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Project based learning activity: plan a community for the homeless

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PROJECT BASED LEARNING: PLAN A COMMUNITY FOR THE HOMELESS Students are going to establish a community for the homeless. After researching the different causes and effects of homelessness, they will plan the community with services and activities. This PBL unit focuses on a real-world problem, while...

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Be creative and help people with engineering at DESIGN SQUAD GLOBAL. Watch videos, play games, try activities, and share designs with the community.

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STEAM Team. 27 likes. STEAM Team is rocking Lake School!!!!!

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I love days like today -- everyone across the globe can celebrate together regardless of their location, religion or beliefs -- because we all love the planet we live on :)

We've already shared a great list of eco-friendly books & websites for kids and also have some easy ideas on how to involved kids in 'going green' at home so I wanted to share something different today.

Since celebrations like Earth Day are about protecting nature, oceans, clean air and all the other great stuff we sometimes take for granted, it's important to help our children find hands-on ways to experience what is happening to the world around us.
One of the best ways to offer kids real life opportunities is through Citizen Science Projects where they can learn firsthand what is happening in the world!
I know that the name 'citizen scientist' can sound kind of, well, super research-y but it's really not -- there are hundreds of great projects that any of us can be involved with no matter what our age or background.

And today, I'm going to introduce you to a dozen family-friendly projects that you can do at home or in your own backyard while teaching the kids about nature, the environment and a little bit of science too!

The true definition of a citizen scientist project is one where everyday citizens help to collect and/or analyze data for an active science study or research opportunity.

Getting involved is easy -- each of the websites we're featuring today has an online submission form or an app where you can upload observations from your phone.

And there's so many great learning opportunities for kids as they get involved in REAL LIFE science work!

Some projects are seasonal while others take place year-round. Some projects are very location-specific while others collect data across the globe.

And there are literally hundreds of projects happening right now!

SciStarter

You'll find a HUGE database of hands-on science projects where you can search by type of activity and location. Many of the projects can be done near you but some are focused on specific cities and countries around the world.

This site has some wonderful projects that actually ask participants to go out and collect data from observations they make in their hometown.

A few that peaked our interest: Test Vitamin C in your Food and a handful of Tree Mapping projects.

The Learn what Pets Can Do is a great one for families that have a cat or dog.

What Kids Learn: How data can vary depending on where you live! For example, the tree mapping project will show which trees are native to various areas of the world.

Zooniverse

Zooniverse is another wonderful place to find a TONS of citizen science opportunities. Many of these focus on the topics of space, climate and nature.

Space: Families can help classify galaxies using images from the Hubble Telescope that are shared at Galaxy Zoo.

Nature: Learn about the lives of penguins by helping scientists to mark eggs and keep a watch on nests.

Nature: Identify wildlife showing up on hidden cameras in urban Chicago.

There are also great projects in the areas of biology & physics. This site is great for families -- younger kids will really enjoy the animals projects while tweens & teens will enjoy some of the more challenging projects.

What Kids Learn: That a picture is worth a 1,000 words! Quite a few of these projects involve analyzing pictures of animals in the wild and celestial bodies.

Journey North

Journey North has been asking people to help with citizen science projects for years! They are famous for tracking migration patterns of birds, butterflies, whales and other animals.

There are two things I really like about this site & it's projects: first, they offer live maps of migrations during each season and second, they have multiple opportunities to get involved with each animal. For example, the Monarch Migration projects include: seeing the first Monarch, measuring milkweed and spotting eggs & larva. They also have apps you can download for some of the projects.

A few key projects that the kids will enjoy include tracking Monarch Butterflies throughout the year and spotting Earthworms as they start to emerge. If you live near the ocean, you might also enjoy being involved in the Whale Migration Tracking. Most of the projects are focused on North America.

What Kids Learn: Migration routes are very important to many animals and having spotters along the way help scientists to keep track of the health of the animal populations.

NWF's Wildlife Watch

This is one that ANYONE can do because it's so broad and open! The National Wildlife Federation's Wildlife Watch asks citizens to snap a photo of any wild animal they see in their area and then upload the picture to their website.

