Drop Everything and STEAM in Fifth Grade
Source/Author: Raffi Darrow, Ebytes Editor
November 22, 2019
Shorecrest fifth graders spent a week integrating science, technology, engineering, arts and math during Drop Everything and STEAM Week. The week had students focusing on collaboration to solve science- and art-based challenges that mimic the structure and work of STEAM professionals in the real world.
The theme for the integrative week was Designing Kinetic Sculptures. Each morning the middle schoolers learned about an artist who incorporates physics principles into their artwork.
On Day 1 of STEAM Week, students learned about Alexander Calder, “father” of the mobile, along with the physics principles of center of mass, balance and energy that must be present to make a mobile work. Students then jumped into a design-thinking, collaborative challenge using the artist as a mentor. In this case, they applied their knowledge to their own mobile creations, building both symmetric and asymmetric mobiles. They also made cardboard acrobats that balanced on wooden dowels.
Students were inspired by Anne Lily, who uses gears in her artwork, on day 2 of STEAM Week. They learned about what drives many kinetic sculptures. The fifth graders created art using gears, meeting the criteria that two objects needed to interact as certain parts of the gears passed each other. They learned about cams and how they related to gears, and used this knowledge to build a working automaton.
Day three focused first on wheels, axles and levers. Students were challenged to create a transportation system that used a wheel and axle to successfully move and deliver a load of 12 dominoes 1 meter from the starting point - and with a lever to dump the load.
Later in the day, fifth graders viewed videos of marble runs created by George Rhoads and then created their own marble runs of recyclables and identified the forces (potential energy and kinetic energy) used in them. Once they got the hang of the design process, groups had to create marble runs that used pulleys to lift the marbles.
Fifth grade wrapped up learning about kinetic sculptures on Day 4 by learning about Rube Goldberg and his complicated contraptions that have many steps to accomplish a very simple task. Students went to town after reviewing the basic simple machines (such as levers, inclined planes, wedges & pulleys) that were combined to make Rube Goldberg’s creative creations work. All creations had to have at least 3 connected steps and incorporate 2 simple machines. Many groups went above and beyond on this challenge!
The week culminated in a STEAM Showcase, at which students shared their work from the week with family and friends. Everyone enjoyed celebrating a job well done during Drop Everything and STEAM Week. Cross-curricular, hands-on lessons like these stress all the great things about project-based learning and have long-lasting educational effects.
View more photos and video clips here. (More to come next week.)
