Problem Solving Club

Having married and engineer and discussing with him how we both come from very gender segregated careers, I have developed a passion for trying to encourage girls to get involved in STEM fields.  For those who are not familiar with STEM, it stands for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.  We all know that these are some of the most important fields when it comes to our current society in terms of innovation.  However, a large gender gap still exists in STEM fields. So I have decided that I am in a position that I can do something about it, even if it is a small something. 

As a teacher I have the responsibility to empower every student to pursue their dreams and this also means helping girls realize that they are just as competent as boys are.


Besides encouraging girls in my own classroom I have also started a "problem solving club" at my school to encourage both girls and boys in grades 3-5 to think critically, persevere, and create.  We meet twice a month and during our time students solve riddles and then construct something to accomplish a task.  Afterwards we meet as a large group and discuss what we have learned. 

Although students may not realize it they are solving engineering problems while also working on communication and cooperation skills.

The students have had a blast with this and I love watching them problem solve, make realizations, and articulate the lessons they have learned afterwards.  It also has been a great community building activity.

I try to give them a different challenge each time and last night when we met they had to build something that could launch a marshmallow.  We had a couple work but the best part was what they learned even when they didn't work.

Some of the things students commented they learned after doing this activity was:


- Sometimes simple designs are the best
- Don't spend your time making it look cool.  Focus on making it solve the task.
- Make sure you test your idea
- Sometimes things that look good in your mind don't always come out the way you thought they would.