Boone Goes to the STEAM Fair of Texas

Students teamed up for challenges testing engineering, mathematics skills

Boone Elementary students took a day trip to the “STEAM Fair of Texas” without leaving the campus. 

For the first station, a Red River Showdown football game-themed field goal challenge, students had to design a makeshift paper football and flick it across a printed “field” with end zones and field lines. 

“The kids had to figure out how do we make a shape that’s aerodynamic,” said Highland Park ISD elementary STEAM instructional coach Ashley Jones. “They were just practicing a whole bunch of measurement (too). They had to (the keep the football) in the area of the field, not outside the perimeter.”

“The kids just had fun putting what they’re learning into practice,” Jones continued.

Another Oct. 7 activity included a foodie arch challenge which tasked students with making an arch using crackers and frosting. They learned about how arches help distribute weight and prevent bridges from collapsing. 

“Rather than just doing a simple challenge of build something, they now, every time they (go over a bridge,) know why it’s there,” Jones said.

For the third station, a bungee challenge, students pushed dolls tied to rubber bands from various heights to see how close they could get them to the ground without touching it.

At the last station, students used multiplication, addition, and subtraction skills to solve problems that occurred during the Red River rivalry game.

Finally, the children made makeshift stands next to the fields from the football field activity.

“Everybody was helping each other,” Jones said. “That was probably the coolest part of the whole lesson was all these kids not caring what team they were on. They just cared about having fun and completing the tasks the best they could.”