In addition to animals, you can also share photos of plants, trees and any natural phenomenoa that you happen to see.

Once you choose your state from the drop-down menu, you can print a wildlife checklist to see which animals and birds are common to your area. Then just grab your cell phone, head to the park or your own backyard and snap a pic!

The site also shares data of which plants, animals and trees are shared for your area.

What Kids Learn: By observing their environment, kids will be more likely to notice how close we live to so many wild animals and plants -- we all share the same 'home' so to speak!

Globe at Night

I really love the amount of learning that happens with the Globe at Night project! Each month of the year, the project website asks participants to look for a specific constellation in the night sky and report which stars are the brightest in that constellation. They even offer a print-out that you can take with you as you peek at the stars.

Here's where the extended learning comes in -- constellations can be viewed from so many places so if you live in the city, go stargazing one night and report what you see. THEN, take a drive out of the city or head to a park where there are no overhead lights and look at the same constellation again a few nights later. How many more stars are visible?

What Kids Learn: Light pollution is a complex term for many kids but one that's made so understandable with this project. Kids can see first-hand how the light around us can affect our night vision.

NASA S'cool

Kids of all ages will love getting involved with NASA's citizen science program -- Cloud Watching! Participants in this program are called Rovers and they collect data on the type of clouds observed, their height and other related information.

All you need to do is head out to go cloud-watching for the day!

Information is used to help verify satellite data and complete atmosphere observations in areas where satellites aren't able to view.

The NASA S'cool website will walk you though how to become a data collector.

What Kids Learn: How clouds can tell us more about the weather and the Earth's atmosphere.

Celebrate Earth Month with Us

We're celebrating Earth Month with many of our blogger friends!

You can find 100's of eco-friendly ideas for families on the main page of the Guide to Natural Parenting & Earth Month on the Alternative Learning blog!

PLUS be sure to enter the outstanding Earth Day Giveaways to win some super prizes too!

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how can kids get involved in real science experiments

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12 Amazing Citizen Scientist Projects for Kids

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I love days like today -- everyone across the globe can celebrate together regardless of their location, religion or beliefs -- because we all love the planet we live on :) We've already shared a great list of eco-friendly books & websites for kids and also have some easy ideas on how to involved kids in 'going green' at home so I wanted to share something different today.

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Stop-Motion Animation - sounds scary, doesn't it? Sounds like something that kids {or their teachers!} could never do! Well, do I have good news for you! It is SO easy and you totally need to start using it in your classroom!

A few months ago, I traveled to the French Lick Teacher Retreat that Holly Ehle put together. It was not only fun to catch up with my friends from around the country, but also an eye-opening experience for a few new teacher tools! I totally admit that I'm a tech nerd and I love to add any new

I totally admit that I'm a tech nerd and I love to add any new gadgets and gizmos to my classroom that I can get my hands on! The amazing people from HUE Animation sent me their Animation Studio to try out with my kiddos.

When I saw the little box that it comes in, I'll admit that I was a lil' bit skeptical! How does something so tiny {and relatively inexpensive!} do the cool things it promises? Well, I promise you - the HUE Animation Studio does not disappoint! All you need is a computer with a USB drive and a whole log of imagination!

As soon as the box arrived, of course, I had to start playing! In about 3 minutes, I made this fun little video! I sent it to JB {who no doubt rolled his eyes at how I was spending a Friday night before he got home from work!}

The next test was to bring it into the classroom! Here's what I did: I set up the document camera and told the kids the basic concept of stop-motion animation. I then let them get into groups and decide what they would do.

During the creation of the first video, I snapped the pictures {simply pressed the button on the mouse!} Seeing how easy it was, students started begging me if they could do it! I stepped away from the computer and they got to work.

Now, I know this video is upside down, but I thought it was a fun idea! And at the time, we didn't know how to switch the setting on the computer 🙂

Ideas on this first day of "playing" ranged from pulling out the pattern blocks and building monsters to using solid shapes and creating a town! Or to just simply draw a little scene, like the rainbow above!

