We concluded our computer science module this week in fourth grade with a breakout challenge. These challenges are much like the escape rooms people visit with family and friends. The big difference with this challenge was that students had to break into a locked box in their classroom. There were several different puzzles and challenges about computer science students needed to solve in order to unlock the locks and open the box. I was so proud of their cooperation and hard work to be successful at this task! 

Third graders took everything they had learned about forces of motion and simple machines to build a compound machine that could rescue a trapped tiger at the zoo. Students followed the engineering design process to identify the problem, brainstorm ideas, create a model, evaluate and explain their design. Students were very creative in their designs and many included a treat to try to coax there tiger into a cage that they could pull safely out of harms way. 

Over the last couple weeks fifth graders have been learning about how autonomous robots are used to help people. First students learned how to program their robots and then they created a program to collect blocks on a playing field. For the final challenge, students were introduced to the problem of delivering medical supplies to varies destinations in a hospital. Groups then had to redesign their robots and code a program that would deliver different color blocks representing the different medical supplies to color coded locations on a playing field. I am so impressed with the hard work, cooperation and perseverance of these students!