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Hannibal fifth-graders build, race Hovercrafts
Hannibal fifth-graders build, race Hovercrafts
A multifaceted hands-on learning experience came to the Hannibal Central School District recently during the Hovercraft Project.
The unique opportunity gave fifth-graders a chance to develop their teamwork and communication skills while diving into complex topics in the STEAM fields. Students utilized their math and engineering knowledge to measure and cut materials to build blower-powered hovercrafts. Once assembled, teams created hypotheses and tested out the hovercrafts using different variables to achieve the best results.
“The students really embraced the lesson,” said Dennis M. Kenney Middle School Assistant Principal Cayla Defren. “They applied teamwork, critical thinking, productive struggle, and problem-solving skills to create fast-moving hovercrafts, and the end results were fantastic.”
Students celebrated as they worked together to race the hovercrafts from one end of the gymnasium to the other. Each fifth-grader had an opportunity to pilot a hovercraft, with teachers and administrators also getting in on the action to wrap up the day.
The Hovercraft Project was brought to the HCSD in partnership with the Center for Instruction, Technology & Innovation’s Arts-in-Education program.