Three teams of Mars Area Centennial School students competed in the Middle School Division of the Allegheny Intermediate Unit 3 (AIU3) STEM Design Challenge, held March 6 at Duquesne University.

The competition, open to students in Grades 4-8, asked participants design a simple machine using K’Nex pieces. Team members sixth-graders Ryan Babeo, Kendall Bruns, Lily Coupland and Dylan Weitzell worked to design a “Trash Basher;” sixth-graders Carson Mahan, Patrick Miko, Natasha Narasimhan and Ella Nicotra developed “The Skyscraper;” and sixth-graders Addison Nailler, Julia Nassif, Natalie Paramalingam and Derek Piatek created “The Alternate Construction Picker-Upper.”

During the last few months, team members designed their machine and tracked their inventory to calculate the overall cost, says April Whorf, gifted support teacher. The students used TinkerCAD to create blueprints and an iPad and Merge Cube to view their design in 3D.

At the competition, each team was given two hours to build and demonstrate their machine before a panel of judges from Thermo Fisher Scientific. Students could also create a backdrop or artwork to help explain their project.

For more information, call (724) 625-2601.