CHS250 STEM in ECE
Unit 4 Assignment
Engineering Activity Plan
This design challenge activity is going to begin in a familiar place for the students. A good preschool classroom is filled with stories that children beg to be read again and again. Teachers understand that reading to children and talking about stories that they have read together build positive relationships and later help when they support their problem solving together. Children take comfort in knowing what the story has in store for them and they build relationships with those characters. It is likely then that they would like to help them solve some of their problems. Stories like The Three Little Pigs come to mind when thinking about a problem that needs to be solved. They need to build a structure that will withstand hurricane winds to keep the piggies safe. Another story might be, Are You My Mother? The bird needs a sturdy nest. By using a familiar story, discussing what the characters might need, you will have an authentic place to begin problem-solving. Use the attached Bug City scenario to help you build your own design challenge. I have attached a challenge we created for, Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak.
Additionally, this activity builds on involving the families in their child’s development and learning. As you move through the challenge with the children, you will be modeling for them the steps in the Scientific Method and employing the basics of the engineering process, brainstorming, building, trying and testing, revising and sharing as well as giving the families a connection with preparing their children for later problem-solving successes.
Design CHS 250 Bug City Making and Tinkering(1).pdf
Here are some examples of challenges.
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