STEM - Building Challenge

This lesson is designed to build students’ competencies in the following skills:

• adaptability
• collaboration
• creativity
• critical thinking
• problem solving
• social skills.

Australian curriculum content descriptions: 

Years 3 & 4 Design and Technologies:

• describe how forces and the properties of materials affect function in a product or system (AC9TDE4K02)
• explore needs or opportunities for designing, and test materials, components, tools, equipment and processes needed to create designed solutions (AC9TDE4P01)
• use given or co-developed design criteria including sustainability to evaluate design ideas and solutions (AC9TDE4P04)
• sequence steps to individually and collaboratively make designed solutions (AC9TDE4P05)

Syllabus outcomes: ST2-13MW

General capabilities: Critical and creative thinking, Personal and social capability

Cross-curriculum priority: Asia and Australia’s Engagement with Asia

Relevant parts of Years 3 & 4 achievement standards: 

Students create design solutions for each of the prescribed technologies contexts. They explain needs or opportunities and evaluate ideas and design solutions against identified criteria for success, including environmental sustainability considerations. Students plan and sequence major steps in design and production. They identify appropriate technologies and techniques and demonstrate safe work practices when producing designed solutions.

Unit of work: STEM Challenges — Primary

Time required: 55 mins

Level of teacher scaffolding: Medium to low. Teachers will be required to lead and facilitate the STEM design challenge at the start of the lesson. As the session progresses the students take the lead and the teaching role extends to a collaborative facilitator to assist the students in the STEM build

• blank paper or workbooks
• Buildings of Wonder Presentation
• butcher’s paper and pencils/markers
• device capable of presenting images to the class
• Student Worksheet (STEM Planner) – one copy between three or four students
• Variety of building materials (see Part B, Step 5).

This is an original Cool+ lesson.