Second-graders Airibella Shindledecker and Elyn Schrecongost weigh down an aluminum foil boat with pennies at Chicora Elementary School on Tuesday. The students tested the vessels they made as part of Remake Learning Days, a statewide STEAM event. Joseph Ressler/Butler Eagle 5/10/22

CHICORA — Second-grade students at Chicora Elementary School joined classrooms statewide in designing, building and testing floats as part of a STEAM initiative Tuesday.

Chicora students collaborated with a class at Kerr Elementary in Fox Chapel to discuss and demonstrate their boats and measure their buoyancy.

Second-graders, from left, Emma Plunkard, Hunter Fedorek, and Lyndal McFadden put pennies into their aluminum foil boat at Chicora Elementary School on Tuesday. The students tested the vessels they made as part of Remake Learning Days, a statewide STEAM event. Joseph Ressler/Butler Eagle 5/10/22

Alison Perry, second-grade teacher at Chicora, said this is her second time participating in Remake Learning Days, a statewide STEAM event that provides hands-on learning events.

“This is our second day of the activity. The first day we did an icebreaker activity with the (Fox Chapel) class over Zoom,” she said. “That class provided the tubs to sink the boats, foil to build the boats, and all we had to do was provide the pennies.”

Children were placed in groups and asked to design a vessel that would hold a good amount of weight. Once finished, students tested their boats by placing pennies inside them one-by-one until the boat sunk.

Students counted pennies aloud and cheered on their classmates, whether their boat held 10 or 50 pennies.

Perry said the project ultimately helps develop critical thinking skills.

“It teaches them to construct something, see how much weight it holds and then they’re able to come back and try again,” she said. “Their critical thinking skills bring them back to make the boat hold more.”

Airibella Shindledecker, whose group came in second during the penny challenge, said her team designed its boat like an ice cream cone.

Other groups made water crafts that looked like hot dog buns or cupcake wrappers, and commented on the creative designs of the Kerr Elementary students.

Heni Morter, a student of Perry’s class, said the project brought his classmates closer together.

“We learned how to work together a little more,” he said.