2+Project+Implementation

=Project Implementation=

The project started in March 2012 and went through May 2012. The time for 4th grade enrichment each week was on Fridays from 1:30 to 3:00. The time and day alone made it a challenge to meet with the teachers and students as there were many scheduling conflicts like different spring breaks, spring holidays, honors day assemblies, etc. However, the students and teachers met with the UWA professors 6 times and with UWA pre-service teachers one time. During this time, the students were introduced to building and construction by using marshmallows and toothpicks to build a tower; this first meeting also allowed the students to be put into gender-specific groups for the project. The next meeting and the subsequent meetings, the students used the WeDo Lego Robotics kits to build different "robots" such as the alligator, birds, monkey, and sailboat.

= = =First Project--Marshmallow Towers= To introduce the students to building, we put them into gender specific groups of boys and girls and then gave them a bag of mini marshmallows and a box of toothpicks. Their assignment was to build a tower and the team with the tallest tower would win. It was interesting to listen and watch them as the girls complained that they didn't know how to build and needed a boy to help them. The boys all had different ideas about how to build their group's towers and found that they didn't cooperate very well. Finally, after much trial and error, the winning group just mounded their marshmallows and toothpicks into an ooey, gooey lump and won because everyone else's tower fell apart. Unfortunately, the pictures we had of this activity were lost. = =