Towamensing students get hands-on experience

While a group of second-graders were re-creating the first Ferris wheel, sixth-grade students on the other side of the building were trying to successfully land their Mars lander without losing the Ping-Pong balls inside them.

It was all part of Towamensing Elementary School’s National Science Technology Engineering Mathematics Day activities Friday, aimed at promoting STEM learning opportunities for all students, and arming them with 21st century employability skills.

“Our teachers promote the STEM ideals with different activities throughout the year, but there is a special focus this week,” Towamensing Principal Christine Steigerwalt said.

Francine Kluck, Carbon Schuylkill Luzerne STEM coordinator, said teachers this year were asked to “gear up and offer STEM-based opportunities in their classrooms, across grade levels, building wide, or, even better, integrate STEM with some form of service learning project for the local community.”

Students in William Zeky’s sixth-grade class strived to keep two marshmallows (the astronauts) inside their Mars lander cup while dropping it from varying heights. The supply list for the activity included four large marshmallows, 10 small marshmallows, six index cards, four rubber bands, four Popsicle sticks and scrap paper, as well as items like scissors, tape and measuring tape.

Zeky said a group of students dropped their Mars lander from as high as 9 feet while still landing soft enough to keep the Ping-Pong balls inside.

“The main goal is to have them working as a team to solve a complex problem,” Zeky said. “The students are just starting to get into algebra, and math is full of complex problems, so the feeling is if they’re able to work this out, they will be that much more prepared for some of the lessons coming up.”

As a follow-up, Zeky said, students will be using formulas to calculate the impact velocity of their Mars landers.

Meanwhile, second-grade teacher Krystle Meglio started out the morning reading a book about the first Ferris wheel, built for the World’s Fair in 1893, before students traveled back in time to re-create it on their own.

“The goal is to design the wheel so it spins around the axle,” Meglio told students.

Students worked in groups to design their wheel before putting their ideas to the test using a wheel cutout, tape, straws and scissors.

Among the other Towamensing STEM activities:

• Students used cups and index cards to stack pumpkins. They also made gates for five pumpkins to sit on using Popsicle sticks, clothespins and pumpkin candles.

• Students in fifth grade made a marble maze in a box using straws, cups and paper to have a turkey get from the beginning of the maze to the end. They needed to include obstacles and dead ends and reflect as a team on their challenges, what materials worked best and how they would do things differently.

• Other fifth-grade students designed and created a crate to keep a tea bag dry for the longest period of time in a tub of cold water.

• After watching a video titled “Do You Want To Be An Engineer?” students discussed that career choice.

• Students were introduced to Tetris and tried to build solid walls with unusually shaped pieces.

• Students created a food shopping basket with various materials and were challenged to suspend food (plastic food) for up to 10 seconds in their basket.

• Students built various structures with wooden blocks and KEVA planks such as a house, bridge, the Eiffel Tower, the Empire State Building and the Great Pyramids.