Beth Romano, department chair of Family and Consumer Science at Brooklyn Middle: A STEAM School, got creative with her sixth grade technology class after she was repeatedly asked to do a food-related activity. Using TinkerCAD, a free web-based application for developing 3D designs, Romano crafted a seasonal food-related lesson plan to engage students.
Just before the TinkerCAD unit, Romano decided to think outside of the box on how to incorporate STEM and food. After some clever brainstorming with STEAM Coordinator Shannon Comisar, the idea of 3D modeling gingerbread houses came to the forefront. Students collaborated as teams to design blueprints and construct gingerbread buildings.
“The activity went great! The students were so excited for this activity, especially when it was time to build and bring their designs to life,” said Romano.
In addition to creating a structure using TinkerCAD, another objective of the lesson was utilizing food safely. One of the challenges students faced was researching solutions to hold the structures together by creating edible “glue.”
Justin Thao, Marian Rios Orihuela, and Mya Chindavong were among a few of the students in Ms. Romano’s class who put their engineering skills to work. Students used a variety of materials from Nerds, gummies, and cereal.
Brooklyn Middle: A Steam School, is a magnet school in our district. Learn more about our school choice options.