One of the standards that Mrs. Banks's fifth grade science class mastered this Quarter was understanding how the sun appears to move across the sky in the same general way every day, but rises and sets in different places as the seasons change. After reading several different texts, creating foldables in their science notebooks, tracking the sun throughout the day and participating in several class discussions, the students were presented with a real-world problem to solve.
Students were informed that several picnic tables were constructed and installed in Plymouth’s town park and that the Plymouth Park Committee needed their companies to design structures to provide shade for these tables so that more people would be willing to use the tables during the hot, sunny days of summer.
The shading device that the students were required to create had to meet these specific requirements; shade the entire picnic table at noon, but allow some sunlight in the early morning and late afternoon, be a minimum of 20 cm tall, stand on it's own and be low cost.
Students had to use their knowledge of the movement of the sun and their understanding of the angle of the sun during different seasons to complete this task. A flashlight was used to test the students' prototypes after the design task was completed.
Following the design process, this group of students created a prototype that met all requirements and was the most cost efficient.
Students were informed that several picnic tables were constructed and installed in Plymouth’s town park and that the Plymouth Park Committee needed their companies to design structures to provide shade for these tables so that more people would be willing to use the tables during the hot, sunny days of summer.
The shading device that the students were required to create had to meet these specific requirements; shade the entire picnic table at noon, but allow some sunlight in the early morning and late afternoon, be a minimum of 20 cm tall, stand on it's own and be low cost.
Students had to use their knowledge of the movement of the sun and their understanding of the angle of the sun during different seasons to complete this task. A flashlight was used to test the students' prototypes after the design task was completed.
Following the design process, this group of students created a prototype that met all requirements and was the most cost efficient.
L to R: Taylor Mayer, Caitlin Davidson, Audrie Burton, Blake Sellers and Gage Urban
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