General Principles for Projects in VC STEM,
(with some ideas for September 17 and later)
I.O.U. — Later, this page will have more content, but for awhile (beginning in mid-September) it won't be changing much.
two disclaimers:
• I have appropriate humility about my ability to know “what will be interesting-fun-motivating” for young people, so this isn't me declaring “we should do these experiments instead of those.”
• And I haven't explored most of the activities in our list of "Ideas" so that's another reason for my humility. {and because I haven't studied all of the Ideas, when I don't mention a particular activity this doesn't necessarily mean that I think it wouldn't be a good activity}
General Principles
our events versus typical classrooms: As all of you already know, the educational situation for our VC STEM is not like regular K-12 instruction. It's very different. Compared with a typical classroom, we have much less control over long-term experiences, and much less student homogeneity (re: age, experiences before the classroom year & during it, etc) and less opportunity to use progressions of instruction.
variations in timing: These occur for all teaching, but especially for ours: some kids will find an activity too easy, so they finish early, then get bored if we don't give them extra mini-activities to do, maybe including extra challenges; or it's too difficult, or they could do it but not in the time we've scheduled. And so on. Ideally, we want to design our activities so there is appropriate difficulty for most kids (plus parents), with levels of challenge that are “just right” with a well-designed activity – as in a well-written mystery story – so students won't become bored if it's too easy, or discouraged if it's too difficult, so they will be challenged but they will succeed and will enjoy the satisfaction of success. But doing this is more difficult for us, than for a teacher who has their own year-long classroom.
interacting with our guests: July 30, I sat at a table next to Craig (father) with his daughter (Amelia) on his other side. I was interacting enthusiastically – made easier by their enthusiasm (especially Amelia) but was not offering any suggestions for what to do or why it's happening. If they had asked, I would have responded, but they didn't, so I didn't. Another approach – by "roving" from one table to another – was described in a meeting (August 23) by Kyle, and I can see its benefits. So the next time, Sep 17, I'll try roving, to observe what's happening and occasionally interact; probably sometimes I'll sit at a table, but not for the whole time. If you have ideas about this, please let us know. Our interactions are important, so we should share ideas about this so we can do it better.
It can be useful to think about activities of four types – Wow, Inquiry, Teaching, Process – if we recognize the rough-ness of these categories, due to overlaps in various characteristics. We can think about these, especially when we're planning activities beyond September 17.
FUN “WOW” EXPERIMENTS
These usually are SHORT ACTIVITIES, maybe with some “thinking challenges” although their main appeal is just visual wow-fun. This motivational factor can be important. It was for me. I still remember getting a Chemistry Set (thanks, Mom & Dad) at around 10 years old, and being fascinated by reactions that produced beautiful colors or liquid-patterns,* interesting smells, cold or hot, and (in my own experimenting, not in the ChemSet) small explosions while trying to make a DIY rocket ship; the rocket failed, but a major success was the survival of all body parts, still attached and functioning properly!
Some "wow" activities are...
Elephant Toothpaste {maybe do again as demo with flask? practice before, to get a good mix to produce volcano eruption)
unpop-able bubbles (natalie) -- Tom Noddy's bubble tricks and other bubble-artists. {I think Tom did his tricks with regular bubbles, although probably with his special blend of soap-water-etc; the "bubble" video has some info about this, and I'll look for pages & videos about it.}
super bubbles (tracey).
many other similar Activities. {in the "Ideas" list and beyond}
* one Sunday at Grandview, the screen's background had beautiful slowly-changing patterns; if we can find what these are, and how we can get them, this could be useful. Maybe get videos of old-fashioned lava lamps or some better patterns? Or snowflakes swirling in the wind? Or patterns on the surface of soap bubbles?
INQUIRY ACTIVITIES
These are LONG ACTIVITIES, with mental challenges. And satisfaction in “doing it” and maybe some wow-fun.
Here are a few comments about specific activities, but with a humble disclaimer.
