Blennerhassett Elementary School fifth-grader Ava VanDyke, left, places pennies in a tin foil boat built by a group of kindergarten students at Monday’s STEM Day event at the school. The activity, VanDyke said, was designed to teach students how to learn from their mistakes and to use failure as a way of improving their designs. (Photo by Michael Erb)

PARKERSBURG — Blennerhassett Elementary School fifth-graders spent Monday teaching classmates lessons on science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

The school’s STEM Day featured nine activity stations designed by fifth-grade students to teach a lesson in STEM, said fifth-grade teacher Holmes Marty.

“Last year’s activity was a school egg drop. Older students were teamed with younger students to design a container to protect an egg from a drop first off of the roof and later from a CAS Cable truck,” Marty said. “This year all grade level teachers met and decided to let the fifth-graders choose activities that they would teach to all kindergarten through fourth-grade students in engaging mini stations.

“STEM Day was originally a concept by third-grade teacher Lisa Smith. Principal Justin Hartshorn and the rest of the staff took that idea and ran with it.”

The projects ranged from how roller coasters work to how to build a lava lamp.

Blennerhassett fifth-grader Roxie Sprague challenges students to think about what foundation would best support a LEGO Duplo brick representing a house and to then test their hypothesis by applying downward pressure to the brick, seeing if it sinks or moves. (Photo by Michael Erb)

Fifth-grader Hollie Smith, 11, said her group created the “Tumbling Towers” activity station, which used pieces of cardboard and cardboard tubes to create buildings. Students were challenged to remove tubes without causing the structure to collapse.

“It represents how engineers keep structures from falling,” she said. “We had one kid who managed to take out five of the pillars.”

Fifth-grader Ava VanDyke worked at a station which challenged students to build a boat out of tin foil and then see how many pennies could be placed inside before the ship would sink. VanDyke said the activity was about using mistakes to make designs better.

“If you make it and it doesn’t hold very many pennies (before it sinks), you can try again and make it a different structure,” she said. “This is about learning from failure.”

Fifth-grader Roxie Sprague, 10, challenged students to think about what foundation would best support a LEGO Duplo brick representing a house.

Second-grader Anthony Hall carefully removes a cardboard tube from a tower to see whether it can remain standing without the tube’s support as part of the “Tumbling Towers” activity station. (Photo by Michael Erb)

“We pretend these blocks are houses, and we’re asking what you put under a house: Rough rocks, sand or soft rocks?” she said.

The students would make their choice and then apply pressure to the bricks, seeing which ones sank or shifted.

The STEM Day was one of several science, technology, engineering and mathematics programs at Blennerhassett Elementary School. This year, Marty and Smith received $3,000 grants from the Governor’s STEM Initiative.

The classrooms have worked on projects such as 3D designing and printing, LEGO and Sphero robotics, and a Skype interview with the President of Disney Pixar Animation, Ed Catmull.

The school this year also opened a STEM Innovation Center, complete with Maker Stations, LEGO Robotics, a 70-inch touch screen monitor and distance learning capabilities, Marty said.

Blennerhassett Elementary School fifth-grade teacher Holmes Marty speaks to a group of students Monday during the school’s second-annual STEM Day, which featured nine student-run activity booths. (Photo by Michael Erb)