Week of December 7-11

This week, we began our engineering cycle. I love this cycle because all of the G&T kids get to be together! In 3rd grade, we learned what technology is and what an engineer does. Many students were very surprised to learn that things like flip flops, a bonnet, and a basket are all examples of technology because they are made by people to solve a problem.

In 4th grade, we started to go beyond basics to investigate what a loop does and how it can help us with our baseball challenge. We also continued to add sensors so the robot can detect its environment and respond accordingly.

The 5th graders were introduced to their challenge for the engineering cycle- to identify something that breaks their heart in their lives/in the world and think about possible solutions to these heartbreaks. Students will be using the engineering design process to solve these problems by doing a passion project. They will choose a problem they care about and spend the next couple months asking questions, researching, interviewing, surveying, planning, creating, revising, and improving solutions to the problem. I can't wait to see the amazing things that they come up with!