In science, DCD fourth graders have been learning about the human body and exploring the many complex systems that enable us to function. Their recent focus has been on the central nervous system and the brain. Thank you to Mrs. Shirley, this has led to some very fun and engaging STEM activities! Sporting “brain caps” students were able to see the different parts of the brain and understand their functions. What is the frontal lobe responsible for? How does my arm know how to reach for the glass of water I want to pick up? Where does my speech come from? These are all great questions to ponder as they examined their “brain caps”.
With an understanding of the fact that your brain is definitely a critical organ that needs protection, Mrs. Shirley challenged the students with an engineering problem. They were asked to think about what kind of protective gear a construction worker might need on a job site and were tasked with designing a helmet that would specifically protect their frontal lobes. Of course, designs need testing, so to simulate what would happen if something heavy were to drop on the construction worker’s head on the job, students outfitted eggs with helmet prototypes and dropped a weighted ball from different heights. Thanks to the excellent designs created by these fourth-graders, most of these eggheads survived!
