Developing Next Generation Professionals through School-Wide STEM Activities

Woodholme Elementary School, Baltimore County MarylandMelissa Daniels

John MapleStefanie Trentacoste

Woodholme Elementary• Opened August 2005

• Located in Baltimore County, Maryland

• Public, Non-Title I school, 42% Free and Reduce Meals

• Approximately 800 students, 77% African American

• Maryland Blue Ribbon School

•

STEM FairEvery student from Kindergarten to Fifth Grade participates

– Kindergarten, First and Second Grade present activities that align with their curriculum• Primary Talent Development

• Science Units

– Third Grade participates in the Safe Racer Challenge

– Fourth and Fifth grade students design and implement their own STEM projects

Preparing for STEM FairFourth and Fifth Grade

Implement the Scientific Method• Question• Materials• Variables• Results• Graph

• Guided creation of a model STEM Fair project• Create model mini boards

• Hypothesis• Procedure• Results• Conclusion

Preparing for STEM Fair

Fourth Grade

Too Hot to Handle

• Prepares fourth graders for their first independent STEM Fair Project

• Investigates Heat Transfer

•

Fifth Grade

Pendulum’s Swing

• Advances fifth graders knowledge of STEM Fair project and Scientific Method

• Investigates Pendulums and Energy

Ideas for STEM Fair Projects• Anything students are interested in!

• Wonder Science – Two volumes of science activities that can be modified into STEM Fair Projects

• JaniceVanCleave’s Books

• Try Science.com - http://www.tryscience.com/

• Science Buddies - http://www.sciencebuddies.org/

• Steve Spangler – http://www.stevespangler.com/experiments/

• Lego Education - http://www.legoeducation.us/••

STEM Fair Timeline

• In three months– Teaching the Scientific Method

– Selecting a project

– Working through the steps of the Scientific Process–– Checking student work during the process

– Completing a Board–

Communicating with Parents

• STEM Family Night– Explain the STEM Fair Process

– Explain the expectations of the students

– Answer Parent Questions

• STEM Fair Handbook and Forms– Written explanations and expectations

– Ideas and reference materials

Judging• All students given the

opportunity to share their science experience with judges

• Parent volunteers, teachers from other schools, STEM professionals

• Judged based on 10 criteria linked to the Scientific Process

•

Displaying Projects

• Approximately 300 projects

• Fills our entire gymnasium for two days!

STEM Fair Night

• Students and parents come to see all of the projects

• Families are engaged in learning opportunities– Mad Science– Project SEED

• STEM Fair Winner are announced for 4th and 5th grade

ResearchGather information necessary for creating their Safe Racer.

DesignDiscuss with their team

ways to make a successful racer

that will protect the egg

and travel a distance.

CreateWork with their team to

create a Safe Racer vehicle that will participate in the

competition.

TestTeams will test their racer in

preparation for the competition.

ReviewLook at their

vehicle and data from their trials and determine changes in the design of their

Safe Racers.

ModifyWork together to make

changes to their Safe Racer.

The Design Process – Students will…

For the Students:How can we make a race car that will keep an egg safe in a crash and travel a long distance?

Your car must:• use the wheels and axles

provided.• use recycled materials• have an open top• have a body 5 inches or

less in width and 9 inches or less in length

• weigh 10 ounces or less• show your team logo

9 inches

5 inches

Here’s how:Step 1- Form a team of 3 or 4 peopleAs students work through the process

as a team, they will be designing a team logo that will identify their vehicle in the competition within their classrooms.

Step 2- Learn some background information

Step 3- Think about what you know about cars.

Step 4- Brainstorm and web all ideas for making the car.

How can we make the car go

far?

How can we make the car

safe?

Distance Test

Crash Test

Name _______________________________ Date __________________

MomentumDirections: As you watch the video on momentum, think about the “Big Ideas” and identify the features or the materials needed to make your car a success.

Scientific Concept: _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Scientific Concept: ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Step 5- Discuss which ideas might be best.

Step 6- Sketch and label a beginning design of your car.

Step 7- Decide what materials you will need and how to get them.

Step 8- Gather your materials.

Step 9-

Step 10- Test your car on the ramp.

üCheck to see if the egg stays in the car and doesn’t crack.üüSee how far your car goes.

Step 11- Think about how you can make your car better.

Step 12- Listen to ideas from your teammates and decide what to do.

Step 13- Make changes to your car, safety equipment, and sketch.

Step 14- Re-test your car.

Step 15- Share your answer to our question with other scientists by writing up what you did.

Safe Racer Competition

Let the Tests begin!!!

Safe Racer Competition (the final crash test)

Safe Racer Competition (the final crash test)

Safe Racer Competition (the final crash test)

Safe Racer Competition (the final distance test)

Let the distance racing begin!!!

