First Semester Final Engineering Challenge

On Tuesday, December 16th, semester one/quarter two STEM students partook in their final Engineering Challenge for the year alongside family and staff volunteers! As with all weekly STEM challenges, student teams were given an engineering task to accomplish using a limited amount of materials and tools. Teams were also expected to use STEM traits and to go through the Engineering Design Process (EDP) by collaboratively brainstorming, prototyping, and testing/iterating their designs.

This final challenge was entitled the Duck Slide Challenge! The goal was to "work with your team to design and build the longest slide in which a duck can travel down and land in a 'pond' (small bin)!" 

Thank you to all the family and staff volunteers listed below who took time out of their schedules to participate in this event and make it extra special! Student teams appreciated your helpful design ideas and inspiration!

 

6th Grade STEM Eggstronaut Mission
 

Sixth grade STEM students worked hard throughout the quarter on their Eggstronaut Mission! Student teams were tasked with designing and building a reusable “spacecraft,” like SpaceX and Blue Origin, that could protect their “eggstronaut” during landings from various heights. Students needed to work through the Engineering Design Process (EDP), engaging in critical thinking and creative problem solving, all the while, as they brainstormed designs, selected one as a team, prototyped a model, and then made multiple design iterations based on their testing results. 

While testing their designs, students used a “crash dummy” eggstronaut (a.k.a. a filled, colorful plastic egg!). Despite many teams’ model eggstronauts surviving all five drop height levels, unfortunately, no real eggstronauts (a.k.a. raw eggs!) made it through all five drops. Regardless, students should be proud of all the effort they put into their designs and their use of STEM traits (collaboration, communication, creativity, critical thinking, and curiosity) throughout the mission!

 

7th Grade STEM Drone Delivery
 

Throughout the semester, seventh grade STEM students learned about drones and prepared for their culminating Drone Delivery Mission! For this lab, students worked with their teams to figure out how they could fly a small package to an LJHS staff “client.” Students followed the Engineering Design Process (EDP) to accomplish this mission, documenting their progress in their digital Engineering Notebooks. 

There is a lot that goes into this mission, including teams interviewing their client, brainstorming delivery items and packaging options, developing drone attachment ideas, planning out delivery routes, working through constraints, and continually iterating their designs according to test results. Before the end of the semester, all teams made successful deliveries to their LJHS clients! Congratulations, seventh grade STEM students, on tackling this multifaceted mission, persevering through setbacks, and collaboratively problem solving!

Also, thank you to the following LJHS staff members who volunteered to be drone delivery clients, making this experience more authentic and meaningful for students: Ms. Broadus, Mr. Grau, Ms. Keigher, Ms. Kopanis, Ms. McIntyre, Mr. McLear, Ms. Miller, Ms. Nelson, Ms. Purtell, Ms. Rankin, and Ms. Shum. You are much appreciated! 

 

8th Grade STEM Robot Soccer Competition
 

Eighth grade STEM student teams recently competed against each other in a class Robot Soccer Competition! After learning about manipulators and viewing manipulator models for inspiration, teams were tasked with making their own robotic active manipulators and configuring their added motors so that they could be directed via their robot remote controllers.  Teams used the Engineering Design Process (EDP) as they brainstormed designs, collaboratively selected one, and then went about creating their manipulators. Following several rounds of testing and iterating, teams faced off during their final one-on-one Robot Soccer Competition!

All students should be proud of their creative designs and ability to program their robots along with their manipulators! As for the competition, the winning team consisted of Tyler B., Carlos C., Rron M., and Patrick R. Congratulations on your stellar design and driving abilities!