Highland Lakes students build against ‘The Big Bad Wolf’ in mobile STEM challenge
Students file into one of Learning Undefeated and TEA’s mobile STEM labs, which holds up to 24 students. Staff photos by Caden Senn
Highland Lakes Elementary School students got hands-on experience with new, fun ways of learning this week, April 22-24, at one of Learning Undefeated and the Texas Education Association’s mobile STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics) labs.
Learning Undefeated and the TEA first partnered during the 2021-22 school year to bring mobile STEM labs to schools throughout the state. Each lab– a portable trailer that can expand to be double its size and retrofitted with air conditioning, seating, and displays– allows students to engage with the engineering design process in ways they may not be able to regularly.
“We’ve seen 55,000 students just since the end of August,” Education Outreach Coordinator Amanda Asher said. “And there’s about 1,200 teachers that we’ve given lessons to and that we’ve seen in these labs.”
Students were presented with a short slideshow on engineering jobs and their applications in the real world. They were then read the story of the Three Little Pigs and tasked with buying materials to build a house that couldn’t be blown down.
“Today, we’re going to test your houses because The Big Bad Wolf is going to try and sneeze it down,” Asher said to the students.
Students teamed up and built structures to withstand the winds of “The Big Bad Wolf” (aka a small electric fan), learning about teamwork, budgeting, and basic engineering principles along the way.
Marble Falls Independent School District staff were able to sit in on a class and marvel in the student’s teamwork.
“I’m impressed with the process, for the kids to be engaged the entire time and learning,” Director of Elementary Education Soor-el Puga told DailyTrib. “And the teachers too, it’s a reminder for them to learn from the process and decide what we can do in our classrooms to repeat it.”
Puga said that MFISD was one of thousands of districts to apply for the STEM lab program and was lucky enough to be one of the several dozen to be selected. There are currently eight STEM labs travelling throughout the state.
Visit the TEA website or the Learning Undefeated website for more information on the STEM labs.