Stuck! STEAM Activity

This activity is intended as an introductory exploration of simple machines. The teacher will engage students by reading Stuck by Oliver Jeffers. Students will be asked to consider what specific problem the protagonist of the story is facing. As a class, students will discuss what this problem is, and begin to think about what they might design and build to solve it. The teacher will then introduce the real life scenario that they will be solving: the teacher will tape a variety of objects (such as a stuffed toy, printed images of animals, or a hardboiled egg in a paper cup) to the walls of the classroom, or, if possible, hang objects in a tree outside, and the students must design a solution that will help them get the objects “unstuck” Using the design thinking process, students will work in groups to design their prototypes. After they have finished planning, they will be provided with an assortment of materials (such as empty thread spools, string, chopsticks, and paper cups) which they will use to design their prototypes. If their prototypes are not able to retrieve the stuck materials, they will return to the design thinking process and try again. To consolidate the lesson, the class will be introduced to the six types of simple machines and will identify the machines that they used in their own prototypes.