Design and Make Activities
First Class
Spinners! We made paper helicopters and tested them out to see how the wind affected their flight. 🚁 🚁
Marble madness! We trialed and tested out how we could make marbles roll farther off our own handmade ramps. We soon found out the steeper the ramp, the faster the marble rolled!
Raft building! We read the story “The Three Billy Goats Gruff” and decided on another way the goats could cross the river (without encountering a troll!). The children built and tested out their own rafts, which proved to be very successful.
Third and Fourth Class - STEPS Young Engineers Award
Project Groupings
Third and Fourth Class have been working very hard the past few months on their Young Engineers Award Project. The class have been split up into groups, they had to name give their groupings a creative name and they have been working on an engineering project that would benefit the community. The groups are as follows;
Engineering Projects
At this stage of the project the children have brainstormed three different engineering projects that would benefit their community, they have chosen one of these as their main engineering project, designed what the finished project should look like, labelled their drawing and done out a list of all the equipment they will need to construct their engineering project. Each group also has an Engineering Booklet to fill out and they have been making their way through this booklet, as a group, the last few months. This is a list of the engineering projects that each group has agreed upon for their entry to the Young Engineers Award;
Third and Fourth Class - STEPS Young Engineers Award - Construction Time
Since returning to school Third and Fourth Class have been working very hard at their STEPS Young Engineering Projects. They have been planning and discussing these projects and filling in their projects booklets up until today! Today they started constructing their projects for the competition and there was great teaching, learning, group work and excitement in the class today. They are working so hard. These are the projects the children are working on:
The Robos – A bigger car park for Kilbride National School.
The Brain Blasters – Cycle Lane for Kilbride.
The Mind Blowers – The Sewage Mover.
The Problem Solvers – Glow in the Dark Traffic Lights.
The Game Changers – River Rescue.
Electricity Experts – Hydroenergy
The Brainstormers – Pressure Plate Traffic Lights.
We can’t wait to see the finished projects. Here are a few pictures of Third and Fourth Class hard at work today 🎉🎉👏👏The engineering projects are ready to be submitted to STEPS Young Engineering Competition.
Well done Third and Fourth Class. They are going to present their projects to one another next week in class 🎉🎉👏👏 #STEPSYoungEngineersAward #STEPSEngineersIreland
STEPS Young Engineer Projects
A huge congratulations to Third and Fourth Class. Their STEPS Engineering projects were emailed off this week and they have been entered into the STEPS Young Engineering Competition. They are going to present their projects to each other next week. They worked so hard at these projects. They should be so proud of themselves. We wish Third and Fourth Class the best luck in the next stage of the competition.
STEPS Engineering Zoom Party - Tuesday, 14th December 2021
Third and Fourth Class enjoyed their STEPS Engineering Zoom Party today with STEPS Engineering Ireland and "The Science Guy" Mark Langtry. Such a great way to finish off all their hard work for the engineering competition. Well done Third and Fourth Class!
Engineers Week
Third and Fourth Class
As part of Engineering Week the children in Third and Fourth Class watched a video called "Engineering in Our Lives" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8l24ehY0uGw
The children watched this video and then completed the accompanying worksheet. They had to solve an engineering riddle, the picked out three things from the video designed by engineers that we use every day, they chose three more examples of how engineers help us in our every day lives and finally they had to pick something from the video that they could change it to make it better. We discovered today that a lot of things that we use today are made by engineers.
The children also watched two episodes on "Mission Impossible" from the STEPS Primary Resources page. The first video was called "Astronaut training in zero gravity" where a pilot shows how real astronauts experience weightlessness in space. A scuba diving expert teaches us how to get scuba-certified. An astrophysicist takes us far, far, away, in her explanation of exoplanet detection. A reliability engineer working at a major oil company explains why safety is always a priority at her job. The second was called "Saving the bees" where we found out how we can help save the bees. A scientist explains the importance of bees to our crops and food supply. Also in this episode, An agricultural tech is showing how the latest technology is being used to improve agriculture. A researcher dives into the ocean to survey the giant sea bass population off the coast of California. A mechanical engineer teaches you how to make a battery with a lemon.
As Thursday, 10th March 2022 was Alexander Graham Bell Day we looked at his life, how he invented the telephone and other inventions he is connected with. https://www.coolkidfacts.com/alexander-graham-bell-facts/
Well done Third and Fourth Class!
Third and Fourth Class Pinwheels - Friday, 11th March 2022
Third and Fourth Class all became engineers this morning. As part of Engineers week we all designed and created our very own pinwheels! It was tricky and it did take a few tries but in the end we all had a spinning pinwheel!! Well done Third and Fourth Class 😊
Engineers Week
Senior Infants
The children in senior infants became engineers this week when they worked in groups to build towers using just spaghetti and playdoh.
Take a look at our pictures.
Engineers Week
Fifth & Sixth Class
The pupils of fifth and sixth class designed three different kinds of aeroplanes using card and origami techniques.
They then flew their planes to see which plane flew the best.
Have a look at how we got on.....
Engineers Week
Junior Infants & Fifth and Sixth Class
The boys and girls enjoyed working as a team to build bridges.
We had several unstable bridges collapse. We chatted about why this happened, and what we could do differently next time.
Each child rose to the challenge and successfully constructed a stable bridge.
Well done boys and girls.
