Mount Pleasant STEM students use creative-thinking skills to build tiny house models

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Fifth graders were recently tasked with making models of tiny houses for an engineering challenge in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) class at Columbus Elementary School in Thornwood, a school for grades 3-5 in the Mount Pleasant Central School District.

Teacher Jaclyn Gabriele said the students go through the engineering design process to plan and create a model of a tiny house. Each model must include a bed, storage space, bathroom, sitting areas and eating areas.

"There are certain criteria and constraints that they need to follow for this challenge, and they also have a budget of $100 to spend on materials to create their tiny home model,” Gabriele said.

Collaboration and communication are some life skills the students gain as they work through the challenge.

“They’re learning how to collaborate with one another,” Gabriele said. “They go through different challenges, and they need to decide with their partner how they're going to overcome them when they're building.”

This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Mount Pleasant STEM students use creative-thinking skills to build tiny house models