MA STEM Week 2018

In an effort to boost students’ interest and raise awareness of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education, the Baker-Polito Administration declared a statewide STEM Week from October 22-26, 2018. More information about the initiative and its goals can be found at https://www.massstemweek.org


For each challenge:

  • Identify the problem, criteria, and constraints: Ask questions!
  • Brainstorm ideas: Record all ideas, generate as many as possible, build off others, no judgement/interruptions-stay positive!
  • Decide on an idea to prototype-be willing to try others' ideas!
  • Test and evaluate the prototype
  • Improve the prototype
  • Communicate the solution: Take a picture and record the height (in cm). Email the picture to [email protected]. The subject should be the challenge name, partner’s names, and measurement (example: Textbook Holder, Chip Gaines and Joanna Gaines, 15 cm)

********************************************************************** Challenge 1: Paper Chain Goal: Build the longest possible paper chain. Materials: 1 piece of construction paper, 1 glue stick, 1 pair of scissors, ruler Time: 5 minutes Group size: 3-4 ********************************************************************** Challenge 2: Pipe Cleaner Tower Goal: Build the tallest freestanding tower. Materials: 15 fuzzy pipe cleaners, ruler Time: 10 minutes Group size: 2-3 ********************************************************************** Challenge 3: Strongest Textbook Tower Goal: Build a paper tower at least 10cm high that can support the greatest number of textbooks. Materials: 4 sheets of printer paper, 30cm of tape, scissors, ruler Time: 10 minutes Group size: 2-3 ********************************************************************* Scratch Paired Programming Scratch Site Drivers and Navigators worked together to write programs using Scratch Starter Cards. ********************************************************************* Scratch Solo Programming Students with prior programming experience worked on creating programs to illustrate a concept that we have learned about so far this year (orbits, eclipses, tides, spheres, constructive and destructive forces, convection, etc.) ********************************************************************** STEM Week Survey From the 10/26/18 DMS Newsletter Article:

Massachusetts Celebrates the 1st Annual Statewide STEM Week

In an effort to boost students’ interest and raise awareness of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education, the Baker-Polito Administration declared a statewide STEM Week from October 22-26, 2018. More information about the initiative and its goals can be found at https://www.massstemweek.org


Mrs. GravesonPayne’s 8th Grade Science classes celebrated the week by focusing on Design Challenges (Engineering) and Computer Programming (Technology). On Monday, the students were introduced to the Engineering Design Process and norms for brainstorming and working together as a team. They were then challenged to build the longest possible paper chain in 5 minutes using a single piece of construction paper, a glue stick, one pair of scissors, and a ruler. They set goals, built and tested a prototype, then redesigned and constructed a 2nd prototype. All groups were successful in improving their design from the first to the second prototype, reinforcing the idea that teamwork and practice pays off!

On Tuesday, students used their math skills to analyze the data from the previous day and talked about how building the first prototype was a valuable experience that helped them to build the second more successful prototype. They then participated in the 2nd challenge of the week-build the tallest freestanding pipe cleaner tower in 10 minutes. There were a few challenges within this challenge-there were times when students were only allowed to use one hand each and times when they had to work without talking. They all managed to overcome these difficulties and create some artistic (and surprisingly tall) tower designs.

On Wednesday, students redesigned their pipe cleaner structures, noting characteristics like base shape and distribution of weight, to build taller towers. Then they moved on to Challenge 3: Textbook Tower. Using 4 sheets of paper and 30 cm of tape, they were challenged to build a structure at least 10 cm above the table that could support the greatest number of Science textbooks. (Well, some classes did that, because their teacher was in the processes of improving the activity throughout the day.)


On Thursday and Friday, students were introduced to using the Scratch programming language. They used a paired programming strategy in which one student acted as “driver” and the other as “navigator”. They worked through Scratch Starter Cards, practicing their communication and troubleshooting skills, while using computational thinking to program. Students who had previous programming experience were challenged to create a Scratch project that illustrates a concept we have learned about this year (orbits, eclipses, tides, spheres, constructive and destructive forces, convection, etc.). At the end of class on Friday, students shared some of their projects and coding with their classmates.

Finally, students were asked to rate the week’s activities and share what they learned. Students favorites were fairly evenly split, but the highest rating went to the paired programming activity. Below are just some of the student comments:


I would like to do activities like this again. I think we should do things like this again because they are a fun way to learn and almost everyone enjoys it.


It gets all of us engaged in a project.


This makes me want to be a coder.


I think that we should do more activities like this, so it gets us to think in a different way and maybe work with people that we wouldn't really work with.


I learn better with the hands on activities. I appreciate this form of learning better than just taking notes and learning from the textbook.


Something I learned during STEM week was sometimes when you plan something out that you are sure will work, there are better ways to get it done. You can compare your work to others that were better and improve the factors that were not as well put together as others.


Some things I learned from STEM week is that it isn't that hard to program and that you can be creative.


Some things take a long time to do, thinking with other people who have the same humor and type of ideas that mix with mine and work together well is very exciting.


I think we should do this again because I had fun it was not stressful and I enjoyed coming to science everyday.


I really enjoyed this week and am sad to see that it is over, thank you for doing this with us.


A very busy STEM Week (and month!) wraps up next week with the Waters Corporation Field Trip for twenty 7th and 8th graders on Tuesday, October 30th, during the school day. After great trips to Medtronic and Tufts, Mrs. GravesonPayne is looking forward to it!