VALDOSTA, Ga. – Students in Mrs. Renee Griffin’s 2nd grade class at Pine Grove Elementary School designed and constructed LEGO mazes as part of a Storybook STEM unit.

Students chose to work in teams or independently to create a maze with an entrance, an exit, one dead end, and three obstacles. After construction was complete, students tested their designs using a marble.

Students drew and labeled blueprints of their designs. As an extension of this activity, Mrs. Griffin’s class enjoyed learning from the LHS students in Mr. Matt North’s classroom at LHS with a Google Hangout call. Mr. North gave a tour of the engineering classroom, and several high school students presented current robotic and engineering projects.

At the end of the virtual Hangout, Mr. North created a customized metal sign for the 2nd graders using one of the many robotic machines utilized by engineering students. Seeing engineering projects in various stages of development, design, and creation inspired many of the 2nd graders to express interest in taking these types of classes in middle and high school and possibly choosing future careers in this field.