How can Year 1 possibly be doing engineering? Well, Year 1 is the perfect place to learn and practice engineering skills and concepts. Anyone who doubts the ability of these young children needs to see them in action. The Year 1 students are excellent engineers.
Inspired by reading ‘Rosie Revere,Engineer’ and ‘Iggy Peck, Architect’ by Andrea Beaty and learning about different types of bridges, they set about solving a bridge building design challenge together…
Rosie Revere, Engineer is about a little girl and her dream to become a great engineer. Where some people saw trash, Rosie saw inspiration and put it in her Engineers Stash. Encouraged by her Great Aunt Rose, she built a small aeroplane to make an old lady’s dream of flying come true.
Iggy Peck, Architect is about a boy who constructed a suspension bridge out of boots, tree roots and strings, fruit roll ups and things.
In class the children have learned that when solving an engineering problem, engineers follow a series of steps called the Engineering Design Process. Engineering involves understanding, thinking, planning and designing, problem-solving, building and creating, testing, rethinking and redoing, cooperating and explaining, and being self-motivated and responsible for one’s own learning.
The children followed these steps…
They asked the question… Can you build a bridge that 2 toy cars can travel over?
First they got into groups of 3 and tried to imagine their bridge. They brainstormed ideas and had to think hard. Then they sketched blueprints of their ideas. After that, they wrote a list of materials they would need and then they created their bridges. Then they tested them.
Reflecting on how structurally sound they were and how well the two cars travelled on them, the next day, they looked at their bridges again and thought about what they could do to improve them.
Take a look at the amazing Year 1 Engineers in action! What a lot of effort was put into their brilliant bridges…
