Library time isn’t only about helping kids find the right book to nurture their love of learning and reading. Library lessons are also about exploring new things, working together as a team, and making some really cool discoveries.
That’s exactly what third grade students at Stevens Elementary School did recently with Library Media Specialist Heidi Brower when she challenged them to get involved with the You Can Do The Rubik’s Cube program.
The mission of the program is to provide resources and support to schools to help teach STEM/STEAM standards and 21st-century skills by using the Rubik’s Cube. The program offers a variety of different challenges, such as learning how to actually solve the cube to competitions and contests that use the cube in a variety of ways. For example, Brower enrolled the students in the “Build Mosaics with Rubik’s Cubes” challenge where students used a 180-piece set of 2×2 cubes to create their own unique mosaic masterpiece.
The students had to work together to decide on a mosaic design they all wanted to create, design an template, figure out how many pieces of the cubes to use, and what colors to use before building the mosaic.
“We combined nearly every core academic subject as well as soft skills, such as team building, communicating, and cooperating, into this one fun, hands-on lesson,” says Brower.
Watch the video to see Cole Bechtel, a third grader in Mrs. Wakulenko’s class, put the finishing piece into the group mosaic!