Back-to-School STEM / STEAM challenges are a great way to build community, establish procedures, and get to know how your kids tick! Plus, they’re a great intro to forces and interactions and Newton’s three laws of motion, which are part of 3rd, 5th grade and middle school NGSS standards! (3PS2-1, 5PS2-1, MS-PS2-1, and MS-PS2-2) The basic premise: Students work in partners or groups against criteria & constraints lists to design and build solutions to design challenges using symbols of the seas