 What
does a Mohonasen High School senior technology student
and a Pinewood third-grade student have in common?
This
year, George Reluzco's Engineering Design and
Development students and Brenda Stahl's third-graders
had a common thread to tie them together: They each had
to figure out a problem and then try to solve it.
On June
4, nine seniors — along with their high school
technology teacher George Reluzco — visited Brenda
Stahl's third-grade classroom to talk about their design
projects that they had worked on in class throughout the
school year. The third-graders were especially
interested in listening to their presentations because
they too had been learning about manufacturing, design
and production with their product projects.
Both
age groups discussed the differences and similarities
with their projects. The third-grade students only
worked on their projects for about three weeks, and the
seniors worked on their projects for an entire school
year. The high school students had to ask adults and
companies to invest in their idea after coming up with a
detailed marketing plan, whereas the third-grade
students found they had to limit their projects based on
materials that they could find around their house. They
both found that using brainstorming techniques was
helpful. Additionally, both groups discussed how they
had to consistently test their projects and make
improvements when necessary.
The
high school students presented their projects to the
younger students, which included an electric car, a
truck ski and snowboard rack, a protective telescope
transporter, an adventure mobile storage unit, and the
wonder shovel.
The
elementary students presented their projects which
included a huge alarm clock, the deluxe clipboard, the
flames backpack, and the cat mansion. One student also
tried to create a "homework doer," but found
it to be impossible.
After
the presentations, both classes split up into groups,
with a mix of third-grade students and high school
students. Their task was to come up with a problem and
find a solution. The projects that each group came up
with included a house cleaner and organizer, a machine
to help people remember to feed their pet, a gadget to
help clean your room faster, and a machine to help with
students with homework.
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