On Tuesday of this week, I had a second chance to have a training session with the STEM Ambassador's from the Worcester branch. It had been a while since the first one which happened in early November some time. And to be fair, that training session was really a networking session. Getting to know the other STEM ambassadors in the area as well as the volunteering opportunities that where available to us. However unlike most of the teachers and STEM ambassadors that came, I do most of my STEM activities as part of my job. Not like it isn't impressive when they chat about their activities. Because it's brilliant to hear them! I just feel I have an easier time with organising and running STEM activities due to the fact that I do it as a job now. Good too, I love doing them. But, I have to admit my slight excitement when I finally got my STEM badge on Tuesday.
But back to Tuesday. That event was themed about running a powerful practical within the classroom. The lady running it, Liz had lots of really basic things across the front desk. They were a mix of stuff from the normal craft ideas like paper, scissors, and tape. To more random objects such as raw spaghetti, sweets and cocktail sweets. In amongst these items, Liz had a variety of weights. Her idea for the training activity was to create something which has the principles of science, technology, engineering or maths whilst also being simple to recreate in the classroom. It was a very simple and great training session. But, due to a event I have coming up in January. I was ready to adapt the training idea towards a busking type event.
My first idea was to use the sweets and raw spaghetti to make a tower. This idea would be mixed with engineering and physics curriculum links. With the challenging aspect coming from a competition to place the largest weight on top. From my experiences of being in science clubs as a teenager and doing stands, competitions always work. Everyone wants to win. Therefore, they'll be more willing to learn as they go.
But, I wasn't the only one with this idea. A few people had that idea. So my mind went in a different path. My eyes landed on the rather large yet abandoned pile of A4 paper. No one was using it. Though I knew there were two very simple tasks that could be done by paper, scissors and tape. And one of them didn't even need the tape...
So I set about the task of getting through one single piece of A4 paper whilst the rest worked on their towers and bridges. Not to ruining the surprise for you, but the way to do it is on the left. The principles of this trick lies within mathematics. A topic I believe gets left behind when STEM gets mentioned.
Whilst I was cutting the pattern out from the paper, I thought about the links that this trick has with another paper idea which I knew. I believe I could set this task going with a group of students to get them to think about the idea that you can make a hoop out of paper. Then they might have a more opened mind in order to do the next activity - Paper helicopters.
The activity of paper helicopters is basically to make a paper structure which takes the longest time to fall from a given height. The students must understand the a paper scrunched into a ball will fall quickly. Whilst a piece of paper - completely untouched will slowly float down. They are both from the same sized paper yet now have different surface area. This activity could also be incorporated into a competition just like before. It will give the students more team working experience. Plus, the students could have a second attempt to beat their classmates. Or the team who won before gets another attempt to continue their winning streak.
Paper helicopters have multiple science links within one activity. There are physics links such as gravity, forces and chemistry links involving surface area. But, they are also biology links! We could use the paper helicopters to think about seeds such as sycamores and dandelions which have to travel far from the parent plant to grow.
I haven't completely worked out the logistics of the activity yet. But, with some more time and the planning booklet - helpfully given by Liz at the STEM Ambassadors training. It shouldn't be long before this idea has... wings.
But, my answer is to you. If you had just paper, scissors, tape, spaghetti, sweets and cocktail sticks... What would your activity be?
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| The shiny STEM Ambassador Badge. Now it has a permanent home on my work lanyard |
My first idea was to use the sweets and raw spaghetti to make a tower. This idea would be mixed with engineering and physics curriculum links. With the challenging aspect coming from a competition to place the largest weight on top. From my experiences of being in science clubs as a teenager and doing stands, competitions always work. Everyone wants to win. Therefore, they'll be more willing to learn as they go.
But, I wasn't the only one with this idea. A few people had that idea. So my mind went in a different path. My eyes landed on the rather large yet abandoned pile of A4 paper. No one was using it. Though I knew there were two very simple tasks that could be done by paper, scissors and tape. And one of them didn't even need the tape...
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| The 'Getting yourself through a piece of A4 paper' trick (Yes, I know catchy!) |
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| The A4 paper trick |
Whilst I was cutting the pattern out from the paper, I thought about the links that this trick has with another paper idea which I knew. I believe I could set this task going with a group of students to get them to think about the idea that you can make a hoop out of paper. Then they might have a more opened mind in order to do the next activity - Paper helicopters.
The activity of paper helicopters is basically to make a paper structure which takes the longest time to fall from a given height. The students must understand the a paper scrunched into a ball will fall quickly. Whilst a piece of paper - completely untouched will slowly float down. They are both from the same sized paper yet now have different surface area. This activity could also be incorporated into a competition just like before. It will give the students more team working experience. Plus, the students could have a second attempt to beat their classmates. Or the team who won before gets another attempt to continue their winning streak.
Paper helicopters have multiple science links within one activity. There are physics links such as gravity, forces and chemistry links involving surface area. But, they are also biology links! We could use the paper helicopters to think about seeds such as sycamores and dandelions which have to travel far from the parent plant to grow.
I haven't completely worked out the logistics of the activity yet. But, with some more time and the planning booklet - helpfully given by Liz at the STEM Ambassadors training. It shouldn't be long before this idea has... wings.
But, my answer is to you. If you had just paper, scissors, tape, spaghetti, sweets and cocktail sticks... What would your activity be?
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