STEM Challenge: Pulley Power
Materials
You need a ping pong ball as a tester for this challenge.
Set Up
- Prepare Materials: Ensure you have all the necessary materials ready beforehand and organize them so that they are easily accessible to students. Students should use no more than five of any one material per creation! For example, a student can use five straws and five pieces of paper, but not ten straws. If you provide aluminum foil, no more than one arm’s length piece for each student!
- Provide Guidelines and Constraints: Reiterate the challenge to students, as needed. Building time is 45 minutes!
- Model the Design Process: Before students begin, demonstrate the design process by going through the steps yourself. Discuss how to brainstorm ideas, create prototypes, test them, and make iterations based on the results, as needed.
- Encourage Collaboration: Foster a collaborative environment where students can work together in pairs. Encourage them to share ideas, help each other troubleshoot challenges, and provide constructive feedback throughout the process. But no groups of three!
- Support Adaptation: Encourage students to embrace the mindset of adaptation and problem-solving. Help them see that setbacks and failures are opportunities to learn and make improvements. Guide them in identifying areas for adaptation and brainstorming alternative solutions.
- Facilitate Reflection: Set aside time for students to reflect on their design process and decision-making. Ask questions that prompt them to think critically about their choices, challenges they faced, and what they learned from the experience. This reflection can be done individually, in pairs, or as a whole-class discussion.
- Celebrate and Showcase: Celebrate students’ efforts and showcase their work.
CASEL Discussion Questions
Five questions aligned to Social Awareness and Relationship Skills — our focus CASEL competency for Module 4 and Module 5 — for teachers to foster an engaging discussion and social-emotional learning
- How do you think Elisha Otis felt before announcing his invention to the public? How would you have felt in his place?
- Imagine you are a rider on the drop tower ride. What emotions would you experience? How can understanding these emotions help you design a safer and more enjoyable ride?
- How might people from different cultures or backgrounds react to riding a drop tower? How can you design the ride to be inclusive and considerate of diverse perspectives?
- How did you recognize when a teammate needed help or encouragement? What actions did you take to support them?
- What did you learn about your teammates during this project that you didn’t know before? How can this new understanding improve your future collaborations?
