On July 9th, 2018, members of BrainSTEM Alliance joined the WBRL rural services team on a flight up to Fort Chipewyan to host the READesign program with the Athabasca Delta Community School. There were 13 students, 6 boys and 7 girls, ages 5-12, that took place in the program, reading books and designing engineering solutions for the characters.

After the Fall

The book ‘After the Fall’ by Dan Santat is a retelling of the Humpty Dumpty story and  how he got over his fears after his fall from the wall. The group that read this book wanted to design something that would help Humpty feel safe if he was ever up on the wall. They used balloons, bubble wrap, cotton and other materials to make a device that would protect Humpty if he fell.

Andrew’s Loose Tooth

Another group read the book “Andrew’s Loose Tooth” by Robert Munsch, which is all about Andrew trying to find a way to get rid of his loose tooth. The children in this group used littlebits, pulleys and string to make a motorized tooth-pulling device. They used balloons to represent the tooth when testing their device.

Zebra on the Go

One of the groups read “Zebra on the Go” by Jill Nogales, a book about circus animals with some awesome tricks, but one goes awry leading to a runaway zebra! The students in this group worked to design a motorized boat that could catch the zebra and lion when they end up out at sea! This team used balsa wood and foil for their boat, wooden dowels and paper for sails, balloons for flotation devices and circuits with motors for their boat propellers.

Jack and the Baked Beanstalk

The final group read “Jack and the Baked Beanstalk” by Colin Stimpson, which is a retelling of Jack and the Beanstalk, but with baked beans! This group wanted to build something that would help Jack transport all of his baked beans. They used plates, balloons and other craft supplies to make balloon powered vehicles to help Jack transport beans on land and water.

Stay tuned for the next READesign challenge!!