Thursday, May 22, 2014

STEM Bridge Project funded by MAC Grant

The 8th grade students and teachers are grateful for the financial support from Greater Pittsburgh Area McDonald's Restaurants with the $210 MAC Grant. The funds were used to buy the drinking straws, hot glue, and presentation materials for the Building Bridges to STEM Careers activities during the month of May. This is the second year mini-grants were used to reduce the cost to build the bridges in 8th grade science.


The goal of this activity is to promote problem-solving, teamwork, perseverance, and confidence while tackling a STEM project. The goal for the students is to build a bridge that is very strong but doesn't cost too much to build. The students have been tracking the amount of material used to construct their bridges. Also, they've explored best practices for construction with plastic drinking straws.



Construction completion has been scheduled for Wednesday, May 28. The competition and exposition of student work will be on Thursday, May 29 when the guest bridge experts return to Avonworth Middle School. To see pictures of the project coming to a conclusion, see the science 8 website: www.HaskinsSci8.info

Students designing their bridge for the STEM project in the 8th grade.