Make a Flashlight (natalie) – This is a classic “inquiry activity” that lets kids do their own Discovery Learning. But as observed by Sue, maybe some kids already did this in a classroom, or in homeschool. This obviously would make it too easy, and they would become bored. But even if they haven't done it already, some kids (+ parents) may find it too easy, so they'll become bored if we don't provide extra activities (to fill the time) or extra challenges (to make the “total activity” less easy). I've been intending to explore ways to “make extra challenges” by first exploring web-pages to get information, and then asking on forums of NSTA (National Science Teaching Association).
Tower Building (sue) – another inquiry activity.
Earthquake Engineers – building a "shaker" and then (for the inquiry) designing quake-resistant buildings.
[[ September 17, we'll be doing the two activities above: Make a Flashlight, and Tower Building (with an earthquake simulator). ]]
Sky Balls (john) – designing a parachute.
Moon Rover (sue) – designing & building a mini-version of it (would there be less "inquiry challenge" here?)
POE Activities (craig)
A process of Predict-Observe-Explain is the main logical foundation for science.* This is a well-developed kind of activity, with many already-prepared examples to use. It could be done with Mental Experiments or Physical Experiments; either way, Kahoot-Questions would be useful.
* The logical foundation of science is a comparison of Predictions with Observations in a Reality Check, as explained in a section you can view in either of two formats, LEFT+right (if you have a large screen, this is best) or (for a smaller screen) only one page.
a book for planning-and-doing POE: I have several extra copies of an excellent book – Predict, Observe, Explain: Activities Enhancing Scientific Understanding (by John Haysom, Michael Bowen) – that's the best available for POE. You can explore for free in two ways: A) online, GoogleBooks lets you read the intro material (including useful teaching-tips for "Using POE Sequences") and some chapters; B) in early October, I finally received some books – purchased from NSTA (the book's publishers) in June, for only $5 instead of $29 from Amazon – and I can loan one to anyone who is interested, at our meeting October 11.
web-resources for POE: my two sections (left-right) about POE or – if you're viewing on a small screen – only left side (short) or only right side (long); and in other websites, description & examples – [ iou: there will be more resource-links before mid-October. ]
Why do we get hot and sweaty?
Kyle: Since my email about this (August 8) and your trip, I've done very little in this section; but tomorrow night (August 16) I'll do a lot, then will email you. Craig — The timing has changed, so I'll continue developing this when I'm "in the mood" but it won't be tomorrow night. (well, maybe I'll do a little, to tie up a couple of "very loose" ends)
This is a mini-activity (using Kahoot-questioning plus discussing-and-explaining) for August 19, 2023.
[[ What is best sequence? maybe first do Title? but maybe first do an Introduction (with you-me-kids, maybe another teacher, or parent) about personal experiences, to establish the observation-fact that we actually do get hot-and-sweaty. ]]
kahoot-Q: Why does a person sweat? A) because they're hot, B) so they can become cooler, C) ___ (a clever third answer), D) both A and B. [[ should we use third-person "they" or second-person "you" ? ]]
but... How can two different answers be correct? Because they're answers for two why-questions. One question is functional, asking "what is the PURPOSE of perspiring?" – to help us become cooler. [[ kyle: we'll use both terms, each with verb & noun (perspiring causes perspiration, sweating causes sweat) and even adjective (e.g. they're feeling sweaty, they have sweaty clothing) and we'll say something about "how to choose" based on situational context, by considering audience & formality & scientific-ness & so on.]] The other questionis CAUSAL, asking about the cause-effect relationship, "How does their body know that it should perspire?" [[ and say something brief-and-relevant about different kinds of questions-and-answers in science, with why, why-and-how/when, what,... ]]
[[ below here I'm writing very quickly, so it must be heavily revised later ]]
how does perspiring cool us? [[the following info will be converted into a kahoot-question]] We become cooler in a two-step process, 1) we perspire, 2) our perspiration evaporates. / analogy for Step 2: imagine a pan of water on stove; evaporating this water requires energy, and we get this from the stove-fire; similarly, evaporating water on our skin (from sweat) requires energy, and we get this from our skin, and removing heat from our skin makes it cooler. {terms: we'll explain the distinction between energy and heat.}
but... if high temperature + high humidity, why do we get hot-and-sweaty? [[the following info will be converted into a kahoot-question]] 1) because of high humidity, sweat doesn't evaporate as much (i.e. not as quickly) so we don't get cooled off as much, so we remain hot, and... 2) this is a signal for our body to produce more perspiration (remember the second why-question), but... 1) the perspiration/sweat doesn't evaporate as much, so we don't get cooled as much, and... 2) we remain hot, so (with the causal signal to sweat even more),... so there is a "vicious cycle" of our body trying to cool itself (thus 1) but not being able to so body remains hot (this is the 2-signal) so we get the "vicious cycle" of 1-2-1-2-1-2-... and so on, getting hot-and-sweaty, hot (due to futility-of-2) and sweaty (due to persevering-of-1, still trying to get cooler).