A few weeks later, I pulled the camera out again and encouraged the kids to come up with ways to showcase our classroom learning. I left the camera and the computer on a table in my classroom where the students had access to the HUE Animation Studio.

During Daily 5 time, one boy created a stop-motion animation video for silly sentences he made using a tub of word tiles.

He was so excited about his first video...that he wanted to make a second stop-motion animation!

It makes my teacher heart happy that he even remembered to use a period!

But, I think my favorite stop-motion animation video came from a group of kiddos who wanted to share what they learned about the parts of a plant {and how it grows!} Isn't this so cute?!

Stop-motion animation is totally do-able with your first graders...especially in the Springtime! Add the HUE Animation Studio to your back to school wishlist.

Leave a comment with an idea you have for usingstop-motion animation in your classroom!
I can't wait to see what else my kiddos dream up!

Slainte!
This post contains affiliate links for Amazon. By purchasing an item on the Amazon site using these links, I will receive a small commission on your purchase. For more information about my Disclosure Policy, please visit this link.

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Stop-Motion Animation - sounds scary, doesn't it? Sounds like something that kids {or their teachers!} could never do! Well, do I have good news for you! It is SO easy and you totally need to start using it in your classroom! A few months ago, I traveled to the French Lick Teacher Retreat that Holly Ehle put together.

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What's an Engineer? Crash Course Kids #12.1

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Okay, so technically this is not a robot. It doesn't have any sensors. It doesn't have a controller or computer chip. It isn't responding directly to external stimuli. But, hey, you have to start somewhere and my kindergartener definitely thought our homemade wigglebot was cool. He was so excited by our wiggly, spinning, little motorized guy that he's already making big plans for our next "robot", which he says will have arms. (I had to explain to him that, unfortunately, I did NOT know how to make microbots like in Big Hero 6, but he was impressed enough by my skills that he didn't immediately assume they were off the table.)

The idea for this bot came from the book Robotics: Discover the Science and Technology of the Future. The specific project that motivated this activity was the Art-Making Vibrobot on pages 24 to 26, though I modified the supplies considerably and the technique slightly. Basically, this little "robot" is just a cup with marker legs that vibrates and spins due to the motor being off balance. As it jiggles around on a piece of paper it makes interesting designs. While I hope to make more exciting and complicated projects with my kids as they get older, this was a nice unthreatening activity to start with which showed my child how to hook up a simple DC motor to a battery. He's already familiar with some of these electrical concepts through our Snap Circuits set (link to my review), but this was a fun, hands-on supplement to the more structured activities in that set.

Check out this video if you would like to see a demonstration of how one of our wigglebots moved, though they each have their own unique personality depending on the length and position of the legs.

Recommended Age Range: Kindergarten, Elementary, Middle School (younger kids will need adult supervision and assistance since this project uses hot glue)
Time Required: ~30 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
Cost: Less than $8 in used supplies (The motor was $3.50 and the battery holder was $1.50 at Radio Shack (our local electronics store). Everything else we already had on hand.)

Materials:

Disposable cup

Electrical tape

3 Markers

2 "AAA" battery holder (affiliate link)

2 "AAA" batteries

1.5-3 V DC Motor (affiliate link)

Clothespin

Popsicle stick

Googly eyes (optional, you could always just draw them on)

Supplies & Tools:

Scissors

Permanent marker (to draw face, not shown)

Glue (optional, for attaching googly eyes. Note that the picture shows Elmer's Glue, but we ended up finding the hot glue gun worked better.)

Instructions:
1. First, tape the markers into the cup as legs.

2. Next, attach the battery pack to the DC motor by wrapping the wire around the leads on the motor. (When my kids are older, I'll teach them how to solder, but for now, this is sufficient.)

3. Now that the battery pack is attached to the motor, tape the battery pack onto the top of the disposable cup slightly off-center. I cut the strips of electrical tape in half.

4. Next, tape the DC motor onto the cup.

5. At this point you could turn on the motor by placing the batteries into the holder, to see that with the motor not off balance, nothing exciting happens. Next, add on the clothespin to the motor and it should start to wiggle a little bit.

