C

This week was a bit more successful than the last.  To build off of our first lesson, Tower Challenge, we continued to discuss the steps in the engineering design process and we applied these steps to a more specific Lego-building activity: building a chair for a bear.  Before starting the activity, we showed the kids some pictures of different chair designs to facilitate discussion on how different types of chairs are designed and why chairs are designed differently for different purposes.  The students were then paired up and had to discuss/draw out their plan for the chair design. While building, most groups worked very well together.  They each had a set image in their minds of what chair they wanted to build, and most groups put their ideas together and formed one good chair.  There were, however, a couple of groups (2-3) who refused to work together.  They built their own chairs and even refused to find a way to combine them at the end.  Once building time was up, we placed the bear in each of the chairs to see if it fit and if the chair held the bear up and supported it.  Each group also took a turn speaking about their individual chairs and what made them sturdy.  Overall, this was a great activity for this age group, and I highly recommend it being continued in kindergarten classrooms in the future!