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Goal

Recently, a popular quote on the internet recommend that we not ask children what they want to be when they grow up but what problem they want to solve. The goal of this grant is to provide students with hands-on experience in solving real world problems through building and engineering. Students will learn about global issues and develop solutions to those problems by creating original designs and inventions. 

What will be done with my students

Not all students learn the same way, but all students are most engaged when they see relevance to what they are learning. Students want to know that what they are learning about has value. In response, I have developed more than 20 real-world scenarios that include engineering challenges. These scenarios are directly related to events students will be learning about in science, social studies and reading. Students will be presented with these scenarios and asked to build functional solutions in response. The following activities will be included but are not limited to:

1) Building a earthquake-safe structure
2) Designing and creating a robotic hand
3) Engineering a filter that purifies water
4) Customizing a wind turbine to produce AC power
5) Exploring and utilizing hydropower
6) Building 7 different bridges in response to environmental challenges

This project will be ongoing throughout the school year. Every quarter, students will be assigned an engineering partner, ensuring sufficient supplies for all students. My class consists of gifted and high achieving students and often these children master the learning goals in less time than is allotted by the district for teaching them. Once individual students have demonstrated mastery of the learning goal I am teaching, the pair will be given the opportunity to work on their engineering project. This ensures that students who are ready for the additional challenge are provided with the opportunity to expand their learning, while students who need more support and a more standard learning pace have that as well. Additionally, all students will be given an hour and a half every Friday throughout the school year to specifically work on their engineering project. When learning goals specifically align with the various scenarios, students will be allotted time as well.
 

Benefits to my students

The twenty-four students in my class will benefit from these activities on several levels. The first level addresses their understanding of engineering and design. As students work through the various activities, they will be required to understand the physics and practical mechanics of their designs. The second benefit will be that students will be tying what they learn in the classroom to real-world solutions. As students learn about pollution in the Everglades, the global struggle to develop affordable and efficient energy sources, natural disasters and other problems that plague our modern world through standard curriculum, they will also develop out-of-the-box problem solving skills for bettering peoples' lives as they experience these problems. This is a natural lead-in to the third benefit of this project. When students have a hand in solving problems that real people experience, they develop a greater empathy towards those experiencing the problem. A student's desire to design a home that would withstand an earthquake stems from the compassion the have for the family that lives in that home. Their determination to change wind energy into AC power may be rooted in their longing to make sure everyone has affordable access to energy that can run a refrigerator or water pump. Problems that seen so remote in a textbook, become real and as a result, students develop a sense of global responsibility. 

Budget Narrative

The total cost of this project is $1714.05

Champion for Learning Grant:
Real-World STEM Challenge Kit - Gr. 4-5, 2 kits @ $149 each
Engino Structures & Bridges Kit, 3 kits @ $47.50 each
PicoTurbine SKY-Z Limitless Advanced AC Wind Turbine, 3 kits @ $142.95 each
Thames & Kosmos Hydropower Science, 3 kits @ $44.90 each

**In addition to the sum requested above, this teacher has donated 20 hours of curriculum writing and design to ensure the success of this project. This is valued at approximately $560, $28 an hour for 20 hours.

Students will also need access to repurposed and recycled items to use in conjunction with the above kits. These items have already been secured. The value of these items is approximately $150.

Breakdown:

$1004.05 - CFL
$ 560.00 - Curriculum writing and design
$ 150.00 - Additional supplies

$1714.04 - Project total
Percentage of total being requested: 59%


 

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