First-grade students at New Visions School participated in their school's first Engineering Day and experienced some of the real challenges engineers face when they design roller coasters.
The students were primed for this day with in-class lessons on potential and kinetic energy and learned some of the key steps to success in the team engineering design process, such as "ask, brainstorm, design, build, test and improve." The program built on the district's Common Core Learning Standards that emphasize bringing science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) curriculum to students at an early age to encourage an interest in careers that require strong math and science skills.
The event was organized by school parent Christine Flaherty, a certified construction manager, and Preye Backer, program director for Engineering For Kids, a company that brings engaging engineering projects into classrooms. "Engineers are a main part of our everyday lives; they do things to improve our lives," said Backer.
The students were divided into teams and given scale model roller coaster assembly kits with which to work. They used their knowledge of gravity and their hands-on dexterity to build roller coaster track layouts that were then tested with rolling marbles to learn more about the design considerations used by real engineers to ensure usability and safety.
