STEM Building Challenges for a group

[mom31257]

If you've ever taught a STEM type class, I'm looking for fun, successful building challenges for a group at our co-op.   I'm looking for ideas online, but I would love to hear from those who've actually had some work well. 

Here are the parameters:

• building in groups of two or three, 8th-10th graders (Is three a bad idea? Would two be better?)
• competition among teams, so measurable results
• must be able to complete and measure in one hour or less
• affordable materials

Thank you for any help! A teacher was doing another subject and is having some health problems, so we're having to replace the class last minute. 

 

 

 

[Wheres Toto]

In my 4-H club we've done:

Cup challenge - need to stack red solo cups into a pyramid using a rubber band with strings tied to it.  Can't touch the cups.

Boat Building - every team gets the same amount of foil and straws and needs to build a boat that will hold the most pennies (or weights, I sometimes use my gram weights)

Balloon tower - need to build a tower out of inflated balloons using a set amount of tape.  Can't do against walls or furniture.

"Earthquake" proof buildings - build the tallest tower that can withstand an "earthquake".  I used a cookie sheet with jello in it to simulate the earthquake.  Towers can be built out of anything you want but we used Knex we already had.

Bridges - build a bridge to span a set distance using the materials, judge by which holds the most weight - pennies or gram weights

Marble roller coasters using foam insulation cut in 1/2 and tape.   Must have at least one loop and two hills and span the room.  Judge by who gets the marble to stop closest to the end, or can do whose marble gets farthest.

Bird nests - build a nest from sticks and string that will hold a golf ball "egg".

[CAJinBE]

Our co-op has invested in three big boxes of KEVA planks. We pull them out when a teacher is sick or when bad weather cancels a planned outdoor activity. All ages love them and there are a lot of resources online for building challenges. Some examples can be create a bridge of a certain span, build the higher tower with a certain number of blocks, ping pong ball runs. They are virtually indestructible and we've been using them for years now. I've also used them to create obstacles for my robotics classes. Since we have multiple-age groups this helps keep some of the younger kids involved and adds to the fun. 

[daijobu]

Egg drop.  With some limitations on size and weight (probably you can google some examples of rules) have them create a container for  an egg and drop it from a height.  You can even drop them from progressive heights and see which egg survives the greatest distance without cracking.  

[mom31257]

5 hours ago, daijobu said:

Egg drop.  With some limitations on size and weight (probably you can google some examples of rules) have them create a container for  an egg and drop it from a height.  You can even drop them from progressive heights and see which egg survives the greatest distance without cracking.  

We have a fire escape from the second floor. Do you think that's a good height? That's probably the highest we could access. 

[Wheres Toto]

Just be careful about allergies with an egg drop.  I have a lot of kids with egg allergies and some of them are contact allergies, not just eating allergies.   I used glass Christmas balls instead and put them in plastic baggies or wrapped them in cling wrap to contain the mess a little bit (we did this inside).