Dynamic Equilibrium: [[ I'll develop this idea – which is a very important concept for chemistry and thus for biochemistry & biology – during September, including analogous non-science examples from everyday life. ]] The basic idea is that water evaporates equally fast whether humidity is 100%, 75%, 50%, 25%, or 0%. But at 100% the number of water molecules that evaporate (liquid ➞ gas) is equaled by the number that condense (gas ➞ liquid) so there is no NET evaporation. For example, if in 1 second (on a very small area of skin) 100 billion molecules evaporate, 100 billion molecules condense. But at 25% humidity, 100 billion evaporate and only 25 billion condense, so the NET evaporation ( = number evaporating – number condensing) is 75 billion molecules, and this overall result removes water from your skin.
possible titles: Preserving an Ice Cube, Protecting an Ice Cube, Strategies for Protecting an Ice Cube, or ___
Last year in October, I wrote this:
As one possible activity (for Dec 2022), we could use Kahoot to ask POE-Questions during a series of "thought experiments" about...
the best way to "protect" an ICE CUBE to delay its melting: [[ iou – The paragraphs below will be revised, probably in late October. ]] What? Kids design an "insulation strategy" to delay the melting of an ice cube. How?
We ask them to imagine three situations — an ice cube indoors on a table, indoors on table with a fan, and outdoors in sunshine (either on a table or hot asphalt) — and imagine how they should use three materials (a wool towel, clear plastic bag, aluminum foil) by using either one or two or three with different combinations [if two] of what's inside (next to the ice cube) and outside (nearest the air), or [if three] what's in-between. First I'll describe a teaching strategy we won't use, that could work well in a multi-day classroom activity with more time, but not for us; in this method, a teacher asks students to creatively design strategies, and rank all combinations from worst-to-best (or a "tie" if they're roughly equal) for their ability to protect the ice cube, and they explain why they have ranked them this way. But... for us it probably would be more practical if, instead of ALL combinations, we figure out SOME multiple-choice options, choosing those that illustrate important concepts, and ask these with Kahoots. Unfortunately I think Kahoot is limited to 4 options; is this correct? But maybe we can ask two sets of questions. (this way we could have more than 4 options TOTAL -- maybe have the first set contain a second-best overall solution, and the second set containing the BEST solution? Or have the 2nd Question be a follow-up to answers+questions raised by the 1st. )
This could be a major "short activity" that illustrates important concepts with practical applications in a home and in society. Some of the concepts are: energy and what makes something be cold or hot; how things lose energy or gain energy, by conduction (with conductors & insulators), convection (more important with fan), radiation (how does it occur indoors, and especially outdoors with solar heating); insulation; energy conservation to protect the ice cube (i.e. how to reduce heat loss due to energy-exchanges, in the 3 situations: basic, with fan, with sunshine).
extras: ask them to imagine being in a cold room, sitting on a wooden chair or metal chair, and ask "which chair feels colder?" and whether this "really is colder?" (if measured with a thermometer) and why there is a difference between how cold it FEELS and what the temperature IS.
Due to this complexity and the importance – for understanding the science, and using the principles in life – maybe we could make an Organizing Grid that shows the many combinations (for using materials) and how each "ranks" for each of the situations. This organizing would decrease opportunities for creative thinking by kids (+ parents), but would increase their learning of key scientific principles and engineering applications. Maybe we could ask them to do Kahoot "live" and then have a Grid available afterward. ?
