In conjunction with the unit on Earth Science, the sixth grade students in Mrs. Slansky’s class participated in a STEM Challenge. Each team had to find the best methods to clean up oil from a simulated oil spill disaster that included feathers to represent marine life. The learning objective was to increase understanding of an oil spill disaster and the resulting environmental consequences.
The teams had to collect as much oil as possible and clean the feathers to successfully complete the challenge.
At the end of the challenge, students learned what method was most effective to clean up the disaster. They also learned how a disaster in one sphere effects all the other spheres. The spilled oil in the hydrosphere affected the biosphere, cryosphere, and atmosphere.