Building on First Graders Knowledge of Light

First graders completed their science unit on investigations with light recently.  To build on their newly formed knowledge we did some of our own lessons about light in STEAM class.  These lessons were created by VEEP and dive deeper into the idea of solar energy and heat.  Students first worked on creating trees.  They investigated with light to investigate the differences between summer and winter trees in relation to light and heat.

Today Mrs. Peterson’s class worked as engineers to design and build structures that blocked the most light by creating the biggest shadow.  While working in pairs they were involved in:

collaboration – students worked with partners to design and build with each other making sure that each student’s voice was heard.

problem solving – in two instances I witnessed students tackling issues when another partner added a piece that didn’t fit such as adding paper walls or putting two parts made separately together.

communication – students had to constantly talk to one another throughout the entire engineering process.

Next week we will discuss the differences between structures and start to improve upon student’s initial designs to create buildings with larger shadows.

Sights of Integration

Over the past few weeks I’ve noticed and documented some examples of integration on the Unified Arts team.  Here are some photos to share what I’ve seen:

Mrs. Plumer teaching art using sunflower seeds and parts of a sunflower stations.  Students used vocabulary about plants and seeds that are also used while working in the garden and in lessons involving seeds in grades k and 1.

Ms. Willette using some of the aspects of scientific drawing (labeling) in a music class activity.

Flynn Garden News

For those of you who do not know yet, Flynn Elementary School has partnered with Arts Riot in Burlington for our garden maintenance and planting.  This summer we had an intern from UVM’s Rubenstein school making weekly visits to water, care for and harvest our produce.  Last week our intern, Carli, accompanied myself and Mrs. Pecor’s class to the garden to plant cover crops in our newly formed windrows.

Students planted a mixture of hairy vetch, white clover and annual ryegrass .  We then focused on using some  online safe researching skills to learn exactly why we plant cover crops and add compost to our gardens.

EPSCoR Scientists Visit JJ Flynn

Last week we had an exciting visit for some of our fifth graders and first graders!  Our visitors were scientists and a professor from St. Michael’s College that perform research for EPSCoR.  Currently, these folks are working on the effects on Lake Champlain due to climate change.  It long and short of it is, with climate change comes increased rain, thus causing more phosphorus and other materials to be washed into the lake via streams and rivers throughout Vermont which is causing  an increase in our algae blooms in Lake Champlain.   Cause and effect two times over!

EPSCoR taught fifth graders in Ms. D’Agostino’s class how to use microscopes properly and allowed them to view different macroinvertebrates collected from Vermont streams and rivers.   They taught us that they these insects can signal the health of the river or stream it was captured in.

First graders in Mrs. Noble’s class also received a visit from EPSCoR and learned the basics about what scientists do.  They compared water samples from Lake Champlain, observed macroinvertebrates and played games to learn about the day in the life of a scientist.

It was an engaging and well taught string of lessons.  We hope that they will visit us again!

Let’s Learn About Robotics

I feel so fortunate to have Lego WeDo Robotics for my STEAM students to use.  These beginner robotics sets are a huge hit and offer endless creative ways for students to design and build robots.  This week I began a robotics lesson with my fourth grade STEAM students.

Not that the kids need a “hook” to get interested in robotics. but I showed them this YouTube video anyways to see what they noticed and wondered about.

Here’s their comments:

“I noticed that these robots are either made for fun or to save people.”

“I wonder why one had all it’s wires covered and other had exposed wires?  Isn’t this dangerous since some of them save people and might have to go into water and risk it’s own life?”

“I wonder how they protect themselves?”

“How do they save people?”

“How are they being controlled?”

“I notice that some robots seem to be moving on batteries, some are moved by people and some by iPhones.”

We have many more classes to come where the students will grapple with and understand of the basics of robotics through their own creations and investigations.

What is Technology… Really?

At the beginning of the year, I find it helpful to go assess students’ understanding of what technology really is.  The main misconception both to students and adults is:

“Technology has to be electric or needs use electricity to use it.”

“Technology are things like iPads and iPhones.”

“In order for something to be technology, it must have a button in which you can turn it on and off.” (I especially love that one.  That was new this year.)

So in the true nature of delving into misconceptions and trying to steer students straight, we played “Tech in a Bag”.  In this game every student is given a “mystery bag” where an object that is technology is placed.  I did this lesson with second and third graders and I was happily surprised when a handful remembered a few key ideas about technology.  Those that did not, were shocked to find items such as, a pencil, sunglasses and erasers in their bag.  Classes worked together to solve the mystery as to why these items were technology by building understanding together.  Ask your student what technology is; my hope is they tell you that it is anything made by humans and serves a purpose or solves a problem.

