Community Impact Summary

Our 2nd-grade STEM PBL project focused on answering the question, "How can we design a recreational event that brings together ECW and the Fairburn community?" Students researched various recreational events and decided to host a community festival aimed at reconnecting the school and the community after a long hiatus due to COVID. They interviewed the Georgia Renaissance Festival coordinator through video to learn about organizing a successful event. Inspired by their research, students designed interactive games to teach and entertain festival-goers, incorporating concepts of motion. Through activities like rolling races, spinning challenges, and toss games, they explored forces and movement in a hands-on way. The project showed remarkable academic growth, with pretest results revealing that only 20% of students understood motion concepts, compared to 72% after the project.

Standards Addressed:

• Science Standards: Investigating the relationship between force, motion, and direction (S2P3).

• Math Standards: Measuring and comparing distances and heights in games (MGSE2.MD.1), and using addition and subtraction to track scores and solve design problems (MGSE2.OA.1).

This project brought together students, families, and the community for a fun and educational event, while promoting academic development, creativity, and collaboration. It highlighted how STEM can foster meaningful connections and learning experiences.