Primary 6a participated in four ‘Mystery STEM Challenges’ during Think it Out Thursday as part of Maths Week Scotland. Each group was allocated a sealed box and an instruction card that stated the outcome that was to be achieved!

We applied our Problem Solving skills to a range of challenging situations.

Group 1 was allocated a ball of string and some plastic cups. Their challenge was to elevate all of the cups off of the ground at the same time using the string.  After much deliberation and a few trial and errors, the group designed a ‘cup washing line’.

The second group had the challenge of creating the tallest tower that they could out of jellybeans and cocktail sticks! The main issue was that the tower began twisting at certain points, so the group had to engineer a way to stop this from happening.

Group 3 managed to elevate a basketball off of the ground by creating a newspaper tower with a stable base and a strong internal column!

The tallest balloon tower challenge was completed by group four, who decided that creating a large stable base was the best starting point. The balloons became smaller as the tower grew in order to ensure that it didn’t tip over.

Overall, Think it Out Thursday was a success and we are looking forward to more STEM challenges this year!