Third graders at Fayetteville Elementary learned first-hand how weather and climate impacts their lives by competing in an engineering challenge.
The goal was to teach students how humans can reduce impact from natural hazards through design. An engineer from Feldmeier Equipment was on hand to show students the importance of various structural design elements on famous buildings, and help answer questions as they kicked off their own designs.
Students were split into teams of two, and each team was given 6 pieces of paper and a limited amount of tape. They were tasked with building wind-resistant structures that could withstand the power of a box fan. Each team brainstormed, sketched ideas, investigated materials, and built. The structures had to be at least 1-foot tall and hold up a washer.
Once finished, students placed their structures 9-feet from the fan and moved gradually closer. If they could get to 2-feet away, their structure “passed” and was in the running to win. The team with the tallest structure to withstand the wind was named overall winner. Students could start over or change their design as many times as they wanted.
“It’s important to use your failures to help try to do things better,” explained Science Curriculum Specialist Erin Concannon, when explaining the rules to students.
Students were encouraged to collect evidence that would help explain a design solution and if their design failed, to consider the reason why and identify how they could improve their prototype.
