Who knew playing with straws could be so fun? Straw bridges are a great whole class activity that also sharpens students' STEM skills!
Bridge building science project: Compare the strength of a beam bridge design and a simple suspension bridge design.
Popsicle Stick Icosahedron: What is an Icosahedron? "In geometry, an icosahedron is a regular polyhedron with 20 identical equilateral triangular faces, 30 edges and 12 vertices. It is one of the five Platonic solids." - Wikipedia http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/common…
Test your engineering skills with this easy gumdrop bridge STEM challenge. Gumdrops and toothpicks are great fun for bridge building.
Follow easy directions to build a popsicle stick or soda straw bridge and discover how much weight the bridge can bear before breaking.
We have been really focusing on finding evidence and supporting our answers during our reading of Bridge to Terabithia . Our discussions, though very lively and thought provoking, have been lacking the "back up" of the book. The students seem to know what they want to say, and are sticking with the plot of the book, but actually going back into the book and finding where they came up with the answer is a bit tricky. So this past week we did something that really got the kids digging into the book and looking at their evidence. I think it was pretty successful, so I thought I would share with you. I gave the students four questions to answer about the chapter (if you are reading Bridge, it was questions dealing with chapter 7) Then, in groups, I asked them to answer the questions, citing at least three different references from the book. I actually did ask them to quote the story and this is what I got. You can see, some really understood the direct quote while others....not so much. And even though some groups really didn't find direct quotes, they were actually looking throughout the book to find where they knew the answer from. Because of this, answering (and subsequently proving the answers) too a LONG time. The next day I gathered all of the answers and put them on poster boards so that for each question all 5 group answers, with all of the evidence, were in one place. The students then got into 4 groups (one per question) and looked at the answers with evidence. What they noticed was that the answers were similar, but the evidence...not so much. They then made this chart categorizing the evidence. They had to decide if it was a direct quote, a paraphrase, or just something that came from someone's head (and inference or recall.) The students really enjoyed doing this. Looking back in the book to decide what type of evidence it was really got them discussing and thinking. They were talking about which was better and why! I overheard a lot of discussion about how some of the evidence really didn't support the answer and how others did. They were dissecting it and really getting the meat of the story. Whatsmore, when we were all done during our class discussion they could really see that the type of evidence that was easier to get really depended upon the question being asked as well! It was fabulous. Then, I asked them to reflect upon which type of evidence they thought was most valuable and why. So eyeopening, for them and for me! What is something you have done to get your students to dig into a book and look for evidence?
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I decided to take on my own challenge of incorporating a STEM activity every day for a week. It turned out to be a huge success where both my students and I had a blast. Here were the various …
Learn what plants breathe through with this easy leaf & tree science experiment as kids get hands-on with the process of photosynthesis!
Test your engineering skills with this easy gumdrop bridge STEM challenge. Gumdrops and toothpicks are great fun for bridge building.
Find out how a fish is able to stay buoyant with the help of its swim bladder in this fun activity!
Popsicle Stick Bridge: The popsicle stick bridge is a classic science demonstration and competition. Every year many students world-wide build bridges made soley from popsicle sticks and glue, to see which designs can hold the most weight.We built one, using maybe 140 sti…
The present volume is part of the 'Worldviews, Science and Us' series of proceedings. It contains selected contributions on the subject of bridging knowledge and its implications for our perspectives of the world. This volume also represents the proceedings of the interdisciplinary stream of the international workshop (Part 1) Times of Entanglement, 21-22 September 2010 at the Minsheng Art Museum in Shanghai, People's Republic of China in the context of the Shanghai World Expo 2010 and, related cutting-edge investigations in the quantum paradigm from discussion panels organized by the Leo Apostel Center for Interdisciplinary studies within the framework of the 'Research on the Construction of Integrating Worldviews' research community set up by the Flanders Fund for Scientific Research. Further information about this research community and a full list of the associated international research centers can be found at www.vub.ac.be/CLEA/res/worldviews/.
Stay connected to family and friends by sharing the LittleThings that spark joy.
Show your child how to construct a homemade thermometer. It's hands-on fun and a great way to learn about this important instrument!
Why do so many bridges look alike? Explore these and other questions while working together to build your own bridge out of toothpicks and mini marshmallows! Challenge yourselves to make the tallest, longest, widest, or strongest bridge. Become an engineer and design your bridge before you start building it. Perform multiple tests and improve your design. Just be sure not to eat all of your marshmallows before you’re done!
Add some fun to your homeschool science curriculum with this free chemistry game! Click "Read More" to see the directions.
Newton's Laws and easy in the same sentence? Maybe not, but trust me I have some resources that will do just that! But first, how do you display your classroom agenda? I have an easel right outside my door that lists what each grade level is doing and recently it said. "It's Newton Week!" The
Build a geodesic dome using gumdrops and toothpick and see how strong it is.
Engineers have worked over the years to develop better, stronger bridges that can hold up enormous amounts of weight. Students can learn about bridges, and differences in strength among the types of bridges, by building their own out of straws. Whether the bridge is for an experiment or a model, straw bridges work ...
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Science activity: build a simple brushbot robot
10 free STEM activities you can do with empty cardboard tubes from toilet paper or paper towel tubes.
Milwaukee is home to many different bridges which help us get to and from places both in and out of the city. Examine how forces, geometry, and materials play a […]
After years of STEM activities, including towers, bridges, race cars, and rockets, one of my favorites is the classic catapult challenge! It incorporates all aspects of a quality STEM activity: easy math connection, engineering design process, student-driven learning, and hands-on
Truss Bridge 2 – Straws & Tape (A Challenge Project): Hello there, We're continuing with truss bridges. This project needs more accurate taping, which might be a tad difficult for primary students. However, I've done this project with a group of 3rd graders, and they were able to build sufficient truss…
STEM for Kids! This project is great for age 10 and up. Younger kids will love it too, but may need more help. Build a clever little popsicle stick bridge that holds together without glue, tape, or any other adhesive! This design for a self-supporting bridge was invented by the famous artist Leonardo da Vinci, […]
Want a creative idea for your kids' party? Host a construction-themed kids workshop party where kids can build something! Party kits sold at HomeDepot.com
Who knew that a bag of straws could be perfect for five must-try STEM projects?! --> Build straw towers, --> Design weight bearing bridges, --> Make a raft, --> Create straw mazes, --> And build straw rockets that really fly! The center cards, posters, record sheets and easy to foll...
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For this project, we will be building bridges made out of Popsicle sticks. There are many challenges to this project, you must consider aesthetic appeal, your bridge must span twenty inches and hold three pounds. Comment to this post by answering: Do you think a bridge made out of Popsicle sticks can hold three pounds? Why or why not?
