Last Spring, third grade teachers from the Newton STEAM Academy teamed up to create a multidisciplinary approach to studying the eating habits and behavior of birds in the area.
Students are using the engineering design process to first, study the birds and then, to eventually design and create bird feeders using a 3D printer.
Students began by learning the parts of a bird and how each part is used to adapt and survive in their habitats. In art class, they are taking this new knowledge and drawing birds from the local habitat. Students are looking at how the birds fit into the local agricultural ecosystem and have spent time observing chickens, the eggs they laid and waiting to see when the eggs hatch and the chicks emerge. The students record their observations in their STEAM journals and all of this information will go into their work designing bird feeders later in the year.
Teacher Deborah Barr shared why the team wrote the grant, “we hope to spark a lifelong passion for environmental science, and challenge students to be the go-to bird experts in their community!”
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