The ChompSaws have opened a world where cardboard becomes a medium for creative problem-solving.
When Katie Kipp Dohm saw an opportunity to enhance hands-on learning across Ann Arbor’s elementary schools, she knew exactly what her students needed: a safe way to turn their creative visions into reality.
Kipp Dohm, the Project Lead The Way (PLTW) teacher at Haisley Elementary, secured a $4,000 grant from Kiwanis of Ann Arbor last year that has transformed how young students approach engineering challenges. With the funding, the Elementary PLTW team purchased ChompSaws, which are specialized cardboard-cutting machines designed for safe use by people of all ages, for each elementary school in the district.
In just a few months since the machines arrived, students from young fives through fifth grade have embraced the tools to tackle both structured classroom challenges and their own imaginative projects.
“It is exciting to see students have the opportunity and confidence to try, fail, and try again at building their ideas,” Kipp Dohm said, describing how the ChompSaws have empowered even the youngest learners to experiment with design and construction.
The machines integrate seamlessly into the PLTW curriculum throughout the year, said Dohm, noting that kindergarteners will use them to create devices that move “rocks,” second graders will build insulators to “save an ice pop,” and fourth graders will design windmill blades to explore energy conversion.
She said the possibilities extend far beyond these planned lessons, limited only by students’ and teachers’ imagination.
“We continue to build curiosity, perseverance, and problem-solving skills in PLTW,” Kipp Dohm explained, emphasizing the program’s focus on developing resilient, creative thinkers.
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