By Janice Vogel - St. Andrew Church

CORAL SPRINGS | St. Andrew School students Leila Aluka, Theresa Jean-Louis and Madison Nelson were thrilled when the engineering for their project finally worked.

"It was like magic," said Leila of the arcade game they created for the Imagination Foundation Global Challenge. "You push the ball through the trail and when it hits a winning hole, you answer a multiplication question. If you get the question right, you win 10 tickets."

The students were given a challenge to use recycling materials to create a game, said teacher Renee Sarmiento. Students in the third, fourth and fifth grade worked in groups to draw up plans and then built their projects. All of the students at St. Andrew had a chance to play the games and win prizes.

"We set the kids up with a challenge to create arcade games with academic content," Sarmiento said. "The children designed everything. They drew the blueprints and built it."

Student Allison Power said her group used duct tape in their claw machine, which allowed students to pick up a prize. But they needed to answer a math question correctly to win the game.

Students Christopher Trokey, Christian Louis-Jean and Kyle Tucker designed a Revolutionary War game where students had to choose whether to play as a Union or British soldier. Students Jason Ramus, Elizabeth Schnell and Ricky Campos designed a color game.

About 70 students participated with games focusing on science, math and history.

"We are trying to do more project-based learning where the children take leadership," Sarmiento said. "I'm really proud of their efforts."