I am looking for some Science Olympic type activities that involve building challenges suitable for grade 3 students. Any suggestions?
What kind of "challenges" are you looking for? What are the science goals and objectives you are trying to accomplish? What resources do you have onhand? The answer to those would help in giving an answer.
We just started a new unit entitled, 'Building things with a Variety of Materials.' In our last unit, we tested materials and designs to see which were strongest, the most stable, etc... The students now need to use what they have learned to complete building challenges, like in Science Olympics. Here is one of our outcomes for this unit: Students will design, construct and test structures that are intended to: · support objects · span gaps · serve as containers · serve as models of particular living things, objects or buildings I have some ideas, but I am looking for some fresh, new ones. I would like to give them small building challenges each week. You guys are creative, help me out.
I don't know that these are 'fresh' ideas, but in my science methods course, we had to create a contraption out of straws, tape, and rubber bands to keep an egg intact after being dropped from the second floor of the ed building. We also had to make paper airplanes that would fly (from the 2nd floor) into the cafe area on the other side of the building.
