Target Practice: Pumpkin Launcher
Posted on October 16th, 2012 by Mary Lord
Students in grades 1 to 6 follow the engineering design process to build and test a catapult that launches projectiles, such as marshmallow “pumpkins.” They then make changes to improve their launcher’s aim and distance it can hurl the projectile.
Filed under: Class Activities, Grades 6-8, Grades K-5, Lesson Plans | Comments Off on Target Practice: Pumpkin Launcher
Tags: catapult, Design, Elementary Education, Engineering Design, forces and motion, Halloween, levers, motions and forces, Physics, simple machines
Forget science fairs and drop-bys. Engineering educators now actively prepare teachers to deliver the E in K-12 STEM. Propelled by research and the country’s drive for more STEM graduates, outreach programs have evolved well beyond the career-day talks, teacher workshops, and other one-shot efforts of a decade ago.
California officials and business leaders want to correct what they say is a failure to invest enough time, money and training to teach science well. Only 10% of elementary students regularly receive hands-on science lessons, a recent survey found. Just one-third of elementary teachers said they feel prepared to teach science, and 85% said they have not received any training during the last three years.
In this lesson, students in grades 3-5 are introduced to chemical engineering and learn about its many different applications. They are provided with a basic introduction to matter and its different properties and states. An associated hands-on activity gives students a chance to test their knowledge of the states of matter and how to make observations.
Prowess in math may be apparent in children as young as three, according to a new study by Johns Hopkins University researchers that may help point the way to improved learning. Children display a “number sense” even before formal mathematical education takes place, the study published in the journal of Developmental Science suggests. 
The Time to Invent Club, an invention-based mentoring program, helps students participate in fun, hands-on invention activities that spark their interest in STEM. They tackle challenges, gain confidence through inventing and creative problem-solving, meet STEM professions, and realize the impact invention has on daily life.
A Japanese elementary school principal’s quick thinking saved his students’ lives after March 11’s colossal tsunami hit their school building. He immediately called the first- and second-graders who were playing outside into the school before guiding a total of 90 people — students, teachers and residents — onto the top of the two-story school building.
Teacher Stephanie Rick was honored recently by the National School Board for her innovative uses of technology in the third-grade classroom. Her students maintain a class blog, write to “e-pals” in England, and use hand-held devices on practice tests.
The Challenger Center for Space Science Education operates 45 Learning Centers across the United States, using space-mission simulators and interactive exhibitions to make STEM subjects fun for students in grades 5 through 8. Now, a new center will open next spring in West Virginia targeting K-2 students.
