Posts Tagged homeschool

STEM Tuesday — Epic Achievements and Fantastic Failures– Writing Tips and Resources

By on May 21, 2019   /   Common Core & NGSS, Cross-Curricular, Epic Achievements and Fantastic Failures, STEM Tuesday  

 

 

Fear of failure. It’s something I hear from my students all the time. They are afraid to get things wrong, mostly because it might mean points off on their quiz or test. While I can understand that (no one likes to get a low grade), but when they are afraid to fail in lab class, that’s a different thing. Students need to understand that not every experiment turns out “right”. Sometimes you can do everything correctly in the procedure, step by step, and still mess it up.

When I was in graduate school, I had a simple job. I had to make plates of agar for an experiment. To explain, agar is the gel that goes into the petrie dishes BEFORE you even do the experiment. Agar plates are used to grow microorganisms, like bacteria. In order to compare the growth of bacteria on each dish, the dishes must all be created at the same time, in the same manner.

 

 

It’s fairly easy to make (or so I thought). There are five basic steps:

  1. Pick a recipe (my boss gave me one)
  2. Gather the supplies — sterilized petrie dishes, powdered agar, sterilized water, yeast, and another powder
  3. Mix the ingredients according to the directions
  4. Sterilize the agar by heating it to turn it into a liquid
  5. Pour into the plates

Sounds simple, right? Not so fast. For some reason, I could not get the plates to look like the one above. Every time my plates were too cloudy and had air bubbles in them.

I spent 3 ENTIRE weekends trying to make the agar plates and failed EVERY TIME. It was so frustrating.

Finally, my advisor came in and watched me do two sets of new agar plates. What did she see? I was being very specific about how I followed the directions. BUT she noticed that in every process I was making the same mistake over and over. Once that was corrected, I was able to produce the proper plates.

Was she mad I took so long and wasted so much materials? NO. She said that what she loved about my process was that I was so careful to do the same thing over and over. That is a very excellent trait for a research scientist to have.

I ask you parents and teachers to share this story with your students. Everyone needs to understand that sometimes when we think we are failing we are actually excelling at something else!

Here are a few more examples of technology that wouldn’t exist unless a scientist or engineer failed.

“8 Successful Products that Only Exist Because of Failure”  by Sujan Patel

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Since our post today is also about Epic Achievements, I thought I would share a post from guest blogger Laura Perdew. She is helping us to celebrate International Biodiversity Day  on May 22nd!

How is this an Epic Achievement? For the last 19 years the United Nations has set aside one day to celebrate biodiversity in our world. Something that is extremely important for the survival of our planet. Celebrating biodiversity, and even more importantly making strides to save biodiversity on the planet, in our cities and towns, and even in our own backyard is definitely an achievement that we should all hope to accomplish. Here’s Laura:

 

Ever heard of a velvet worm? A tardigrade? A shoebill stork? These are just three of some 8 million species on Earth that come in all shapes and sizes. The amount and diversity of life on this planet is staggering. And unquestionably fascinating.

Biodiversity includes plants, animals, fungi, bacteria, and microorganisms. And it is everywhere, including in some pretty extreme places: near volcanoes, at the deepest parts of the ocean, in the sand, in hot springs and mud pots, in the ice, and even under the ice. And consider this – wherever you are at this moment you are in the company of hundreds or maybe even thousands of other species growing, squiggling, flying, reproducing, wriggling, feeding, and thriving.

What is often overlooked is the fact that ALL OF IT IS CONNECTED. Every species, no matter its size, has a role to play. While the connections between trees in tropical rainforests and polar bears are not immediately obvious, the connections are there. The earth is a perfectly balanced, wondrous system. That balance makes our planet strong. Yet also vulnerable.

We are living in a time when that balance is threatened by human activity. Today is a day to celebrate biodiversity, so I will not dwell on that. Instead, our job as stewards of the planet our children will inherit, is to help them see and understand that magic that is all around them. Jane Goodall said it best: “Only if we understand, will we care. Only if we care, will we help. Only if we help, shall all be saved.”

