Teams of middle school gifted students participated in the annual Range Resources STEM Challenge. The teams were tasked with designing a cage out of balsa wood, popsicle sticks, and glue that would protect a wellhead. In addition to the cage design component, students also created a design journal and developed a video explaining their ideas. At the competition, 1-2 pound weights were dropped from varying heights to see which cages could withstand the most force. Congratulations to Team 1 (Evan, Cameron, & Vittoria) for coming in 3rd place at the competition! Two of our students read the Children's Choice Awards titles to earn the opportunity to participate in the event today. Elliott and Owen are voracious readers and really enjoyed reading the titles and participating in the author's keynote presentation and battle of the books.
Along with the onsite engineering challenges, the Design Lives Here competition also features the Invention Challenge, which students must complete before attending. Design Lives Here is an student outreach program inspired by the PBS show "Design Squad Nation," which aims to inspire the next generation of engineers. We had several winners in the STEM Challenges! Congratulations!
Major environmental issues including climate change and pollution are currently facing our world. Through this STEM Design Challenge, teams were tasked to research environmental issues, identify one, and create a solution to that issue. Finally, teams had to build a prototype out of K’Nex that supports the solution. At the competition, students had two hours to assemble their project from blueprints that the team had previously constructed. Congratulations to the "Breezy Express" team consisting of Cameron, Max, Maddox, and Sophia for coming in 1st place! They will advance on to the state competition in May! Our 4th and 5th grade gifted students traveled to the Pittsburgh Zoo and PPG Aquarium to participate in the Wild Investigations program. At the event, they were challenged to work collaboratively to identify and develop real world solutions to challenging scientific issues. In addition, students learned about conservation efforts that the zoo is putting into place and identified actionable steps they can take in their daily lives to live more sustainably. Finally, students participated in an engaging tour of the zoo featuring a scavenger hunt. Congratulations to Sofia, Charlotte, Emery, and Makayla for coming in 3rd place! Our middle school students had lots of fun today at the SciYinz Chain Reaction Competition at the Carnegie Science Center. All teams were given the same task and fake money to buy materials. Students used wheel and axles, levers, ramps, screws, inclined planes, and pulleys to create a multistep machine that would "feed a pet." Congratulations to Cameron, Ella, Ryan, and Nolan for earning the award for "Best Presentation!" A big THANK YOU to the Allegheny Intermediate Unit 1 and Duquesne University for hosting this year's CalcuSolve. Our gifted support students in grades 6-8 competed with students from districts all over Pittsburgh by working through challenging individual and group math problems. Mrs. Gojmerac hosted a Math24 competition for gifted students in grades 1, 2, and 3 on December 13th at Trinity East. Students from Avella, Burgettstown, Canon-Mac, Chartiers-Houston, and McGuffey participated in the competition. Congratulations to Team Trinity (Guy G., Kasen H., Antonio O., and Graham S.) for coming in 3rd place at the event! |
MRS. GOJMERAC Archives
February 2024
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