Kategori: English

Cobweb

As if the forest is not full of cobwebs anyway …

Try to study together with the children how a spider web looks. Maybe take a picture of it too. Then try to build something similar back on your farm.

Think of course also why the network is built as it is …

Cobweb
Spindelnät
(The picture, and the idea is borrowed from lekolar.fi)

Build a Bridge!

Let the children try to build a bridge. Determine a distance, say between two pulpets and then see which constructions they can come up with to create a firm bridge.
Broritning
Materials can be:
• Toothpicks and soaked peas (carefulwith the peas, they can crack easily)
• Straw. Tape them together, or use pins.
• Paper & tape.
• Glass sticks and glue.

Please let the children do a plan first on paper hard thoughts go, or you can always try and see what ideas work and which ones do not.

Document the children’s thoughts before they begin to build, and evaluate afterwards to see how their thoughts have changed.

Positive attitude toward math predicts math achievement in kids

A positive attitude toward math boosts the brain’s memory center and predicts math performance independent of factors such as a child’s IQ, a Stanford study has found.

<img src=’//med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2018/01/positive-attitude-toward-math-predicts-math-achievement-in-kids/_jcr_content/main/image.img.620.high.jpg’ alt=’Happy young girl doing math on a chalkboard’>Happy young girl doing math on a chalkboard

A new Stanford study found that kids with a positive attitude toward math performed better in the subject.
For the first time, scientists have identified the brain pathway that links a positive attitude toward math to achievement in the subject.

In a study of elementary school students, researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine found that having a positive attitude about math was connected to better function of the hippocampus, an important memory center in the brain, during performance of arithmetic problems.

The findings were published online Jan. 24 in Psychological Science.

Educators have long observed higher math scores in children who show more interest in math and perceive themselves as being better at it. But it has not been clear if this attitude simply reflects other capacities, such as higher intelligence.

The new study found that, even once IQ and other confounding factors were accounted for, a positive attitude toward math still predicted which students had stronger math performance.

Read more here

The 4 C:s

This is not just a truth for STEM, but it’s generally good practice.

The 4 C:s are good foundation for learning:

  • Communication
  • Critical thinking
  • Collaboration
  • Creativity

Next time you plan for an experiment leave keep this in mind. Leave room for communication and ideas from the children, spend some time thinking on the result, let them have working together, not just watching, and leave room for their creative approaches!

Play with the experiment!

TrådtelefonWhy don’t try to make a ”can-phone” (have no idea if this is the correct term)? Many have done it sometimes.

Try to experiment with it; how long thread can you use?, what difference does the thread quality make?, can you listen around corners?…

When you’re done experimenting, let the kid use it to play with, and they’ll might find more questions to ponder…

The manual (in Swedish) is found from experimentskafferiet.se, though their site seems to be down for the moment.

The Three Billy Goats STEM Challenge

Bockarna BruseA fun and engaging lesson to introduce engineering and STEM learning in the classroom.  

Student Learning Objectives: The students will be able engineering concepts to build a bridge that will hold the weight of a toy goat and record and self evaluate their designs on their digital portfolio.

Standards: K-2-ETS1-2. Develop a simple sketch, drawing, or physical model to illustrate how the shape of an object helps it function as needed to solve a given problem.

Grade Ranges: K-1

Attention Getter: The teacher will introduce the lesson by playing the NASA for kids engineering video for the class.

Direct Instruction: The teacher will announce to the class that today they are going to work as engineers. Present the Google Presentation The Three Billy Goats Gruff STEM Challenge.  Pose the problem- How can the goats cross the river with the troll? (Solution- Build a bridge).  Then go over the steps in the engineering process and explain the next step is Plan.  TTW go over the task and the materials available. Presentation

Guided Practice: The teacher will pass out the planning sheet and have the students draw the materials and the blueprint for their bridge. The teacher will encourage students to talk with their classmate and work collaboratively to come up with a plan.

Independent Practice: Students will gather materials and begin building their bridge. When students have finished they will bring their bridge to the testing area.  They will test their bridge to see if it fits over the river and can hold one toy goat.  Then they will go to the recording station to record their results.  Students will use the SeeSaw App to take a picture of their bridge and post it to their learning journal.  Students will record how their bridge worked and what changes they think would improve their design.

