First Design Challenge of the 2019-20 School Year!

Welcome to our first Blankner Innovation blog post of the school year! Be sure to check back often and stay up-to-date on all things Blankner STEAM!
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What does STEAM mean to Blankner?  We are going to Think Globally, Act Locally.  Blankner Students are given real world problems to solve and think about and they bring those skills and empathy back into our community. Here at Blankner we use SPIKE, our Engineering Design Process.

An an example of SPIKE-our Blankner design process
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For our first Design Challenge of the school year, Blankner students learned what it means to be an engineer and create TECHNOLOGIES.  If you believe that a technology is some type of electronic device, talk with your students and find out the real answer!
 
Blankner students learned empathy by putting themselves in other people's situations.  What is it like to go through the day deaf, blind, crippled or with some other disability?  If we SEE A NEED, what can we do to help?

Students were taken on an adventure through the Black Forest in Germany.  Here they met our main character Erik, and his friend Matthias, who has had a very bad fall and injures his knee.  SEE A NEED  The students were even able to add Musical Drama to the story by choosing which of Beethovan's compositions best fit the Climax of the story! (Did you know that Beethovan was also from Germany?)

Students then learned to research, collect and analyze data to PROBLEM SOLVE the problem.  We learned about being Biomedical Engineers and what a career in that field would look like. ​

SPECIAL MOMENT ALERT! Blankner students are given a challenge by one of the most Empathy Creating creatures on the planet...Winter the Dolphin!

Students then PROBLEM SOLVE and collect and analyze data on injured vs. uninjured knees.  They then INITIATE A PLAN as Biomedical Engineers would to create a knee brace to help their injured knee.
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Students work together to KREATE (create!) a prototype of a knee brace from materials they were given (1st and 2nd grade) or materials that they chose (3rd - 5th) to work with. ​

Students then EVALUATE their prototypes to see if they met the criteria for the project.  (Were you able to stop the unhealthy movement of the injured knee?) The students are now being given an opportunity to Redesign and improve their TECHNOLOGY.

Be sure to ask your Bulldog about this exciting project and stay tuned for the final Challenge results!

​Stay Innovative,
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Mrs. Rogers and Mrs. Sarduy
The Blankner STEAM team
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