Engineering creativity at Watson

This fall, students at Watson School are becoming budding engineers through a school-wide initiative designed to introduce children to engineering concepts and principles. The Get STEAMed (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Math) Up With Engineering school-wide theme has already met with great success.

Rockville Centre engineer Paul Johnke held workshops for students in grades three through five. He introduced children to different types of engineering and spoke to them about careers in the engineering field. He concluded the workshops with hands-on activities.

One of the highlights of the Get STEAMed Up With Engineering initiative was the Math/Engineering/Enrichment Fair held on Oct. 23. At least 200 students, their parents and the entire faculty participated in an array of engineering challenges. Teams of students competed in the Marshmallow Challenge, in which children worked together to build the tallest tower out of 20 pieces of spaghetti and one marshmallow. All students created pyramids and domes made out of toothpicks and gumdrops. A highpoint of the evening was the Humpty Dumpty Egg Drop, in which students designed clay coverings for eggs that would prevent their shells from cracking upon impact. Another popular attraction was Float Your Boat, in which students created boats out of aluminum foil, predicted how much weight their boats could hold, and then tested their hypotheses in a pool of water.

Additionally, stations were set up throughout the gymnasium and in every classroom which invited students to discover the principles of bridge building and design, test the tensile strength of paper, explore the dynamics of flight through the creation of parachutes made from tissue paper and string, and investigate the principles associated with centrifugal force.