Washington Discovery Academy fourth-grade students and teachers gathered outside in the parking lot on a cold November morning to witness the 6th annual Pumpkin Drop. “Students have been investigating the effects of gravity, thrust, drag, and lift. Then our students try to build contraptions to counteract the gravity of their pumpkins to keep them from smashing when dropped from a fire truck bucket at 80 feet in the air,” said fourth-grade WDA facilitator Amanda Dreibelbis.
Dreibelbis said this exercise is always a fun educational opportunity for her learners to get a better understanding of the importance of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (better known as STEM). Students filled their boxes with various creative materials, like blankets, clothing, balloons, marshmallows, etc. Each time a student’s boxed pumpkin ascended high into the air, seconds later it was on the ground. Students quickly tore open their box which revealed if their pumpkin’s fate was good or not so good. This year two pumpkins survived the drop, while the rest splattered on the ground or in the box they were packaged tightly inside.
Congratulations to all WDA fourth-grade students who participated in this year’s Pumpkin Drop! Both fourth grade teachers would like to thank the Plymouth Fire Department for providing the bucket truck that made the Pumpkin Drop activity once again possible.
This article above and the photos below were produced in full by Plymouth High School junior Ivy Marin, who was at Washington Discovery Academy earlier this month while on assignment for her PHS career marketing class.