6. To make the wigglebot wiggle more, you need the motor to be more off-balance. I accomplished this by taping a popsicle stick to the clothespin. However, then my clothespin would frequently fall off of the motor due to the strong vibrations, so I folded the end of a long narrow piece of electrical tape over the motor and then wrapped the tape around the motor so that the sticky side was facing out.

7. Attach the clothespin and weight to the motor.

8. Make a face on your wigglebot, plug in the batteries, place it on a piece of paper and watch it wiggle and spin!

Note that unlike a prepackaged robotics kit which provides very specific instructions, this can be viewed as an open-ended activity. While the "tape fix" to get the clothespin to stick to the motor worked, one could definitely try to think of improvements to be able to cantilever more weight off the axle in order to make the wigglebot vibrate even more. The robotics book mentioned above recommends sticking a piece of cork into the shaft. There are also other adjustments that could be made and you should definitely encourage your child to ask questions and try to find solutions. What would happen if the legs were not all the same length? What if we attached the motor at an angle or sideways? What if we taped on more legs? I don't know. What if?

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Click here for more Robotics activities for kids.

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Full, step-by-step, picture tutorial for making an easy, fun, drawing robot. A great first robotics projects for kids of all ages.

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I've loved roller coasters for as long as I can remember. One of my first experiences was on a rickety, old wooden roller coaster at a now-defunct amusement park called Joyland. I loved it...and have ridden many bigger (and scarier) coasters since that day.

My daughters are not quite as excited about roller coasters as I am, but my two younger girls attended a "Roller Coaster" day camp last week. It sparked a new curiosity in them as they watched several videos, read books, and completed some awesome roller coaster projects! One of the projects was definitely a hit with them, and I thought I'd share this paper plate roller coaster idea with you. It's quite inexpensive, but it really gets the creative juices flowing.
Supplies:

Paper plates

Scissors

Cardboard for a base

Tape (painter's tape works well)

Paper towel rolls (optional)

Toilet paper rolls

Marble or small rubber ball

1) Brainstorm ideas for how to cut and utilize paper plates to make the roller coaster. For example, your child might cut out the center and use the edges to make various loops and tracks.

2) Use toilet paper rolls to add height to various parts of the roller coaster and tape the paper plate track onto them. Your child may also want to use the tp rolls to make tunnels in the roller coaster.

3) Test out the creation by sending a marble or small ball down the track!

4) Repeat, repeat, repeat! Experiment with various ways to make loops, twists, and more in your roller coaster.
More Roller Coaster Project Ideas:
Amusement Park Physics: Build your own Roller Coaster virtually

How to Draw a Roller Coaster in One Point Perspective (YouTube)

Teach Engineering: A free lesson for grades 7-12 on the physics of roller coasters

Another YouTube lesson on drawing a roller coaster (simple one done by kids)

NASA: Amusement Park Physics with a NASA Twist PDF (5th-9th grade)

Roller Coaster Science book: "Adventurous young learners will lose their marbles when they spend an afternoon with this fun set, all while learning some fascinating science along the way! Using a ball or marble and a small-scale ramp, children are introduced to amazing principles of physics like gravity, momentum, velocity, acceleration, friction, and centripetal force. A unique kit that introduce budding scientists to the fields of physics and engineering, Scientriffic: Roller Coaster Science challenges children to think about scientific principles as they ride on real roller coasters."

Of course, the best ending to a unit study on roller coasters would be a trip to an amusement park to test a few out! I'm not sure I can convince the girls though.... 🙂
Do you have any fun roller coaster project ideas?

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Roller Coaster Paper Plate & Toilet Paper Roll Project

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I've loved roller coasters for as long as I can remember. One of my first experiences was on a rickety, old wooden roller coaster at a now-defunct amusement park called Joyland. I loved it...and have ridden many bigger (and scarier) coasters since that day.

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As we continue our journey through Apologia Anatomy & Physiology, I have found lots of cool projects to keep us busy and to reinforce the lessons we are learning.

