STEM on a budget

Youth/Students do not always understand the cost associated with doing things or that things even cost.  When doing an activity or craft they thing they can use ALL THE STUFF!

I did this project with my 2nd and 3rd grade after school students and I am so pleased with how it turned out.

Building on a Budget

Talking about engineering, I use this definition: via Merriam-Webster.com

noun :  the application of science to the goal of creating useful machines  or structures 

I do add this caveat as well:  Engineers can be distinguished from other professions by their ability to solve complex problems and implement solutions in cost effective and practical ways. This ability to face a problem, work through various thoughts and abstract ideas and then translating them into reality is what is so exciting about engineering (http://whatisengineering.com/)

Engineering isn't about the hardest most expensive way possible, but solving the problem simply, and effectively.  

So this printout is what I gave my students: 

So, tallest structure, with only 30 to spend, and 20 items total.  The cost associated with each listed.  Students had to plan the items they wanted in budget and then use those items to build with.  

Observations.  

- One group got 9 cups and 1 stick.  They stacked the cups in a tower and poked the stick through the last cup.  

- One got 1 tape and 5 sticks

- Some got random things and hoped for the best.  

This really gets into the MATH part of Stem, with the budgeting (a skill I feel is never to early to teach), and the structure and problem solving.  The students enjoyed the freedom to make choices very much as well!