Pennsbury students win Pennsylvania State STEM Design Challange

Fifth graders from Eleanor Roosevelt Elementary created the “Hydra Hand Washer 2000,” an automatic hand soap dispenser that runs on hydroelectric power generated from the tap

The Times

The 2018 winner of the Pennsylvania State STEM Design Challenge (Elementary Division ) was a team of students from Eleanor Roosevelt (ER) Elementary School in the Pennsbury School District.

Fifth graders Daphne Klose, Patrick Longman, Daniel Morone and Nicholas Torres created the “Hydra Hand Washer 2000.” Their invention is an automatic hand soap dispenser that runs on hydroelectric power generated from the tap.

“The competition fits perfectly in our STEM unit on renewable energy,” said Kathryn Royal, coach and gifted support teacher. “Each year we travel to the Exelon Education Center in Fairless Hills to study energy. This year we connected our trip with the Thermo Fisher Scientific STEM competition. The students worked together to meet the challenge.”

The ER team competed with more than 1,220 teams across the state. Nearly 5,000 students participated and more than 1,708,000 pieces of K’Nex were used. Using 1,400 K’Nex pieces or less, teams have two hours to build at the competition. Each team must also present a journal and a blueprint for the project.

Amy Davis, Allegheny Intermediate Unit, reports that each year, 24 Intermediate Units across the state of Pennsylvania offer a competition to students in grades 4–8 where they work in teams to solve a problem. To show their solution, they must use K’Nex education building pieces. The ER students first won the regional competition held at the Bucks County Intermediate Unit #22.

In 2010, the Allegheny Intermediate Unit in Homestead hosted the first STEM Design Challenge. As the competition grew locally, it was decided to offer the program statewide through the state Intermediate Unit system. Since offering the program statewide, 24 Intermediate Units conduct regional competitions and send their winners on to the state competition that is held at Harrisburg University in May. The regional competitions and state event are generously sponsored by Thermo Fisher Scientific.