ACTIVITY
Celebrate (Bio)Diversity Museum
To get kids excited about biodiversity, challenge them to discover a species they didn’t know existed. With a little research, either with books or on the internet, kids should easily be able to find something new and interesting.

Once they have identified a new species, each student will create a species profile. How detailed the profile is can vary by grade level. The overall goal is to create a visual profile that can be set up as a museum display (and to inspire wonder about Earth’s biodiversity). This might include pictures, charts, maps, basic information, poems, fun facts, or other ideas.

This activity can easily be cross-curricular, integrating language arts, science, social studies, and even math, depending on the requirements you develop for the species profiles.

Once the profiles are complete put them on display and have a biodiversity museum day. Friends and family can also be invited. All students should wander through the “museum” to learn even more about biodiversity. To finish the activity, have students reflect on what they learned both through their own work and from fellow students. This can be done as a class discussion or in writing. And, of course, celebrate biodiversity!

Thanks, Laura. Very well said. Laura is the author of Biodiversity: Explore the Diversity of Life on Earth with Environmental Science Activities for Kids (Build It Yourself) (Nomad Press, 2019)

 

Have a great week, everyone, and don’t forget, as Carolyn DeCristofano said in last week’s STEM Tuesday post,”failing is just practicing for success!”

 

 

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Jennifer Swanson is the award-winning author of over 35 books for kids, mostly about science, technology, and engineering. She loves learning new things but still cannot make a plate of agar correctly the first time. But she keeps trying!  You can find her at www.JenniferSwansonBooks.com

 

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The Limitless Middle Grade Imagination: Ideas for Encouraging Students’ Fiction

By on November 26, 2018   /   For Teachers  

Intro with thesis, three main points, conclusion with cap.

The traditional five-paragraph essay format is one of those topics I’ve been teaching for… let’s just say a lot of years. Valuable and necessary, it’s a handy tool in the toolbox for middle grade students. It helps to structure and organize weighty and mature thoughts into real and powerful language on the page. Students learn to let this formula work for them, the way you let the weight of a hammer do the work of driving the nail. I love the five-paragraph structure for its simplicity and efficiency, and for the way it prompts students to write without worry.

And sometimes, I cheerfully throw it out the window.

Middle grade students — whether in a traditional classroom, a non-traditional environment, homeschool, or virtual learning setting — have vast potential as writers…all sorts of writers. At times, the taming of their wild ideas with that five-paragraph structure is appropriate, but kids in this age group can also bring fierce creativity to writing jobs as seemingly limiting as vocab sentences, and that talent should be given room to grow. And then there’s the untapped storyteller inside many a middle grade student, who needs only a bit of encouragement, a cool assignment idea, and permission from the teacher, librarian, or homeschooling parent to Go ahead…make it up. Forget the 6- to 8-sentence paragraphs that must support your thesis. Don’t dare tame ideas into any kind of structure. Let the tale-spinning begin—and set it free to roam the dark woods and swamps, the castle hallways strewn with trapdoors, the hidden monster-lairs on distant planets.

The freedom of fiction writing in the classroom has just as many (and in some cases, more) educational benefits as learning proper, formal sentence and paragraph structure. This is true at any grade level, but middle grade fiction freedom is especially important. Fiction writing projects

  • Work the imagination–not the handy gadgets and devices.
  • Bring out new talents and skills at a crucial identity-building age.
  • Allow independent, personalized work and countless project options for a variety of types of learners.
  • Can be shared in whole or in part, or in nutshell summations of premises — tasks which offer practice at additional skills.
  • Inspire many middle grade students to read more, inside and outside of the classroom.

Fiction writing projects don’t have to be limited to the classroom. Teachers and librarians might consider the following suggestions for school hours, but parents and after-school group leaders seeking enrichment projects for their middle graders might find them helpful as well.

The Historical Premise: Middle grade writers create a plot scenario with conflict and characters based on a historical setting, time period, and event.

The Character Blueprint: Writers “map” out characteristics for a character unlike any they’ve read, detailing physical and personality traits, likes, dislikes, goals, dreams, family, home, daily life.