STEM + Art = STEAM

We’ve made some changes to our STEM program!  In our second year of implementation, we’ve decided to add the arts to our mission to educate students about STEM.  Why did we make this choice?  It was due to the need for the arts and design in innovation in science and technology and the exclusivity that is felt within the art community when talking about STEM without any connections with the arts. So, in the true pursuit of being an inclusive, art appreciating school community, we have officially changed our STEM program to STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art and math).  Our initial approach to STEAM at Flynn is going to begin by integrating the concepts from STEAM class into our art and music classes.  We have begun collaborating on projects for September where connections can be seen in both art and music class.  If you are interested in reading more about STEAM and Rhode Island School of Design’s movement to bring the arts into STEM click here:  http://www.risd.edu/about/stem_to_steam/.  RISD is committed to their mission of educating the public about the role of the arts and design in our society.  You can read more about the role STEAM has in science and technology here as well: http://www.stemtosteam.org.

More exciting news!!

JJ Flynn Elementary has partnered with the Community Sailing Center and Shelburne Farms in order to design and write some of our science and STEAM lessons.  We are currently working with the Sailing Center on lessons focused around the Sailing Center’s mission of stewardship of Lake Champlain.  With Shelburne Farms we are designing lessons that are centered around geothermal design and renewables for fourth grade and a composting project in the garden space.  We are also working with St. Mike’s College and their EpScor department to teach STEAM students about dissecting microscopes.

Let the new discoveries begin!

How Does Light Behave with Materials?

Thanks to a grant from VEEP, I have been given an array of STEM-related lesson plans and resources for elementary school students. Using these plans, I will be working with our first graders to explore the concepts of light, heat, and energy.

First graders at Flynn are working (just like scientists!) to test materials for their reactions to light. They have been keeping data and holding “science meetings” to discuss their results. I was so impressed by their comments about how to reach consensus with data. In every class I had a student suggest retesting–what innate understanding about the nature of investigations!

 

Students were then asked to track shadow and light around winter and summer tree models and compare the differences. Students were engaged and took turns with “jobs” around this investigation.

NGSS’ new pedagogy of scientific learning is to encourage teachers to create a “Knowledge Building Culture” by having students “figure out” rather than “learning about”. These lessons are written with this goal in mind. Students engaged in investigations, used models, constructed explanations about light, sun and shade and communicated information. After the lesson, I asked students to tell me what they had figured out about light.

This is what they told me:

Light is bright, but does not go through all material.
The sun gives the Earth heat.
Some things like aluminum foil or the slide on the playground won’t let light go through it.

Shade is cooler because it is blocking the heat.
The sun is made of hot gas.
The sun is a star.
Trees can keep you cool.

I think they figured it out –

 

Rockets to the Rescue

When I first began researching ideas and resources to use in the development of this class, it was suggested to me that I reach out to Rose Garritano. Ms. Garritano works at UVM and leads a 4-H club extension. 4-H is an after school program that takes place in communities across the country. The goal of the program is to promote positive motivation, community building, and community interaction–all through the lens of science and STEM-based projects. Ms. Garritano graciously loaned me the materials to lead a five-week lesson on WTDs (transportation devices) with Mr. Brown’s 4th grade class.

We began the lesson by setting the scene: a natural disaster occurred on a remote island. All travel to this island nation was prohibited due to the devastation that occurred. The only way to provide food and supplies to the communities on the island was via rockets. Students had to work in groups of two to design, build, and test their rockets. They then had to design a way to carry “food” (raisins) on their rocket.

In the culminating activity, I asked students to keep data on the distance each rocket could travel and the angle at which each rocket was launched.

After the fourth graders recorded three rounds of data, visiting high school students from Big Picture in South Burlington set up a target (the island). Using the data they had collected, the fourth graders aimed their rockets!

This lesson was a perfect real world example of how engineering, math, science, and technology build on each other to support problem solving. The kids were engaged and worked well together. No one hit the target, but many were close. If given more time to keep testing their rockets, I’m sure more than one group would be successful.

Coding is Part of Finland’s Math Curriculum

I read this interesting article recently and wanted to share. It’s interesting to see how computer programming and coding instrutction is impacting all K-12 schools worldwide. Read below:

http://www.sitra.fi/en/artikkelit/well-being/future-will-be-built-those-who-know-how-code