Last Friday on February 3rd, the Center for STEM Education had an exciting day at Perkins Elementary as they taught three classes all about engineering, water pollution, and water filters.
We began each session with a lesson on what is engineering, the engineering design process, and what makes an engineer. After learning that each and everyone of them are engineers, we headed over to our imaginary Charles River to learn all about pollution. With the Who Polluted the Charles River activity, the students learned about the different types of pollutants and how they can trickle into our rivers. As we listed things like litter, antifreeze, manure, and mysterious liquids, the students poured our premade cannisters into our Charles River. With the polluted water, the students were then set with the task of creating the most efficient and cost effective water filter. The students purchased different materials, such as sand, gravel, coffee filters, and felt, in order to construct their water filter. And their water filter was tested against our dirty polluted Charles River water. All the students did an amazing job being engineers and constructed all different types of water filters.
Thank you to Perkins Elementary for inviting us to their classroom to teach all about engineering, water pollution, and water filters!