Thursday, November 20, 2014

Engineering Design Challenge: Straw Structures #1

Hello Friends!

I thought that I would share with you another fun design challenge that my 7th and 8th graders had a lot of fun with...straw structures. I found this challenge on Jonathan Claydon's webpage: Infinite Sums. He has listed several versions for students to attempt. I just stuck with one due to time constraints, but if you're looking to extend the activity that I'm sharing with you, go visit that page and see what else there is to offer. 

The Challenge:

How can a straw structure be made to support a tennis ball 12 inches off the table top for 15 seconds?

Materials:

  • 25 straws (I used the kind purchased in bulk at Costco)
  • 1.8 meters of masking tape (it's the length of the tables that students sit at)

Constraints:
  • You may use the paper from the straws as part of your design.
  • You may cut or fold or bend the straws to meet your design needs.
  • You will have 25 minutes to complete this challenge.
Here are some of the designs that students came up with...

Photo by Bethany Ligon (2014)

Photo by Bethany Ligon (2014)

Photo by Bethany Ligon (2014)

 Teacher Tips:

  • Students working in pairs or trios is best.
  • If students ask for additional supplies, I suggest that they barter with another group - for example, one group might trade some tape for straws.
  • If you plan on giving your students a grade for this activity - here's how I did it:
    • Making an honest attempt = 7.5 points
    • Structure holds the ball 8-9.9 inches off the table top = 8.5 points
    • Structure hold the ball 10 inches or more off the table top = 10 points
  • And because my grading policy allows for redos, if students are not able to succeed in the allotted time, they may come in on their own time and complete the challenge again.

Things to think about:
  • How might the level of difficulty be adjusted by providing the "bendy" straws instead? 
  • What might you do differently to meet the needs of your students? 
  • How could you tie this activity into a science concept that you are teaching? 

Thanks for reading!
Be OutStanding!
-bethany 




Saturday, November 15, 2014

Design Challenge: Pipe Cleaner Structures

I promise to post the Why and How of Engineering Design Challenges in the near future, but for now I hope that you'll be satisfied with finding out more about this activity. 

I found inspiration for Pipe Cleaner Structures from a NSTA (National Science Teachers Association) Learning Center website. I'm sorry, but you have to have membership to the association in order to access what I found. In lieu of that, I will give you the same information that I gave my students as well some teacher tips. 

The Challenge:
How can pipe cleaners be used to build a structure that will support a cup with 50 pennies 5 inches off the table top? 

Materials:
  • 10 pipe cleaners
  • Small paper cup
  • 50 pennies
  • Ruler
Constraints:
  • The structure may not be taped down to the table.
  • You may cut or fold the pipe cleaners anyway you wish. You will not receive any additional supplies.
  • It is recommended that the structure begins holding an empty cup more than 5 inches off the table top because it may sink as pennies are added.
  • You will have 25 minutes to construct, test and submit your design. 
Here are some of the designs that students came up with...
Photo by Bethany Ligon (2014)
Photo by Bethany Ligon (2014)
Photo by Bethany Ligon (2014)
Photo by Bethany Ligon (2014)
  Teacher Tips:
  • Students working in pairs or trios is best.
  • If students ask for additional supplies, I suggest that they barter with another group - although in this activity there isn't much to barter with...
  • If you plan on giving your students a grade for this activity - here's how I did it:
    • Making an honest attempt = 6 points
    • Cup holds 20 pennies = 7 points
    • Cup holds 30 pennies = 8 points
    • Cup holds 40 pennies = 9 points
    • Cup holds 50 pennies = 10 points
    • If the cup sinks below 5 inches deduct 2 points
  • And because my grading policy allows for redos, if students are not able to succeed in the allotted time, they may come in on their own time and complete the challenge again.
Things to think about:

This activity was designed for 7th and 8th graders. How might you alter it for younger or older students?

Thanks for reading!
Be OutStanding!
-bethany 

Monday, November 10, 2014

Using Talking Pictures

Howdy!
I ran across a post from A Turn to Learn: How to Make Any Picture "Talk!"  using the application Blabberize. I thought her directions were terrifically simple and it got me thinking as to how I might incorporate this into my instruction. I already show a YouTube video when students are learning about animal niches (Reginald the Red Wolf). It cracks the class up and I have been known to play it randomly just because we need a good laugh. From a teacher perspective I was always curious as to how this video was created. Well, now I know!
So back to thinking about using this application in classroom instruction...
As the teacher I could use this...
  1. To reinforce a simple content related concept
  2. To give directions to complete a task
Students could also use this application to explain what they know about...
  1. The rules of a sport by being a sportscaster and calling out the plays of a game
  2. Proper pronunciation of a foreign language
  3. The societal impact of a piece of music or art
  4. Following mathematical procedures in solving a problem
  5. Identifying the main idea with contextual evidence in a longer reading passage
  6. The influence of a certain individual or group during a particular time in history
  7. The results of a scientific investigation and begin to construct explanations for what was observed
And just so you know...the application does require you to have an account in order to save your work (at least that's what worked for me). If you're thinking you might want to use this with the students in your classroom, you will have to determine if it'll work best for each student to make their own account or if you are just going to have them record on your device with your account.
So let me know how it goes if you choose to use this.

I'm also curious to know what other applications might be like this that you've used before. I know of Voki...are there others that are classroom friendly?

How have you used this or similar tools in your own instruction? How would you rate the effectiveness?

Thanks for reading!
Be OutStanding!
-bethany

this is my first post

Not an exciting post title, I know. But I didn't want to just jump into posting something random. After all, this is where I'll leave my mark - or something like that.

So here's the deal. I know that I should have been blogging for several years now, and I've tried. I've tried a personal blog. I've tried a classroom blog. And both took more time than I had at the moment. So why try again now? Especially when time is even more valuable and jammed packed with other commitments? Well, for starters, I've had a few individuals request that I share some of the things that I do in my 7th and 8th grade science classroom. And because I'm a big, huge people-pleaser. So I am willing to give it a go.

I'll do my best to keep this space current. But if you don't hear from me in a while, it's most likely because I'm attempting to sort through this...

So wish me luck. And thanks for reading along.
-bethany