Each month, our students have the opportunity to compete in our after-school Engineering Challenge.
The goals of the Challenge include:
- providing students an opportunity to experience authentically and firsthand the process of engineering as they work as engineers to complete a design challenge
- providing students an opportunity to work as a group to collaborate and communicate to achieve a common goal
- providing students an opportunity to compete as an academic team in a different type of competition than our yearly science fair, thus expanding the opportunitites for students to gain recognition for their accomplishments in science and related STEM disciplines.
The November Challenge was to create a light bulb changer. Students were given 45 minutes to create a device that could be used to unscrew an incandescent light bulb and replace it with a compact fluorescent light bulb. A light fixture was suspended from a 10-foot ceiling, and the time to exchange the bulbs was measured. The fasted time determined the winners, and they are listed below.
Thank you to Anna Cotton (Alt Ed Science), Dana Munn (Science), Michael Lavers (Math), and Chris Connors (Art) for working with me as a team to plan and provide these opportunities. –Natalie Munn