The Conflict-driven Plot Scenario: Writers compose short situations that “up” the conflict with each new line: But the next day…suddenly…just then…unfortunately…

The Look-Alike: Writers use already-created characters — perhaps from a shared class read — and send them down unfamiliar roads of conflict, or place them in a conflict from a different novel they’ve studied.

The Choose Your Tale-teller: Writers select a format that suits their story idea best: illustrated picture book, graphic novel, comic book, story in verse.

Remember that in order to truly encourage the creativity that comes with fiction writing, teachers, parents, and librarians might have to rethink traditional lesson planning and writing “rules.” Here are some ideas for inspiring your middle graders as they create fiction.

  • Don’t go with your first idea…dig deeper. Reject that which comes too easily.
  • Don’t worry about a beginning or an end. Start in medias res and stop when you want.
  • Try creating only the premise of a story – without the overwhelming work of writing the actual story.
  • Write a detailed beginning full of mystery and sense imagery, then stop. Write another full of opposite choices to the first (night instead of day, freezing instead of sunny), then choose one to continue.
  • Write a whole scene of dialogue, without narration. Use dialect, jargon, fragments, idioms.
  • Write only a one-page real-time scene (or half a page, or two pages, etc.), without worrying about descriptions and set-up.
  • Write from the point of view of an animal or a plant, or a rock or a wall.
  • Design a character, and write unrelated scenes featuring him or her in different genres.

With fiction writing, the options for learning by doing about literature and storytelling are endless: Plot. Character. Imagery. Genre. Dialogue. Theme. Excellent practice opportunities for mechanics, vocabulary, syntax, and a host of other communication skills come into play in the revision stages, as well.

But best of all, a student has made a piece of something that was not there before, and with these new creations almost certainly come sparks of continued inspiration.

Thanks for reading and good luck to your middle grade-aged writers!

 

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STEM Tuesday–Peeking into the Mind of a Scientist/Engineer–In The Classroom

By on November 13, 2018   /   Engineering, For Teachers, STEM, STEM Tuesday, Teacher Tips  

STEM TUESDAY from the mixed up files

This month’s book list offers fascinating stories about the lives and learning of scientists, famous and not-so-much, real and fictional.

That said, here and there, you may find content you want to be prepared to address, so be sure to read the books before you bring them into the classroom experience. That should prove no burden, as the books offer a lot of food for thought, richly textured profiles, and insights into STEM fields.

This month’s suggested activities fall into two categories: Getting to Know the Characters and Book-Specific Extensions.

Getting to Know the Characters

Chart Traits. Keep a running wall chart to track the characteristics and life experiences of the real scientists in these books—for example, Charles Darwin, Sylvia Acevedo, Irene Curie, and Lise Meitner—as well as Calpurnia in the novel. Different students can read different books. Complete the chart as students independently make their way through the reading. In the first column, list the scientists; dedicate each additional column to a trait or descriptor, each suggested by students based on “their” scientists. These traits might include: “intensely curious,” “passionate about science,” “imaginative,” “ambitious/has dreams or goals.” Students can place post-its with brief notes that illustrate when they see that a specific scientist demonstrates a given trait.  Use these notes as a basis for exploring similarities and differences among scientists, and for reflection.

After students complete the books and the chart, consider setting up small group discussions of follow-up questions, such as:

  • Which traits do you see as helpful and/or counterproductive to the scientists in their professional lives? … To their personal lives? Do you think there are examples of any one trait being be both helpful and counterproductive for any of the scientists?
  • Complete these sentence : “I share [trait] with … [scientist(s]. For example, I…[story from life to illustrate similarity].” “Something I don’t quite connect to with …[scientist] is…”
  • A life lesson I learned from each character is…
  • Out of all of these scientists’ interests, the ones I strongly share are: ….
  • How do the social norms and circumstances of each person’s time and place help or hinder their journey?
  • What opportunities and obstacles helped and hindered the scientists in their personal and professional journeys? Have you experienced anything like this? How might your knowledge of one or more of these scientists help you in your own life, personally or as you aspire for academic and, later, career success?
Additional activity suggestions:
  • Connect these scientists’ stories to the NGSS science and engineering practices. Have students create their own graphic organizers to reflect how they see these practices in action in these books.
  • If possible, invite scientists into the classroom for students to interview. Students can enter each scientist and anecdotes into the chart.
  • Each of the scientists in these books experienced both positive moments (successes, support from others) and set-backs (fears, life events, failures) in their professional and personal lives. Have students create a Chutes and Ladders style game representing these events, labeling each chute or ladder entrance’s game square with the episode from the corresponding scientist’s life. Each game piece can represent one of the scientists. Landing on a chute or ladder entrance that depicts an episode from the game piece-scientist, the player gets an additional turn. Later, keep the game available for informal time.
  • Discuss how other people—friends, family, and colleagues—support the achievements of the individual scientists in the books.
  • Take a cue from the Radioactive! teacher guide: Create a shared graphic of things that students are curious about. This will help connect students to the scientists and each other, and foster a culture of curiosity. Have students add the scientists’ likely responses to the graphic.

Book-Specific Extensions

Support Independent Bookstores - Visit IndieBound.orgSupport Independent Bookstores - Visit IndieBound.orgThe Curious World of Calpurnia Tate and Charles and Emma

Both books may help students find their inner naturalists. Build on this opportunity with these ideas:

Collect Their Thoughts. Ask students to contribute inexpensive, readily available objects – seeds, leaves, pebbles, shells, marbles, and even paper clips of different configurations —  to an “interesting stuff” classroom collection. Challenge students to sort, organize, compare and contrast objects in the collection.  Conduct a collection circle discussion once a week:

  • Which objects do you find most interesting, and why?
  • What stirs your curiosity?
  • Do you know anything about this object? What interesting connections can you find between it and something else in the collection?

 

Make Science Social. At the beginning of the Charles and Emma, readers learn that Charles values the stimulating intellectual conversations of the day. Calpurnia also deeply enjoys the social aspect of science.  Help students experience this excitement with free-form, dorm-style, no-right-answer(-at-least-not-yet) science talks. Create a culture that encourages them to speculate, challenge each other, and use their imaginations to develop possible explanations for their questions.

Support Independent Bookstores - Visit IndieBound.orgSomething Rotten

Look Inside. Author Heather Montgomery (one of STEM Tuesday’s own!) may be the real-world’s answer to Calpurnia. Like Calpurnia and her brother Travis, Heather embodies both curiosity and a connection to the natural world. Help students follow in Calpurnia and Heather’s footsteps by offering dissection opportunities for your students; if not with animals, then with plants or gadgets.

Do Some Good! Look for a citizen science opportunity, such as this one (in Vermont), to share road kill sightings with scientists so they can study and help wildlife. Or think about organizing your own study of a small section of your community. Students might track road kill along their bus routes for a period of time. They might not be able to investigate the details from the bus window, but they could create maps of the routes and areas of relatively frequent road kill incidents.

Support Independent Bookstores - Visit IndieBound.orgPath to the Stars

Explore the Results of Rocket Science. On Page 289 of her autobiography, “rocket scientist” Sylvia Acevedo mentions two NASA projects she worked on. Visit NASA web pages to find out more about these missions. Solar Polar Solar Probe, now called the Parker Solar Probe, which launched this year, some 30 years after she worked on the project, and Voyager 2 Jupiter flyby. Check out the pictures of the results of these probes’ successful missions!

 

Support Independent Bookstores - Visit IndieBound.orgRadioactive!

Know the Alpha, Beta, and Gamma of Radioactivity. These resources can help kids grasp some of the book’s science content:

 

Bonus: Teacher Guides!

And, finally, for discussion ideas, as well as a few STEM-related activities, check out the teachers’ guides available for each book.

 

Drop Us a Line. As always, we at STEM Tuesday are eager to hear what you think of these ideas, how you use and adapt them, and how else STEM books have brought excitement to your classroom. Please leave a comment.

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