For extra thinking challenges, maybe can ask them to compare... a thin wool towel, versus thick wool blanket; for sleeping in a cold room, wool blanket versus electric blanket; for protecting an ice cube, wool blanket versus electric blanket; a wool towel, vs cotton towel; a white wool towel versus black wool towel, either outside in sunshine, or inside. (will this make a difference outside? inside?)
And there are many more ideas for possibilities, in Design Challenges Resources (sue) plus other resources.
TEACHING – Talking & Questioning, to Share Ideas
As we decided in August – when we were thinking about how to cope with the challenge of different arrival-timings, with some early and some late — these will be useful “starter activities” beginning at 9:45, and maybe also 10:00 sharp for an activity of Teaching-plus-Questioning.
Similar to Inquiry Activities, these provide mental challenges, but with more “information” than with inquiry.
Minor Mini-Activities: We'll have “fun facts” to share, and questions to ask with Kahoot (suggested by natalie) beginning at 9:45 to reward early-arrivers, to encourage this by rewarding it. { later, maybe also bios of Christians doing STEM, in history or currently } { Kahoot Question: Can scientists predict earthquakes? sort of, but not really? USGS answers with a simple "no" but another page says "Natalia Ruppert is a senior seismologist with the Alaska Earthquake Center. She says it's a complicated question with a complicated answer [because] different people define earthquake prediction in different ways." }
Major Activities: At 10:00, we could do a brief "teaching activity" that is intrinsically interesting,* with some questions for kids, and maybe some topic-related activities.
* it will become more interesting for kids & parents (and for us) if instead of just “one talker” we design it as a multi-person "dramatic skit" with some interplay among us and with our guests.
Navigation (kyle) -- I think this would be excellent, with Kyle “talking to share interesting info” plus a multi-person "story" we can creatively design, along with activities (quick & easy) and questions for kids (+ parents). Maybe we can do this in November?
Useful Mathematics (kyle, sue, craig,...) -- how we can USE math of various types, in life-practical ways.
Understanding Einstein's Theory of Relativity in 5 Minutes (craig) -- for November or later, maybe 10-15 minutes total, including "the 5 minutes" plus explorations); all that's required is understanding two simple concepts, and simple intuitive math (if distance is larger, light's journey takes more time), as described here. This could be interesting for kids & parents, for a variety of reasons: Einstein is a "heroic figure of science," symbolic; his theory of relativity (that he later wished had been called a theory of invariant-constancy, with a cause-effect relationship of the two foundational constancies causing relativities in their effects) and "relativity" is logically abused in philosophies of postmodern relativism; although our Theory of Special Relativity is typically considered complex & difficult, in reality its key concepts actually are simple, are easy to understand. }
Useful Problem-Solving Strategies for Everyday Life (craig) -- for science and/or engineering. This probably would be most useful as a supplementary activity, added to activities like POE, and it would be one way to help kids/parents learn...
STEM PROCESS – Strategies for Problem Solving
iou – Later I'll write a summary here, but for now you can read the beginning of an Introductory Overview on the left side of the homepage for my website about Education for Problem Solving, and look at the diagrams in Part 2.
Making a Flashlight
contact -- Craig Rusbult, craigru57-att-yahoo-daut-caum (or reply in NSTA Forum)
As described earlier, one of our goals – but it's more difficult for us to achieve, compared with a regular classroom – is to design our activities so there will be appropriate difficulty for most kids (plus parents) with levels of challenge that are “just right” in a well-designed activity, so students won't become bored if it's too easy, or discouraged if it's too difficult, so they will be challenged but they will succeed and will enjoy the satisfactions of success.
