Fairy Tale Engineers

Students use fairy tales to design and build solutions to characters problems.

Subjects

Science

Keywords

Design Process Brainstorming Creation, engineering

Grades

K 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 >12

Objectives:

Students will read fairy tales and identify the problem in the story.
Students will brainstorm possible solutions to the problem in the story.
Students will build a working model of the solution.
Students will present model to class along with analysis of story.

Materials:

Story, Tape, ribbon, popsickle sticks, colored paper, computer, projector, straws, cups, any materials a teacher has on hand.

Amanda Blake

About the author

I have been teaching 11 years and am excited about the recent technological changes in the school system. Students are getting excited about learning.

Procedure:

Student read the story Goldylocks and the Three Bears on the tablet. Students as a group discuss the problem that arises in the story. Students stop when they discover that Goldy is locked in the house and the bears have arrived. Students as a class discuss possible ways that Goldy could get out of the house without hurting herself or the bears. Students examine materials available and brainstorm possible solutions. Students use Sketch and Draw or Smartboard software to draw diagrams of possible solutions. Ideas are shared and students commit to creating one possible solution. Students are given 30 minutes to create working models of their solutions. When solutions are created, students then use Smartboard software or Power point to create slide shows of how their invention works. Students may animate their illustrations. Students present their findings to the class and discuss how they came to their conclusions. Students write an ending to the story using their invention and illustrate it using paint software. As a class, read the end of the story and compare and contrast student endings to story ending.

Assessment:

A rubric is used to assess inventions and presentations.

Technology:

Students will need computers to plan using a drawing program and for the presentation, possible powerpoint or smartboard. Smartboard is easier for hands that do not have cordination to use the mouse effectively.

Reflection:

I have used this lesson with K-2 and fifth grade. I like to use lots of different materials. If the project can be spread out over several days students can test their models and redesign. This project can be done with any fairytale. As long as parameters are set for each story.

Audience:

The audience for this project could be anyone pK through high school. Students can present to grade level buddies or even parents.

Making Connections:

Students can discuss the challenges of engineering environmentally safe inventions and the human impact on the environment.

Students can create their endings and then share them with a younger class or use teleconferencing to meet with a class from another culture.