Step 3: Engineering

1. Design and make:

3rd and 4th class worked independently during the January - March lockdown to design and create a boat that will float on water when taking/ carrying  a weight. See a variety of examples below: 

2nd class used their engineering skills to create a 3D recycled sculpture from the letters of their name, with only one connection to a 'base'. 
The aim was to create a structure that would not 'topple over' and that would remain upright without any help. 
Each child created a base first, in which the letters would be resting upon. 

3rd and 4th class design and made a St. Brigid's Day Cross in February to celebrate St. Brigid's Day on the 1st of February. 

2nd class designed and made a castle grounds as we integrated engineering with our history lessons. Each engineering sculpture was to include at least three features of a castle that we learned about (battlements/ drawbridge/ portcullies/ moat/ bailey/ tower/ arrow loops/ the keep etc.) 

3rd and 4th class designed and made a marble run (independently - online learning). See examples below. 

2nd class investigated well known towers around the world. They identified these towers, examined their hieght and compared using graphs. They located them on the map, their city and country. 
They then worked in small groups to plan and construct a freestanding tower using lollipop sticks and clothes pegs only. 
​See photos below. 

World Book Week and Engineer's Week integrated: 

Each day during World Book Week (same week as Engineer's Week), pupils received a new challenge. Challenge 2 was to integrate engineering along with the novel we were all reading (The Iron Man by Ted Hughes).
Pupils were challenged to create a 3D model of The Iron Man character from the novel, using recycled materials. 
​See examples below: 

Investigating engineering locally:
1. Naming, looking at and examining bridges locally (River Erne Cable Stayed bridge on the N3, Kilconny arch bridges x2, Turbet Island footfall Bridge) 
2.  Planning, designing, constructing and testing their bridge.

2nd class learned and studied four different types of bridges in their science/ geography lessons (suspension bridges, arch bridges, cantilever bridges and beam bridges). 
They looked at and examined bridges locally, the type of bridge, location, use and materials used. 
Pupils worked in groups (in their pods) to create one of the types of bridges they've learned about. 
We followed the stages that engineers would follow: 
1. Ask a question(s)
2. Plan and design 
3. Construct 
4. Test + find and fix problems 
5. Present 
See photos below. The project and learning took place over two weeks in March 2021. 

Engineer's Week Virtual Workshop 

Each class (2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th class participated in a virtual workshop for Engineer's Week in March. 
The workshop was aimed for children to help them learn more about computer science, without a robot and using online VEXcode VR. Pupils learned to code a virtual robot using a coding environment powered by Scratch Blocks. 
​
2nd class engaged in-peson in school as they were back at school. 
3rd - 6th class engaged virtually, from home via Google Classroom.