From my review of Supercharged Science in Spring of 2013, I remembered seeing a lesson with this project, and thought it would align perfectly with the unit that was studying all the muscles and tendons.

From this project, we learned that hands function because of the way the tendons are aligned. We found the tendon in our wrist that, when pressed, causes the fingers to twitch and curl. It is pretty amazing to study the handiwork of God and realize all that a hand is capable of performing.

We went to the Supercharged Science website and watched the lesson on how to build the robotic hand:

Then we gathered our supplies:

Supplies include:

cardboard

scissors

utility knife

bendable straws

string or yarn

thick rubber bands

hot glue gun and glue sticks

pencil

We traced an adult sized hand on cardboard and carefully cut it out:

We glued the bendable straws on each finger, so that the bendy part was on the hand and the long part of the straw was on the fingers. We trimmed the edges of the straw to align with the edge of the fingers.﻿

We took our pencil and marked on the fingers of the cardboard hand the location of the joints and knuckles from the real-life hand. Then we took the utility knife and carefully scored the back side of the hand on those lines, so that the fingers would curl and bend properly.

Using our pencil marks as a guide, we carefully sliced a section of the straw off (at 45 degree angles) where the joints are located. This helps the 'fingers' to bend properly as well.﻿

When we are done with all the joint cuts, it looks like this:

We took string and ran it through each straw, leaving a long tail out both the top and bottom of the straw. We cut the rubber bands so that ﻿they would be a long strip instead of a circle. At the top of each finger, we tied the string and rubber band ends together in a small knot.

Turning the hand over, and with fingers straightened out and laid flat, we hot glued the loose ends of the rubber band down to the back of the hand. The glue should only be right at the end of the rubber band. The rest of it needs to stay loose so that it can freely move and guide the fingers. The rubber bands help the fingers to return to their natural state after being curled up. ﻿

Once the hand was completed, we had lots of opportunity to 'play' with it and see how the tendons in a hand function, by pulling downward on the strings.

One of the favorite things to do with the hand was to make sign language letters and spell out words and phrases....or to say "I love you"!

This was a great project and we were very happy with the outcome. Everyone who has seen it is fascinated by it, and it clearly demonstrates the movements of a hand. I highly recommend this project!

Copyright 2012-2013 - "Be The One" - www.aclassofone.blogspot.com All rights are reserved. No text, photos, or content may be reproduced without direct permission from the author.

This post is linked with Apologia's Homeschool Science Share & Tell

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Apologia Anatomy & Physiology Unit Three: Build A Model Robotic Hand

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As we continue our journey through Apologia Anatomy & Physiology, I have found lots of cool projects to keep us busy and to reinforce the lessons we are learning. From my review of Supercharged Science in Spring of 2013, I remembered seeing a lesson with this project, and thought it would align perfectly with the unit that was studying all the muscles and tendons.

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In our teaching programs, we all learned about the different sides of the brain and different learning types. But with the recession, many schools lost the programs that helped reach all learning types - especially art. Art is more than just creating beautiful pieces, many of the great master painters used math concepts to make their pieces even more appealing. Art helps other subjects come alive!

So how can we integrate math into art for our students? Here's over 15 resources for covering both math and art concepts in a lesson! You can find even more on my Math in Art pinterest board.

How to make an orderly tangle of triangles - great for a geometry class!

Teach bar graphing skills (and even pi!) with this city skyline activity.

Paint with compasses! Great for introducing this tool to younger students.

Teach symmetry with this self-portrait activity.

Tessellations have always been popular STEAM activities - here's one for fish, there's plenty more online for all grade levels!

This activity can help students struggling with the Pythagorean Theorem grasp the concept while making this piece of art!

These geometric stars can also be used for tracking New Year's Resolutions!

Kids are always impressed with mobius strips!

Help students with learn their multiplication table with this art activity!

These kaleidoscope blocks are fun to make, and teach many different concepts while the students create them!

Your students will be impressed with themselves when they make these optical illusions!

For students new to geometry, a protractor can be a bit daunting. Help them learn to use the tool while creating fun pieces of artwork!