I think this goal will be especially difficult to achieve with our flashlight-making activity. One reason is that “doing it successfully” is fairly simple. And (as observed by Sue) maybe some kids already did this in a classroom. Or in homeschool. If they've done it before, their previous experience would make it much too easy this time. But even if they haven't done it already, some kids (+ parents) may find it too easy, so they'll become bored if we don't provide extra activities (to fill the time) or extra challenges (to make the overall “total activity” less easy). Here are some ideas for possible activity-extenders that will give us flexibility (with options to choose from) so we can make it appropriately difficult for more of our guests.
a personal comment about my recent process of learning: I've invested a lot of time trying to find ways to achieve our goals for teaching. This process-of-learning has given me more respect for classroom teachers (i.e. it's "more respect" that is added to the high amount I already had for them) because teachers must do this kind of preparation, in many different ways, for every day of their school year. In addition to the many other challenging duties they must do. Wow. Dedicated teachers really do deserve our respect and gratitude.
two setups, old and new: An older setup (ser+par) for this activity – using a common 1.5 volt battery (size AAA to D) and old-fashioned light bulb, plus tin foil – requires some physical dexterity & mental imagining, and this can require some time. But we'll use a newer setup with a modern LED and button battery, as shown at right. These allow a simple 5-second solution* but the total activity should be extended with extra mini-activities when we ask Science Questions and pose Design Challenges.
Using modern LED's, one version of a total activity – described by sciencemystery.com (click "for Teachers") in a 31-slide series – begins with background information about the importance of electricity in modern societies; the activity starts on the 8th slide (with a glowing LED) followed by Steps 1-14 with useful tips and Science Questions, and three Design Challenges — first in Step 3 ("make the LED light up"), then Step 9 ("make a paper flashlight" using extra materials - index card, aluminum foil, masking tape - "to make the LED light up"), and Step 14 ("change your flashlight to make it easy to turn on and off" so the activity is more interesting & challenging) — and eventually (on the final slide, after 7 slides with general information about electricity, plus a new activity to "Make a Lemon Battery") there is a re-statement of the third Design Challenge (in Step 14) and a final slide (the 31st) with a video that's very useful for busy teachers, because Pat shows some creatively clever ways to make a switch; I especially like the elegant simplicity of her first design-solution; and for the second she solves a problem with “troubleshooting” that illustrates a generally-useful thinking strategy, AND (important for our activity, so we can watch for it) a problem that might occur for our guests when they are using the foil & tape.
* Of course, it's "5 seconds" only after they creatively generate this idea for connecting the battery & LED. And only if they “guess correctly” about the polarities of the battery & LED.* It will take a little longer, but maybe not much longer, if they “guess wrong” and thus get a mis-match between the polarities. But the mis-match will help them discover – perhaps guided by questioning (from one of us, or a parent, or another child) – useful technological concepts: the battery & LED each have a “polarity” for positive & negative, and a correct matching is required to make the LED shine. Will they learn these concepts if they guess correctly with their first connection. Probably not, unless we ask them “did you try to connect it two different ways?” and if it's “no” because they guessed correctly for their connecting (so they stop experimenting with other ways to make a circuit), and we ask them to reverse it so they can observe what happens and then wonder “why?” {* But they won't be guessing if they already know the 3 principles of polarity, and know the symbolism for an LED's positive & negative wires, and observe the battery so they know its positive side.}
some basic activity-extenders: During our teaching, group members have been emphasizing the usefulness (for developing-and-using STEM skills) of making observations and recording them. For this activity, our students can observe circuit-connections that did work (to light the LED) and didn't work; draw diagrams for both kinds, for all circuits that did work & didn't work; and explain (verbally & visually, with words & diagrams) why each circuit did work or didn't work. They can write their explanations, and also “say it” to one of us when we stop at their table and ask “what have you been learning?” and “can you explain it to me?” We can observe kids/parents, and if they seem to be "finished early" we can ask them questions (about scientific principles of electricity & circuits) and pose design challenges (to make another mini-activity), to help them learn more and enjoy more.
