Students put their stem theory projects to the test

There are many different ways to conduct a stem project, but what better way to experience it than putting your theory to the test outdoors?

“We do outdoor ED. We take kids out of the building, learn about the forest, learn about survival, and we learn about in this case fiction, drag, and teamwork. We put them together in groups and they have to learn how to work together as a group. They have to make a project that they test. So, it’ll all about getting them out of the building,” said Marquette Catholic School Volunteer Patrick Baumann.

Marquette Catholic School students took their stem projects to the Virginia golf course to explore their theories. Baumann explains the project the students tested out. “They made sleds with cardboard and duct tape, no nails, no anything metal or sharp. They have to problem solve how to get it to go fast, how to keep it up off the snow and then propel it and how to work as a group.”

“It took about an hour and a half to make. There is a lot of tape on her, and Grace came up with the name. It took almost a whole day to make,” 5th-grade students Grace Loeffen and Isabella Cavodnik shared.

Learning to build both a sled and life skills was part of the lesson plan as Marquette students added. “Today on the sledding hill, I learned teamwork. I learned that things are twice as fun when you come with a positive attitude.”

The Marquette Catholic School does different types of stem projects once or twice a month along with other projects.