🔎 Project information
- Project name: Will the rope break under our weight?
- Service: Bagdad Education and Care, Tasmania
- Award: National Winner of the Excellence in Early STEM Education Awards 2024
- Frequency: Several times a week for 8+ months
- Number of children: 35
- Age of children: 3-6 years
💥 Project Summary
While exploring different ropes in their service’s loose parts box, the children started to ‘test’ the properties of the ropes through STEM concepts such as engineering, physics, and motion. One child asked, “Do you think the rope will break under our weight?”. Eureka! This wonderful question became the spark for their inquiry-based STEM project.
As the children shared their ideas and hypotheses regarding the strength of rope, the children identified and collected new materials that they felt were needed with the support of their educators. Their educators also supported them to tie knots and schedule excursions to the bush to explore the properties of rope in a new and complex learning environment. For example, on some bush excursions the children used the ropes as ground markers for tug-of-war games and to create structures.
🧪 Experimenting & Testing
When the children asked questions about the ropes, the educators encouraged them to dive deeper into the properties of the ropes and to investigate why they haven’t broken during different experiences. This prompted the children to continue to test the versatility and strength of their ropes in play over many months.
For example, children experimented by pulling their weight up a slide using rope tied to the top. Some children tied milk crates to the branch of a tree to lift their toys into the air, then they tried this with blocks of wood. The children utilised safety messages such as yelling “Look out below!” to warn their friends as the heavy crates hit the ground when they released the rope. Another experiment they tried was lifting the crate from underneath to reduce resistance and achieve a higher position.
The children also asked educators to tie a rope between two bikes so that they could tow their friends, asking “Can you tow me with the rope or am I too heavy?” They realised the bike at the end of the rope became stuck going around corners, so they decided to shorten the length of rope, which improved mobility. What a great learning!
On one of their bush excursions, the children asked their educators to tie ropes in the trees, with some placed high to hold on to and others placed low to balance feet on. Other setups included making swings out of the ropes, with branches tied together to make a seat.
It was through these experiments and explorations that children began trusting the strength of the ropes and gaining confidence in using them. The educators created a display board of the various experiences and how they culminated in the children’s big discovery that they (just like rope) are stronger when they work together.
🏘️ Involving the Community
The service utilised Storypark to create learning stories and community posts about the children’s project explorations and experiences. This encouraged families to get more involved and donate more wood blocks to support the children’s play.
In addition, the service utilised the local bush wildlife sanctuary, Chauncy Vale, as a second nature-base playground for the children. The bush affords the children the freedom to extend their engineering skills with the help of resources they wouldn’t otherwise have within the service.
National Winner: Excellence in Early STEM Education Awards 2024
This project was the 2024 National Winner of the Excellence in Early STEM Education Award as part of the Little Scientists Early STEM Education Awards. These biennial awards call upon early learning services and classrooms to nominate by submitting an inquiry-based STEM project co-developed with their children 0-8 years. Projects were judged on originality, STEM content, alignment to the inquiry cycle, child-led approach, and use of a gender lens.