Tech Directions - January 2008 - (Page 26)

Reaching New Heights in Middle School Science Straw Tower Competition Builds Student Interest By Tia Pliskow tiapet2001@yahoo.com I T’S often hard to hold the attention of an eighth grade class in any subject—let alone one often viewed by that age group as “boring” and “difficult.” I had the chance to challenge these preconceptions in my eighth grade science classroom at Visitation Catholic School in Tacoma, WA. I was the 7th and 8th grade math and science teacher in a small private school and instructed a total of 24 students. Science educators face the challenge of piquing students’ interest in subjects whose concepts are often entirely foreign to them. I wanted to give my students a hands-on, “real world” experience rooted in scientific concepts. What evolved was an engineering design competition. ing teams, as well as the ability to be patient enough to see a project through from initial concept to completion. The essential learnings addressed included design, the physics of weight and balance, and experimentation with different ideas. ● Only when those items are approved by the teacher will teams receive the requested materials and be permitted to begin building their towers. While the students were very in- Project Description The overall goal of the activity involved students competing in teams to see who could build the tallest free-standing tower using only specified materials provided by the teacher. When I was ready to begin the project, I divided the students into six teams of four students each and explained the overall goal. Then I showed them the materials they could use. (See Table 1.) I gave students a handout that included a statement of the goal and written list of the materials. We then discussed in detail two rules: ● Students must submit a written description of their plan and a drawing of it, plus a written request for materials. Table 1—Project Materials Straight plastic drinking straws Clear tape Scissors Pencils White drawing paper terested in the project at this point, the difficulty lay in encouraging them not to skip steps. Most teams wanted to grab materials and work through trial and error rather than sketch and plan. I found it helpful to describe some real-world problems Tia Pliskow taught middle school students at Visitation Catholic School, Tacoma, WA, when she wrote this article. She currently resides in University Place, WA. Learning Objectives The point of the project was twofold: to work on real-world skills and to spark students’ interest in science and technology. In middle school, students must begin to develop the ability to work on cooperative learn- 26 techdirections ◆ JANUARY 2008

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Tech Directions - January 2008

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