Edmunds 5th Graders Tackle Their Own Environment with Planning and Design

After a week of gathering information on the positive and negative effects of plastic on the earth’s environment, fifth graders at Edmunds were tasked with a challenge. The teachers helped define this challenge by sharing that pencils were being found on the classroom floors, and scattered around the room. It seemed that some of the students weren’t being careful with them, while some weren’t sure were the pencils should be kept. The classes were then divided into teams and and were tasked to design a pencil container, and present a prototype made from plastic waste, to solve this waste issue.

The 5th grade teachers made a list of expectations and requirements for the project. Plans began to design and create a pencil holder that would address the classroom issue. After the student teams built their pencil holders, they gave design presentations to the class, explaining why their group’s prototype was the best design. Problem identified, plans made and followed through on…project complete!