STEM Project: Pallet Project
Project Process: With the Grade 4/5s at our school we worked on a pallet project with a small group meant to help construct furniture for our Learning Commons Area. Students researched different pallet projects using Google and the website instructables.com. We then had students choose a project and use reverse engineering to design an item to be built with pallet wood.
The students drew up designs, following specific blueprint guidelines and then built a model with popsicle sticks. They then had to scale the plans so that they could be used to build the item with a full size pallet. They spent some time measuring pallet wood to understand what the standard measurements are for this type of wood.
Our school has teamed up with a junior high in the city and when the designs and models are complete, the junior high students will be building the items in their wood-working shop.
Learning objectives included measurement, understanding of perimeter and area, estimation, use of scale,and using measurement to solve problems. Also included was using writing to problem solve and to explain thinking. Students also worked on orally communicating their thinking process. The iterative process of design was also explored and the students experienced this method of creating.
The approach to this learning problem included initial exploration of materials and concepts with frequent check ins on the part of the teacher to evaluate understanding and direct next steps. Teacher used reflective questioning to get students to assess, to problem solve and help them figure out what they needed to understand to get to the next stage of the design.
Post project follow up included video documentation of students reflecting on their work and their results. They answered reflective questions about the process, the results, what they learned, and what they would do differently.
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