Problem to Ponder:

Wind Powered Cars

A few students in 5th grade have been working to use the power of the wind to move a car at least 20 feet.  Students are learning about testing and making hypothesis from those tests to improve their invention.  It has been frustrating at times, but in the end it is always rewarding!

Rocketry

A new topic was chosen by some 6th graders to explore this year.  Rocketry is the study of making and understanding why rockets fly into the air.  Students made a rocket from a kit and launched it three different times.  They have compared the variables at each test and used the estimated launch distance of 1,500 feet in the air to calculate various things.  The next focus for them will include launch angle, as all launches to this date have been straight up, or at 90 degrees.

What's it take to float a boat?

4th Grade students have been engineering boats made from tinfoil.  They studied the property of buoyancy and made several attempts at floating pennies in their boats.  Many tests were performed and many boats sank, but learning and a new model came from it.  Almost 400 pennies were floated on the boat using only a 12inch by 12inch piece of tinfoil.