The aim of the project was to enable students to gain an interdisciplinary perspective on rapid growths and changes in science, technology, engineering and mathematics and to realize their projects concretely. Thus, we wanted students without equal chance to closely follow growths and changes in technology, science and engineering.
We organize STEM events with our teachers and students from 4 different countries, including Turkey, Croatia, Azerbaijan and Jordan, and 15 schools in our project that we have realized within the scope of the eTwinning project. In this project, we set on our teachers and students to get to know STEM events and we wanted their skills to develop.
We applied the Engineering Design Process while doing STEM activities. So In this process, we applied the engineering design process in 5 stages as problem situation, possible solutions, the most suitable solution, model and testing.
STEM Activities
In our project, we planned to organize a total of 6 STEM events, two of them in March, April and May.
Our events consisted of daily life problems.
STEM events in March were to design an earthquake-proof building and an earthquake-proof settling.
Our STEM events in April were to design the tallest tower for the water treatment system and signaling problem.
STEM events in May were to design the Recycle bag and Space rocket.
While explaining the engineering design process, we gave an example of our tallest tower event in April below.
My STEM Project with Engineering Design Process
Problem Status
We prepared simulation videos for our students to identify the problem situation. Later, our students recorded the problem situation in this video in their padlet files.
Possible Solutions
Identifying the problem situation, the students exchanged ideas on the padlet and discussed possible solutions. Thus, they saw the positive and negative situations more clearly.
Optimal Solution
After swop ideas and debates, our students decided on the most suitable solution by paying attention to the problem situation.
Making the Model
We wanted to make a model with the simple materials determined for the solution of the problem situation. While making the model, we chose the distance education process and simple materials accessible to all students. These are straws, spaghetti pasta, wooden sticks, play dough, etc.
Testing the Model
The students tested that their models produced a solution to the problem situation. Then they tested their models again, making necessary corrections, if any.
My STEM Project Results
Our teachers and students got to know STEM activities with the eTwinning project My STEM Project. They carried out these activities with the engineering design process. Thus, they found solutions to the problems they compare in daily life by finding the chance to use the info they learned at school. In addition, students advanced 21st century skills such as swop ideas, contact, cahoot, to decide, creativity, and critical thinking skills, as well as problem solving.
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