Building Ideas: Paper Tower STEM Challenge

(9/8): This week, our middle school students put their critical thinking and engineering skills to the test with the Paper Tower Challenge—a hands-on STEM activity focused on teamwork, design, and creative problem-solving.
Given a limited amount of paper and tape, students were challenged to build the tallest freestanding tower possible. Sounds simple? Not quite! Each team had to plan carefully, test structural stability, and adjust their designs on the fly as their towers grew taller—and wobblier.
This challenge encouraged students to think like engineers: experimenting with shapes, testing for balance, and learning from each attempt. It also reinforced the importance of communication and collaboration under time constraints.
In the end, some towers stood tall, others toppled dramatically—but every group walked away with a deeper understanding of the design process and the value of persistence.
STEM is all about learning through doing—and in this case, doing with just a few sheets of paper and a whole lot of brainpower.