Safe Racer Competition (the final distance test)

Winning Safe Racer

MESA C lubMESA C lub

MESA’s Mission

http://www.jhuapl.edu/mesa/home/default.asp

•to prepare students for academic and professional careers in mathematics, engineering, science, and technology•increase the number of engineers, scientists, mathematicians, and related professionals at technical and management levels•serve as a driving force in encouraging and assisting minorities and females in achieving success in these fields.

Construction•Team must use one piece of paper and one paper clip per plane•No tools or construction materials other than the paper and paper clip provided.•3 minutes will be given for four students to construct four identical paper airplanes by assembly line method.http://www.thebmi.org/page/elementary_school_challenges

Paper Airplane Challenge

http://www.thebmi.org/page/elementary_school_challenges

Performance

•Each of the four students must fly a plane. ••Individual score = LENGTH X SPEED X ACCURACY

•Team Score = All four individual scores added together

Paper Airplane Challenge

•

DESCRIPTION The objective of this competition is to design and construct the most efficient balsa wood bridge that maximizes the strength-to-weight ratio.

MATERIALS 1. The bridges must only be

constructed from balsa wood. 2. Balsa wood size must be 1/8” x

1/8” for all members. 3. No circular members are allowed. 4. Regular Elmer’s and Elmer’s

Wood glue are the only joining agents allowed.

•

http://www.jhuapl.edu/mesa/events/mesaday/elementary/Elementary%20Balsawood%20Bridge.pdf

Balsa Wood Bridge

• Scratch is an introductory programming language

•• Easy to create interactive stories,

animations, games, music, art, and share via the Scratch website.

•• Scratch is designed to help elementary

school aged children develop programming skills necessary to succeed as a technologist in the 21st century.

•• teach children important problem

solving, mathematical and computational ideas, while also gaining a deeper understanding of the programming process.

•

http://www.jhuapl.edu/mesa/events/mesaday/elementary/Effective%20Communication%20Elementary%20Revised%201-11-12.pdf

http://www.jhuapl.edu/mesa/events/mesaday/ES_Scratch.asphttp://www.jhuapl.edu/mesa/events/mesaday/elementary/ES%20Scratch%20-%20Revised%20%202-3-2012.pdf

Scratch

OVERVIEW The presentation design challenge requires students to use software to create a scratch banner that illustrates the concepts embodied in cyber focused themes. A scratch banner is a multimedia based presentation made up of several scenes that teaches the audience something about a theme. In this challenge the banner will educate the audience about cyber security. Each banner page is composed of several parts: a background, characters or sprites, scenery for the sprites to interact with, and audio/ video files that animates the scenes.

Scratch

MESA Banner.sb

MESA Day Competition

Woodholme ElementaryTo learn more about Woodholme’s STEM program and STEM

initiatives contact:

Melissa Daniels – mdaneils@bcps.orgWebsite: http://teachers.bcps.org/teachers_elem/mdaniels/

John Maple – jmaple@bcps.orgWebsite: http://members.thinkport.org/jmaple

Stefanie Trentacoste – strentacoste@bcps.orgWebsite:

http://teachers.bcps.org/teachers_elem/strentacoste/

Woodholme’s STEM Resources

STEM Fair Resources

Safe Racer Resources

1. Momentum occurs when objectsⒶ break.Ⓑ move.Ⓒ are lost.Ⓓ are found.

2. Your car gains momentum byⒶ hitting the barrier. Ⓑ traveling down the ramp. Ⓒ coming to a stop. Ⓓ sitting still.

3. Momentum depends onⒶ only weight.Ⓑ only speed.Ⓒ weight and speed. Ⓓ how many object you have.

4. When momentum is transferred, the amount of momentumⒶ decreases.Ⓑ stops.Ⓒ stays the same.Ⓓ increases.

5. Which statement is true about a moving car and its driver?Ⓐ Only the car (not the driver) has momentum. Ⓑ Neither the car or driver have momentum.Ⓒ If the car stops, the driver will keep moving. Ⓓ A car cannot stop.

6. During the crash test, momentum is transferred from the car to Eggbert andⒶ Eggbert might change colors.Ⓑ Eggbert might fly out of the car.Ⓒ Eggbert might decide to walk.Ⓓ Eggbert might cook itself.

7. The more momentum, the ______________ the crash.Ⓐ softer Ⓑ yellowerⒸ harder Ⓓ quieter

8. In order to protect Eggbert during the crash test we couldⒶ add a seat. Ⓑ add a seatbelt.Ⓒ add a bumper. Ⓓ all of the above

9. Momentum will make your car travel a longer distance. To increase momentum you should addⒶ a bumper.Ⓑ a seatbelt.Ⓒ cotton balls.Ⓓ pebbles.

10. Safe Racer makes me feelⒶ excited.Ⓑ scared.Ⓒ bored.Ⓓ nervous.

TEAM NAME: ___________________________ Date: ____________

Safe Racer: Team Evaluation FormDecide how well you and your teammates worked together.Activity: _________________________

TEAM SIGNATURES:________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________

Paper Airplane Data Sheet Names:_______________________________________

What change made the biggest difference?______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

MESA Symbaloo