Eleanor Skillen School #34 in Indianapolis, IN
A Chair for Mr. Bear
The student work displayed here is the culmination of a 5E Learning Module on Structures and Forces. The unit was introduced (ENGAGE) using the Goldilocks and the 3 Bears story. Students next spent time building structures using guided instructions to learn that a triangle is a stable geometric shape and to make inferences as to why structures are constructed using this shape (EXPLORE).
A Young Scientists Conference involved students in an analysis of their explorations. Students exchange what they learned (EXPLAIN). Next, students were presented with a letter from Papa Bear, addressed to them as an engineering company. This EXTEND activity challenged students, who were now the engineers, to build a new sturdy chair for Mr. Bear to replace the one broken by Goldilocks. The chair had to withstand a “drop test” and be the most economically feasible, as determined by a LEGO cost sheet, defining the cost of each LEGO element they used.
The letters shown at this site represent student responses from Eleanor Skillen School #34 in Indianapolis, IN.