Several students in Natalie Markey’s Innovation and Design Class at Pleasant Valley Elementary School will compete in the New Jersey School Board Association’s STEAM Tank challenge, a contest that requires participants to problem solve.
“The program gives students the chance to invent, modify or use problem solving skills to solve real-world problems,” Markey said. “Thirteen teams were selected to participate in the regional competition this week. Out of 500 applications, only about 150 groups advanced to the regionals in the elementary school category.”
The students and groups competing from PVS – as well as the solutions they came up with – are a sand grenade by Christopher Andreacci, Caitlyn Andreacci, Luke George and Adrianna Franceschi; Ali Taggart and Lana Utswani’s SHOE-perhero; Charlotte and Brook Yurchak’s Bioloon; Madelyn Ferrari and Madelyn McCabe’s Translator; Sophie Lynch, Gianna Manzo, Isabella Drissel and Addie Postlewaite’s Unsinkable Bracelet; Grayson Morrison and Kingston Young’s Covernator; Caden Mendez and Hank Usher’s School/Allergy Safe Mouse Trap; Carter Shawver and Julian Demonte’s E–Grasper; Alanna Drawdy, Sophia Favorito and Joy McAteer’s Distraction Destroyer; Reesa Stever, Lena Giannini and Lucia Olan’s Adaptive Playground; Henry Robertson and Abeir Tomar’s Break it Down; Morgan Noonan and Maci Dutch’s Super Groomer; and Parker Johnson and Brooks McCabe’s Robotic Recyclers.
The teams recently presented their ideas in a Zoom session of the association’s regional competition on March 27 and 28. They had to introduce judges to their inventions, explain what problem each would solve and why it mattered.
“We had this idea from a mouse in our own classroom,” noted the presentation by Mendez and Usher of their school/allergy-safe mouse trap. “When our teacher saw a mouse, I started to think of a mouse trap that wouldn’t use peanut butter, a common school allergen, and wouldn’t kill the mouse, so it is safe to use in schools.
“Unlike the normal mouse trap that would kill the mouse in front of a class, our mouse trap would catch the mouse by using a swinging door with weak magnets that are strong enough to hold the door closed to trap the mouse in the trap.”
Some of the presentations, including the SHOE-perhero, included live demonstrations of how the product would work in the end. The association judged creations based on certain categories like innovative use of technology; societal impact; and improvement to the human-built environment, among others.
“Student groups are eagerly awaiting the announcement on finals, which will most likely be made at the end of the month,” Markey noted.