Wrap Up: Students will gather on the carpet. The teacher will show SeeSaw on the bridge and allow students to share their journal entry.  The students and teacher will discuss what materials and techniques worked well and what did not work well.

Attachment: Lesson plan & students worksheet: Technology Lesson Plan- STEM Three Billy Goats Gruff

Find letters in the everyday environment with your phone

Taken from Bodil Johansson ’s blog

Have you thought on that the selection at the end of a swimming pool looks like a T or that a round pot from above becomes an O or that from a certain angle the cycle path marking becomes a Q? All you need is to look closer, change directions and suddenly you see the letter.

This is an exercise that is about learning to see the motives and how you, by thinking about the image composition, that is, how the different parts of the picture are connected, bring out the message of the image.

In addition to training in recognizing and naming letters, it can be an introduction to photography that will then give inspiration to more.

Material

  • Phone
  • Image editing app like VSCO or Snapseed (both free)

Preparations

  • Make sure that the battery in the phone is fully charged because it takes a lot of battery power to shoot.
  • Clean the camera lens on the smartphone to get clearer images.
  • Make sure you have an image editing app installed on your phone .
  • Think of a round that you should go and ”find” letters on. Also think about alternatives in case the weather makes you have to be indoors.
  • As a teacher , you should familiarize yourself with the latest version of the image editing app.

Arrangement

  1. Start by telling the children how it is possible to see letters in the city’s architecture. That if they watch and look for letters that are otherwise hidden as store handles or bench supports , they can see them.
  2. Then talk about how they can compose a picture. In order for the object, the letter, to be visible, what is around is not allowed to take over the background. Finding lines in the architecture that help the eye find the subject.
  3. Then you go to a photo tour to discover letters along with your phones. Remember to change image angles, take a picture from a frog perspective (low angle of view) and someone from a bird’s-eye view (high angle of view).
  4. When you are back, image editing can begin. Ask the children to select three pictures each of which they are happy with and which they can then edit in an app. Perhaps the image needs to be mirrored in order for the letter to become visible? Or cropped? Ask them to make different variations of the same image. For example, a color and a black and white variant of the same image. What happens to the subject then? In what variation will the motifs of the image appear best in?
  5. Put over the finished pictures on a computer so that the children can then tell about their pictures and tell how they thought when they photographed and why they chose that picture. Ask if it is something they would like to do differently and if they experienced any difficulty finding their letters.

To think on

  • In order for the object to become as clear as possible, one should go as close as possible to isolate the ”letter” from its environment.
  • . If it’s not fun, it’s wrong.

How to Shoot Frozen Soap Bubbles

Issåpbubbla

The only thing needed is a bowl of soap water, a straw and a little patience. Then you can blow beautiful frozen soap bubbles that give unique pictures.

 

Perfect frozen bubbles with secret ingredients
You can either use the ready mixture in the soap bubble containers that you buy in the toy store, or you can make your own blend based on the following recipe:
  • 35 ml detergent
  • 35 ml of glycerin
  • 2 ml of sugar
  • 200 ml hot water
Glycerin makes the bubbles thicker, and the sugar causes the surface to get the beautiful crystals. Then  to the problem of how to freeze the bubbles so that they can later be photographed.

For best results, the temperature should preferably be below or below 6 degrees Celsius. It is possible to freeze bubbles even in milder weather, but it is more difficult and takes longer.

It is also best to perform the experiment when it is windless so that the bubbles do not burst or blow away before they land and can freeze.

How to Shoot the Bubbles:

  1. Select a location where it falls in a lot of light and there is a nice background. It may be good to have a cold surface, eg. a snow or ice-covered garden table that you can blow in the bubbles from up close. Otherwise you risk freezing in the air and bursting when they land.
  2. Set the camera so that the focus point is approximately where the bubble will land. Put the camera on a tripod so you have your hands free to blow bubbles.
  3. Dip the straw in the soap mixture and blow a bubble. Blow gently and avoid making the bubble too large. Once the soap bubble has landed, you can adjust the camera’s focus as needed to get the details in focus.
  4. Shoot! Once you have learned to freeze your bubbles, you can try to make a timelapse video. You could use, among others Lapse It eller Osnap!