We have a budding group of engineers at Discover this week! Students in Solving STEM problems learned that when they applied science, technology, and math, they could solve engineering problems. They are presented with an ambitious schedule to tackle two problems in four days. Their first challenge will be to design and build a space needle with an observation deck they will test. They will only have pipe cleaners, paper clips, index cards, and masking tape. They will be given limited supplies for all the items. Teacher Laura Leeper explained that evaluating designs like this in the real world involves more than making sure they work; between two projects that work, the one that uses the smallest amount of materials would be chosen because it would be cheaper. We use the phrase “minds on, hands on” at The Center for Gifted Studies. Some students immediately started sketching out designs. However, they caught on very quickly that to be successful, they would have to think through all the aspects of the project, including criteria and constraints, before they could work on their design. Only then will they be able to build and test their towers.