Hello Parents,
Welcome back to science class this term. As you may have heard, we are embarking on a new adventure this term as the 7/8 middle school science program incorporates "Engineering 2" which will emphasize many of the state standards that revolve around the central theme of the engineering design process. This term, the students will be given challenges and asked to create solutions. I will be working with students to emphasize many skills: sharing ideas and experiences, listening to other's opinions, carefully brainstorming, forward thinking, resource thriftiness, and being meticulous about drawing and collecting measurements.
There are some supplies that we foresee using and can be sent in at any time:
- Blueprints: If you work for a company that has these, we would like to hang them in the room to show the meticulous accuracy that goes into a plan before beginning to build (any plans would do, but if a middle school-aged student can recognize it, then it will be even better)
- Cereal boxes (or similar cardboard) - we are trying to use as minimally engineered supplies as possible so we are trying to stay away from corrugated cardboard for now.
- Newspaper (not the inserts)
- Plastic bottles from your recycle bin (e.g. soda, milk, etc)
- Popsicle sticks, toothpicks
- Aluminum foil
- Pasta (mainly spaghetti, but any type will probably be used at some point)
- Marshmallows (big and small)
- Anything else that you can think of that can think of as a "raw" material
Any expertise and/or suggestions would be helpful if engineering is your field (especially revolving around the central concept of the engineering design process). I can brainstorm with you directly if you think you can contribute.
Thank you.
Michael Edwards
7/8 Science
