As a part of the STEM curriculum at Bridges Preparatory School, Ms. Newton’s class became engineers last week. They learned that engineers create, build, construct and plan. They also learned that engineers use a variety of tools but the students had to use those tools properly. To incorporate the reading lesson about characters and settings, the class then sought out to build an indestructible home for the Three Little Pigs. They worked in groups to plan, create, and build homes out of different materials, then they tested the houses by re-enacting the story and watching the “Big Bad Wolf.” Ms. Newton try to blow them over with a blow dryer. Three out of six houses did not fall down. The students then compared the structure of the homes and determined why some were sturdier than others. Then they used a real power drill and applied what they had learned about safely using tools — by drilling holes into the class pumpkin.
