STEM Challenge Days 1 and 2

This week we have been working on a STEM challenge during our Power Hour time.  The students were split into teams and given a challenge: Create the tallest freestanding tower in second grade.  Throughout this week, they will be making prototypes out of different materials, to see which ones they would like to use for their final tower, on Friday.

Yesterday we started off by using marshmallows and toothpicks.  I was impressed by how well some groups worked together, and also by how creative the students were.  The tallest tower of the day measured 7.5 inches tall.  We learned a lot from trial and error!

Today, students were given marshmallows and uncooked spaghetti to create their towers.  This was, I admit, a failure.  One group of students was able to make a tower that stood 13.5 inches.  However, the rest of the towers fell flat.  Literally!  We learned a LOT from using these materials!  First, the noodles were not strong enough to hold more than one marshmallow.  They kept snapping and toppling whenever they tried to add more levels.  Also, spaghetti noodles and marshmallows are a PAIN to clean up!  Luckily, I have lots of good helpers and we were able to get everything cleaned up in about 20 min.  (Thanks to the help of Miss Lesa's vacuum!)  After we cleaned up, we sat down and talked about what we learned from today's prototypes.  We came to a consensus that spaghetti noodles are not going to be used for the real towers on Friday!  I also related this to Thomas Edison inventing the lightbulb.  He didn't fail, he just found 10,000 different ways that didn't work!