Quakertown fourth-graders rocking science projects

As he shared personal stories of his visits to the mid-west and western parts of the country with his fourth-grade science students, Quakertown Elementary School teacher Ryan Wieand believed his students wanted to learn more about rock formations than reading from a textbook. So he assigned them a project to research a famous U.S. rock formation of their choice at school and create a 3-D model of it at home.

Students selected identified how their chosen formation was created through weathering, erosion and deposition, along with what type of earth material it was made from. “I thought the project would be a great extension of what we were learning in class, while at the same time, providing an opportunity for parents to work with their children on a fun project,” Mr. Wieand said.

Their results were recently displayed in the school’s gymnasium, and parents were invited to view all of the completed projects. “The outcome was amazing,” Mr. Wieand said. “The kids went all out to create some incredible and accurate models of their researched rock formation. They were engaged and excited about the project, often coming to school and giving me updates on their models. The parents were invited to a celebration to see all of the projects and quite a few stopped by to make sure I knew how much they and their child enjoyed the project.”