🎯 Learning Objectives
Develop the Algorithms Learning Strands:
- Communicate and collaborate with classmates in order to solve a problem
- Iteratively improve a solution to a problem
- Identify different strategies used to solve a problem
💬 Key Vocabulary
- communicate
- collaborate
- iterate
- identify
- computational thinking
📝 Starter Activity
- What makes someone a good problem solver?
- Discuss in pairs and be ready to share three ideas with the class.
❓ Question of the Day
What can help us to work together and solve problems as a team?
📖 Main Activity – Building a Paper Tower
Goal
- Build a tower that goes as high as possible and can stand for at least 30 seconds, using sheets of paper.
- You will build two towers and will try to improve your design between the first and the second.
Rules
- You may only the paper provided by your teacher to build your tower
- You may not touch or adjust your tower once everyone lets goes of it
📝 Develop a Plan
Answer these questions on your activity guide:
- How does your group plan to build your tower?
- What are the strengths of this design?
- What possible weaknesses might this design have?
Once your group is ready, come get your paper.
Click the button below to download your activity guide.
📝 Test your Tower
Work together in your group to build your tower.
Once you’re ready, test your tower.
- You may only use the paper provided by your teacher to build your tower.
- You may not touch or adjust your tower once everyone let goes of it.
Answer the following questions on your activity guide:
- Did your tower stand for 30 seconds?
- How tall was it?
- What needs to be or can be improved?
📝 Evaluate and Improve
Share with other groups the results of your first tower.
- What are the most common kinds of problems you see among the towers tested?
- What ideas seem to be working well?
📝 Develop a New Plan
Answer these questions on your activity guide
- How does your group plan to build your tower?
- What are the strengths of this design?
- What possible weaknesses might this design have?
Once your group is ready, come get your paper
📝 Test your Tower Again
Work together in your group to build your tower.
Once you’re ready, test your tower.
- You may only the paper provided by your teacher to build your tower.
- You may not touch or adjust your tower once everyone let goes of it.
Answer the following questions on your activity guide:
- Did your tower stand for 30 seconds?
- How tall was it?
- What needs to be or can be improved?
📝 Plenary
You worked in teams for this activity. Write on your activity guide the answers to these questions.
- How did working in a team make this activity easier?
- How did it make the activity more challenging?
- What helped your group overcome these challenges?
❓ Question of the Day
What can help us to work together and solve problems as a team?
In this lesson, you…
- Worked as a team to solve a problem
- Evaluated your initial solution and then tried to solve your problem again.
- Found out the advantages and disadvantages of working in a team.
Next lesson, you will…
- Learn that when given a problem, how to identify individual actions that fall within each step of the problem solving process
- Identify useful strategies within each step of the problem solving process
🏅 Badge it
🥈 Silver Badge
- Upload a photo of your finished tower to www.bournetolearn.com.
🥇 Gold Badge
- Complete the activity guide to a reasonable standard but may contain some spelling and grammar errors.
🥉 Platinum Badge
- Complete the activity guide to an excellent standard with minimal spelling and grammar errors.