Godwin Heights — North Godwin Elementary third-grader Sara Alvarado Ramirez and her partner Cristal Dominguez-Lauriano knew the challenge: to build a house that could withstand a windstorm.
Their first attempt failed as their house rolled away when a large fan was used to create the windstorm.
“There were no rocks, so we taped and rolled the rocks in the tape to make the structure a little bit heavier,” Sara said. “We then added more tape to the structure as it was coming off.”
With those changes, the second time their house faced a windstorm, it remained standing.
Last year, North Godwin implemented STEM — science, technology, engineering and math — throughout its building, focusing on design thinking and engineering. The goal being that students, who are in third through fifth grades, would work on nine different STEM projects during their three years at the school, said Karen Baum, the school’s instructional specialist.
In the second year of its school-wide STEM program, this fall all 16 North Godwin classes participated in grade-level design challenges where they defined a problem and prototyped solutions with partners, Baum said.
In third grade, students designed weatherproof houses. Fourth-graders created instruments out of recycled materials, a project based on the book “Ada’s Violin” by Susan Hood. Fifth-grade students had the task of how to stop single-use plastics and save animals from plastic pollution in the ocean.
Students used cardboard and materials in STEM kits donated by program sponsor Gordon Food Service, Baum said. The students wore their Innovator Badges when working on STEM projects so they would see themselves as future designers and engineers, she said.
Giving All Students the Chance to Explore STEM
Ginger Rohwer, regional director of MiSTEM Network’s Greater West Michigan Region, which with Kent ISD has partnered with North Godwin, said because the program is offered during the day, all students have an opportunity to participate, versus a limited few if it were made available as an after-school program. This gives all students the opportunity to build habits that can be used in any subject, plus skills in creativity, communication and collaboration along with social-emotional skills such as empathy, Rohwer said.
“We want to help students see themselves as problem-solvers and innovators, and we want to intentionally build relationships with community partners that can help our students see how their STEM work is relevant in the world,” she said.
Fifth-grader Khariyah Leal said the STEM project encouraged her to be more creative. She and her partner, Seth Hunt, built a container out of trash that went around picking up, you guessed it, trash.
“It was an idea that just came to us,” Khariyah said.
Fourth-grader Keriem Sarez said he always wanted a guitar and was excited about building one out of recycled materials, which was his grade-level STEM project.
“In my head, I just knew I had to be as creative as possible, so I took toilet paper rolls, rubberbands, and started making a guitar,” Keriem said. “I didn’t get to add any sound as I ran out of time.”
During a recent STEM Night, family and community members could see the results of the various projects students worked on. Guests also participated in several STEM activities such as drawing with 3D pens, building with LEGOs and other blocks, creating tornadoes, and seeing if they could build their own houses out of toothpicks and DOTS candy that could withstand a windstorm.
“Here it goes,” said fourth-grade teacher Aleesha DeVries as she turned on the fan. “Look at that. It’s staying up!”
Read more from Godwin Heights:
• Framing the future
• In these houses, all belong
