SOMERSET ELEMENTARY STUDENTS TO COMPETE IN STEM RELATED GIFTED AND TALENTED CHALLENGE PROJECTS

Westover, Maryland- April 3, 2013- Students in grades three, four and five will work as teams on Science Technology Engineering and Math (STEM) Projects during the month of April at their home schools. Winning teams from each school will compete on a county level activity at Salisbury University on April 26, 2013. One winning team will represent each school from each grade level.

Students in grade three will have the challenge to build the airplane that flies the farthest. Teams will consist of two people. Materials are limited to specific items. Activities will consist of research on related careers, the maintenance of an engineering portfolio, and vocabulary activities. Each team will construct a plane and have three attempts to launch the plane. Planes should be different and demonstrate the creativity of the group. The winning team who represents the school at the county level challenge is required to have an electronic presentation with information about the process of the Challenge including:

What they have learned

The steps involved

Materials used

Highlights of special activities

Additional projects

The teams will utilize the electronic presentation to explain the project orally which will be evaluated for content, organization, originality, mechanics and oral presentation. Each team will have three chances to obtain their best distance. The farthest distance will be recorded and used to compare against the competing teams.

Fourth graders will have the Challenge to build the fastest race car. Activities and presentations will be similar to grade three only related to race cars. Each team will have three chances to obtain the fastest speed with their car. The fastest time will be recorded and used to compare against the competing teams.

Fifth graders will have the Challenge to build a boat that travels the fastest to the center point of the lake (gutter). The stern must completely cross the center point of the gutter. Each team will have three chances to approach the gutter and race their boat. The stern of the boat must cross the finish line to be considered a complete run. It does not cross that run is recorded as a zero. The fastest time, in seconds, for each team will be used to determine the winner when compared against the competing teams. Methodology and activities are similar to that which is described above.