STEM Club tests kids’ minds
Danielle Kerr and Mia Uitenweerde, Yr 5, St Clare’s School, Tully
THE science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) Club at St Clare’s School started in 2017 and the students love it.
We are in Year 5 and loved STEM Club last year so we signed up again this year for the term one program.
We are working on design challenges this term. It’s really interesting because we have to work in teams, be creative and think in different ways to achieve an outcome.
Two teachers from our school volunteer their time to run STEM Club on Wednesdays after school. Teachers Helen Andrews and Michelle Van Dugteren come up with the ideas for STEM Club and we love the different activities they plan for us.
Our first project this year was making paper rockets and launching them using pipes and a two litre soft drink bottle. It was a lot of fun and we also decorated it with coloured paper.
The launch was epic as ours went as far as about 15 metres.
We then had to revise our design the following week to see if our rockets could travel a longer distance. Last week’s STEM Club challenge was to build a fort using only newspapers, sticky tape and staples.
It had to accommodate at least one person and be freestanding.
We managed to build one that could fit both of us.
We planned our design first and then decided on rolling the paper as it would be stronger.
We love STEM Club and will probably sign up again in term two. We can’t wait to see what the focus is next term.