We were delighted to be invited to participate as guest speakers in the Full STEAM Ahead webinar series produced by Microsoft for the RTÉ School Hub. As the name suggests this series focuses on Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Maths with a Maker education twist.
Pam and Chris spoke with Caoilinn and Niamh from the DreamSpace Team and shared a number of challenges that viewers can try out at home.
The first challenge we set was one of our favourite challenges – Paper Towers. In this challenge the aim is to construct the tallest tower you can using just 10 sheets of paper. Sounds straightforward… until you find out that the tower must be able to hold a weight at the top of the tower!
You can find full details of the challenge here.
In the next challenge we’re also testing your engineering skills but this time the materials are changing… now you are using spaghetti, tape and string to make a tower to hold a marshmallow at the top. Again, it sounds simple – but making a stable tower with brittle spaghetti can be tricky 😉
You can find full details of the challenge here.
For the third challenge you need to work together to stack cups without actually touching them! But you do get to use an elastic band and some string 🙂
You can find full details of the challenge here.
Our final challenge is a bit less structured. For this challenge you get to use any materials you would like – to make a vehicle!
Some ideas for materials…
…and some finished vehicles
You can find full details of the challenge here.
If you have any questions about any of the challenges let us know. We’d also love to see what you make so please share your creations using the #MakerMeetIE hashtag on social media.