Year 5

5N STEM Activities

During the week of NAPLAN, the Year 5 students participated in a range of creative STEM activities. Students worked in different size groups to extend their team building, creative thinking and communication skills.

On Tuesday, 5N students undertook the challenge of designing and building a bridge using 20 A4 sheets of paper, scissors and 1m of masking tape. Each bridge had to be free standing and strong enough for a light ball to be rolled over the top. 

Following on from bridge building, the students researched a range of famous landmarks from around the world. In small groups they were then asked to choose one and build it using a range of connector blocks and materials. When each group finished, we walked around as a class to guess what each structure was. Students created models of the Eiffel Tower, Stonehenge, the Leaning Tower of Piza, the Acropolis in Greece, the Moai Easter Island monuments and the Pyramids of Giza.

On Wednesday, we had a tallest tower competition. Students were given 45 mins to build a tower out of recycled paper and 2m of masking tape. The tower was allowed to be taped to the table, but this tape came out of their 2m length, so students chose whether to build a base or tape them to hold them steady. It was great to see so many students discussing design and strength ideas to creatively use paper to build strong structures.

On Thursday, students were given the challenge to build a marble run. They were allowed to use any resources in the room such as cardboard, paper, blocks, stationary, books and even chairs. Students worked in pairs or threes to draw a design of their marble run and then build their prototype. Some students chose to build free-standing upright runs while others chose to build upright runs with sections using tables and chairs.

It was great to see students using their critical thinking skills this week and enjoying being challenged. Checkout the photos below to see our creations.