ITEEA Announces Elementary STEM Council International Grand Design Challenge Winning Team
RESTON, VA., JANUARY 21, 2022 – ITEEA’s Elementary STEM Council is proud to announce the winners of the 2021 Grand Design Challenge. The NAE Grand Challenges were designed to cause students and educators to think about solutions and challenges affecting all our lives. In 2021, elementary students from around the world worked in small design teams to develop or modify a product or device that will encourage people to properly wash their hands for at least 20 seconds. This year’s submissions impressed the judges with the elementary students’ use of the engineering design loop, testing of products, refining of products, and serious consideration of external factors.
Tanisha Taylor’s team from the Ronald E. McNair Discovery Learning Academy in Decatur, Georgia took first place with their innovative design. Their teacher, Tanisha Taylor, mentored the students. The team won a one-year I-STEM Education Group Membership, one free hotel night in Orlando for next year’s ITEEA conference, and a spot in ITEEA’s 2022 STEM Showcase.
Look for details about next year’s conference to see when Kelly Steele will be sharing ideas from their experience.
Council President, Dr. Thomas Roberts, shared, “On behalf of the Elementary STEM Council, congratulations to Tanisha Taylor and her students for winning this year’s challenge. Although all of the submissions offered creative designs, the team from McNair Discovery Learning Academy developed an outstanding engineering design journal and developed a product that is easy to use, portable and simple It also appears to be universal, low-cost, and tested. We hope everyone who participated this year will consider participating in the 2022 Grand Design Challenge that will be announced soon.”
The 2022 Grand Design Challenge will be announced in late spring. Submissions are due December 15, 2022. Questions can be directed to Michael Daugherty, mkd03@uark.edu, Virginia Jones, vjones@patrickhenry.edu, or Thomas Roberts, otrober@bgsu.edu.
Learn more about ITEEA’s Elementary STEM Council at www.iteea.org/About/Leadership/40079/ESC.aspx