Johnny Appleseed Engineering Challenge

This week, we started a new STEM unit based on various tall tales.  The first tall tale we focused on was Johnny Appleseed.  We read several books aloud to the girls to give them some background knowledge on the history of Johnny Appleseed and what makes a story a tall tale.  Today, the girls became engineers.  We gave them a problem: construct a raft using sticks and duck tape that can hold the weight of an apple without sinking.  The girls worked in pairs to solve this problem.  Their first step was to plan and design a raft on paper.

After that, they gathered their materials and started constructing their rafts.  We emphasized that problems often do not become resolved in the first attempt and it may take many improvements and tries before one finds a solution.  

The girls thoroughly enjoyed their first day as engineers and we encouraged them to try and solve this problem at home over the weekend.