two extra Design Challenges: In addition to the three challenges of mysteryscience.com (make the LED light up, then make a "paper flashlight" and give it an off-off switch), we can ask kids (+ parents) to... make a circuit so the LED is brighter (with two 3.0v batteries in series, so the LED has 6.0v instead of just 3.0v) but only if our pre-experimenting shows us that this over-voltage won't make the LED burn out; make a circuit with two lit-up LED's, probably in two steps, first by connecting the LED's in SERIES (but they won't light up because each LED has only 1.5v), and then by connecting them in PARALLEL so each LED has the full 3.0v it needs in order to shine.
giving tips for making circuits: We'll ask them to make a flashlight, or make complex circuits (not the simple 5-second solution) by using aluminum foil and masking tape. There are different ways to use these materials; some are easier than others, and some work better. Before the projects-day, we will determine the ways that work best, and decide “how much to tell them” about what we've learned, and how much to let them discover on their own.
an update: Earlier I had written a section about "pros & cons of two sequences" but at the meeting tonight (Sep 6), Karla's idea — that the enthusiastic “emotional energy” for kids (+ parents) will be higher for Tower Building, so a shift from Making Flashlights to Building Towers will be OK,* but the reverse shifting would not work well — persuaded me (and I assume others) that our order should be: Kahoot Questions, Making Flashlights, Building Towers, and (outdoors) Super Bubbles. / * While they're Making Flashlights, we can observe their progress, and at a time when many groups seem finished we can announce “let's wrap it up in minutes and move on to the next activity.”
questions about specs, for the battery and (mainly) LED's:
• We'll use a button battery (2032) rated at "3" Volts, but what is the precise voltage? (and how consistent is this, with different batteries in the same purchase order?) Almost certainly "3" is close enough for our purposes, so the more important questions are below for LED's:
We bought 100 LED Lights (with 10 types, 10 lights of each), and amazon's chart with specs has basic information for each type. Then we can ask...
• Will the variation in luminous intensity (with the average range-of-intensity varying from 350 to 16,500) make some types unsuitable for our experiments?
• What happens if the battery-supplied voltage is above or below the LED's specified range of voltage? { info: 6 of the LED's are rated at 3.0v to 3.2v, but 4 are 2.0-2.2 V} {one of the six is 3.4 V, instead of 3.2 V, but I'm sure this makes no difference for our experimenting}
If the voltage is 6.0v (with an over-voltage produced by two batteries in series) for an LED that's 3.0v-to-3.2v, will this excessive voltage “burn out” the LED? {the answer is “yes” for 12 V, according to these question-answers} {and for this question & others, we can do our own experiments to observe what happens}
If an LED's voltage is 1.5v (an under-voltage produced by having one battery, and two LED's in SERIES), I assume each LED will be non-lit (with intensity = zero) instead of just less bright? Either way, this experimental situation – with not enough voltage – could be useful for challenging them to “make both LED's light up.” They can do this by using a PARALLEL circuit. But how do we get kids (and/or parents) to make a parallel circuit? It's conceptually difficult (i.e. it's mentally difficult to creatively generate the idea for this circuit, which is much less obvious than a series circuit), and it's more difficult to make by using the available materials. / One simple clue is to tell them that they'll need to use extra strip(s) of foil, compared with their first simple circuit, with two LED's in series. In addition, are there principles (or analogies) – for the behaviors of voltage in a circuit – that will help them figure it out, but won't give it away? / And if they do make a parallel circuit, we can ask them “do you get something for free?” because the battery is running TWO bulbs in this way? {no, there is a long-term disadvantage when using a parallel circuit}
Similarly, for an LED that's 2.0v-2.2v, if it has 3.0v will it burn out? If there is only 1.5v (with two LED's in series), will it have a dim light, or none at all? / a design challenge: If this LED will burn out with 3.0v, how could you design a circuit that lets you get light from this type of LED, using the supplies we have? And with a POE Question (Predict-Observe-Explain) we can ask whether each of the three LED's will be equally bright, or will any of them be brighter because it “uses up” more than its share of the voltage, causing others to have less voltage and less brightness? / If a 2.0-to-2.2 LED won't light with 1.5 V, another design-challenge combines what they have learned about Series & Parallel, when we ask them to make
a circuit with 3 LED's but only one that shines, using an LED that is 2.0v-2.2v.