DCS STEM Class

Our 4th grade students finished the year by designing cars made from recycled materials. This challenge required lots of tinkering and iterating, particularly to create a functioning set of wheels and axles. Check out a few of our final designs below!

For their final project of the year, 5th and 6th graders have been exploring properties of bubbles and bubble wands. After experimenting with manufactured wands, students then created their own wands using a variety of materials, including screen, popsicle sticks, wire, rubber bands, straws, and paper clips. Following the testing of their created wands, students then used 3D modeling software to design and 3D print a bubble wand.

Over the past several weeks, our first grade students have been designing and building bird feeders using recycled materials.  In creating their feeders, students had to meet three success criteria. 1. The feeder must have a way to attach to a tree branch. 2. The feeder must have a way to put bird seed inside.  3. The feeder must have a way for the birds to access the food. This week, we put some of our bird feeders out onto our trail. We hope the birds are enjoying the feast!

5th and 6th grade classes have been working on creating models of suspension bridges. Teams were tasked with creating a model that could span a gap of 18 inches and aimed to create a suspension system that was an integral part of the strength of the design. Teams were also limited in their materials to popsicle sticks, cardboard, hot glue, and string. Check out the many different designs students created in response to this prompt.

After spending two STEM lessons learning about and practicing classifications of rocks -- boulders, cobbles, pebbles, and sand -- PreK students found cobbles outside of our school building. Students then applied their design skills by painting and decorating their cobbles to create pet rocks. 

This week, kindergarten students participated in an engineering challenge connected to Audrey Wood's story The Napping House. In the story, a variety of people and animals pile up on a bed in a "napping house, where everyone is sleeping." After reading the story together, students were tasked with designing a bed out of clothespins and popsicle sticks that could successfully hold all of the characters from the story up off of the ground. Take a look at their creative responses to this challenge!

This week, we learned that our STEM program received a grant from the Lowe's "Toolbox for Education" program that will allow us to add a laser cutter to our STEM lab next year. This tool will be a powerful way to help students bring their creations to new heights! Our laser cutter/printer will allow our students to create digital designs that can then be engraved or cut into a variety of materials, including wood, cardboard, and fabrics. Possible applications include designing parts for recycled racers, creating custom pieces for student inventions, and cutting holes into materials with increased accuracy. Along with our 3D printers, this new tool will allow our students to engage with cutting-edge digital fabrication technology that will empower them as makers and designers. Link to Glowforge Introductory Video