By Valerie Winger
Grade two and three students at Oscar Adolphson Primary School in Valleyview had some extra help with their latest STEAM challenge last Thursday when leadership students from Hillside Jr/Sr High School joined them for the activity.
The challenge was to build a tower using only toothpicks and marshmallows, putting students’ creativity and problem-solving skills to work.
The younger students worked alongside the high school students to figure out how to make their towers as strong and stable as possible. It took some trial and error as they tested different ideas and found out what worked and what didn’t.
One tower proved especially strong, managing to support the weight of 40 pencils.
The activity also gave the high school students a chance to take on a mentoring role while helping the younger students work through the challenge. Together, the students shared ideas, solved problems and worked toward the same goal.
Another challenge is already coming up. For the Egg Drop Challenge, students will design and build protective enclosures with the goal of keeping an egg from breaking when it is dropped from a height.
The school said the activities give high school students an opportunity to mentor younger learners while taking part in hands-on STEAM learning.