January 09 2012 | Kent & Medway | Views: 1640
Towering Maths Challenge – STEM DAY using STIXX Machine at Hartsdown Technology College, 9th of January 2012.
Building a tower out of paper was the challenge facing primary pupils from Garlinge in the latest in a series of Maths workshops at Hartsdown Technology College. The Year 6 team and the college’s Year 7 Transition School students competed to see who could build the best structure out of stixx – tightly rolled and processed recycled newspaper batons. Both teams were encouraged to plan, create and construct the entire project independent of teacher input.
The activity was part of the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering Maths) initiative that demonstrates the links between core subjects and related classroom learning such as knowledge of shapes, measurements, weight and numeracy. Hartsdown Maths teacher Phil Vella said: “Giving primary pupils the opportunity to experience life in a secondary school and work alongside older students is an invaluable lesson for them. “The STEM initiative is something we supported at Hartsdown and the stixx project was a fun way of learning while underpinning a variety of Maths tasks and the value of working as a team.”
The equipment used to roll and compact the old newspapers into stixx was loaned from Kent and Medway stem based at Canterbury Christchurch University.