These colorful polyhedrons teach important problem solving skills during their construction, and they make great classroom decorations!

The golden ratio is one of those amazing concepts that covers almost all the areas of STEAM! The mathematical concept can be found in many famous pieces of artwork. This page has several resources for teaching it.

Teach the concept of seamless patterns and your students won't want to stop coming up with new creations!
Follow Smith Curriculum and Consulting's board Math In Art on Pinterest.
There's even more Math in Art STEAM projects on my Pinterest board! What Math in Art projects have you used in the classroom? Did it help you reach more struggling students? I want to know!

Pin for later:

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In our teaching programs, we all learned about the different sides of the brain and different learning types. But with the recession, many schools lost the programs that helped reach all learning types - especially art. Art is more than just creating beautiful pieces, many of the great master painters used math concepts to make their pieces even more appealing.

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"Do you think you can fit through this index card?" My daughter looked at me like I was crazy as I asked her this question and held up a 3×5 index card. She emphatically answered no, and was very curious when I told her that I could show her how she could very easily fit through an index card. What followed was one our favorite science experiments for kids as we learned how to make an index card chain. With this science experiment, kids will learn about how physical objects change. As a bonus, kids will be working on following directions and honing their fine motor skills as they practice cutting the index card chain. For more kid friendly science check out Simple Science for Preschoolers.

I vaguely remember my mother-in-law showing me this trick during her Christmas visit, but I couldn't remember quite how she did it, so this required some trial and error on my part. I think the lesson here is always pay attention to your mother-in-law.

Science Experiments for Kids

Materials needed:

Fold the index card in half lengthwise. Make two cuts, one on each end, starting from the folded edge. Don't cut all the way up to the top. Make sure to leave some at the edges still intact.

Next, make alternating cuts, spacing each around 1/8 to 1/4 inch apart. For example, for the second cut you would turn the paper over and cut from the non-folded side down to the fold. Then turn over again and cut from the folded side to the non-folded side. Go back and forth like this until you have reached the last cut that you originally made. Remember to not cut all the way to the end or the chain will fall apart.

Next, you will slide the scissor into the "loops" that you have made on the folded side. You will not be cutting the first or last loop so leave those out.

Honestly, the best way to do this is to try it over and over until you get it right.

When you open up the index card it should look like this. You can see that everything has been cut apart except for the two ends.

Carefully stretch it apart to get this chain.

Once my kids saw me make the chain they were excited to try it out for themselves. My 6 and 7 year old were able to do this, but it will depend on how much scissor experience your child has.

Making these small cuts and not cutting all the way to the end requires a great deal of fine motor control so this is a great exercise for little hands.

Look how big that one index card gets!

Big enough to step into and wear as a belt!

This is one of our favorite science experiments for kids because we really got to see how one small card when cut in a certain way can change and become an super long index card chain. As an added activity, kids can decorate these chains with markers and wear them as necklaces.

For more science experiments for kids check out:
Making Pennies Green Magnet Exploration
If you are looking for more fun activities for kids, check out Green Kid Crafts, an earth friendly monthly craft subscription box for kids that sparks creativity while teaching kids a respect and love for the environment. These boxes are themed and each month will be filled with fun projects and creative activities than can be enjoyed by kids from ages 3-10.
Since Green Kid Crafts is an earth friendly company, they use sustainable, safe materials in all of their products. They also give a portion from each sale to environmental non-profits. Learn more about a monthly subscription of fun!

Want more Mess?

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Science Experiments for Kids - Index Card Chain - Mess for Less

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"Do you think you can fit through this index card?" My daughter looked at me like I was crazy as I asked her this question and held up a 3×5 index card. She emphatically answered no, and was very curious when I told her that I could show her how she could very easily fit through an index card.

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Real-World Engineering Challenges - K-12 Technology

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Weekly challenges, videos, and activities from PBS Kids' Design Squad Global encourage students to solve real-world engineering problems on a global scale. Professional engineers offer advice and inspire kids to explore engineering. Design Squad Global Clubs connect kids ages 10-13 for 6-12 week out-of-school programs.