs must be placed on two different walls of the tomb.
• The hieroglyphs must never be touched by direct light.
• The hieroglyphs must be illuminated by indirect light that has been reflected at least two times.
• You may only use the materials provided.

Lighten Up Challenge

What happens when the fourth grade students learn about angles in math and the properties of light in science? They turn into Optical Engineers! Be sure to check out the fourth grade STEM Lab challenge page, where you can read all about the Lighten Up Challenge, and watch a video that shows our young engineers hard at work!

The Disney Challenge Part 2

The fifth grade students have been very busy turning their 2-dimensional plans into 3-dimensional prototypes. As they create and test, it is obvious that numerous iterations will be required to create a working ride. Take a look as these young engineers improve, improve and improve some more! The Engineering Design Process is never done!