Stories & STEM ~ The Quen's Earrings ~ 3 STEM Challenges using Parachutes

Read the short story and then complete a series of three related STEM engineering challenges. Includes vocabulary, clue cards and project sheets for a week of engineering fun!

The story, The Queen's Earrings focuses on the concepts of gliders (paper airplanes) flight

Can you make a paper glider from a single sheet of paper that can hold a cargo of five paper clips?

The other two challenges included in this pack are focused on creating the farthest flying glider and designing a glider that can fly at least 2 meters with the most cargo. These challenges are completed once students have figured out the first challenge.

This engineering challenge activity pack is one of many that I have created to use in my classroom! My students really enjoy the idea of solving a problem or mystery when it is framed within a short background story. We do these challenges over the course of a week. Once students have figured out the first challenge, the other two are just manipulating the concept that was used previously. I use the clue cards as a way to give students hints, or help, as they progress through the challenges. You can pass them out to students one at a time, or even post them onto a bulletin board or on a projector. You can also post the vocabulary cards or print them out for students to use on their lab sheet. The solution sheets look great displayed and give students a chance to share their work with their classmates!

Encourage students to really think about the data they should be recording for each challenge.