Students will be fully immersed in their STEM learning experience in October. From Young 5s through sixth grade, students will sharpen critical thinking and problem solving skills using science, technology, engineering, and mathematics as a vehicle. Below are talking points that families can use with their children to start a conversation about the learning taking place in their PLTW classrooms beginning in October.
Living and Nonliving--
Name examples of living and nonliving things in your home. How do you know they are living or nonliving?
What do living things all have in common?
How do other living things, like plants or animals, use nonliving things?
Living Things: Needs and Impacts--
Think about a specific plant and a specific animal. How are they alike? How are they different?
If you could be any living thing, what would you be? Why would you choose this? What needs would you have to survive?
Think about a fish. What do you think their natural environment is? How do you think this natural environment meet the needs of the fish? Explain your thinking.
Light and Sound--
Think about your home. Name one object that makes light and one object that makes sound.
Have you ever used light or sound to send a message or talk with someone? What did you use? How did you use it?
Think of sounds you’ve heard in your home, neighborhood, and community. Describe a sound that traveled across a distance.
Why do you think you can hear sound that travels across a distance?
Materials Science: Properties of Matter--
In class we learned about Frank Epperson, a boy who invented the Popsicle about 100 years ago. Think about Frank Epperson’s original Popsicle design. How has the design changed over time?
If you could make an improvement to the Popsicle, what would you change?
Think about your favorite toy. Describe its texture and color.
Look around your home. Name three examples of matter that you see. Describe the color and texture of each one.
Stability and Motion: Forces and Interactions--
Describe an action that shows two forces you used as you got ready for school today. Answer these questions:
Were you using a push or a pull in each interaction?
What was the effort force?
What was the resistance force?
Name an object found on a playground that uses a simple machine to make it work. What kind of simple machine is used? How would the playground be different if there were no simple machines there?
Organisms: Structure and Function--
What characteristics do you and a tree have in common?
Think about a shark and a tiger. Provide evidence that they are both living things, and provide one example of how they each survive in their habitats in different ways.
Living things must be able to respond to their environment to survive. Describe what an organism might do when its environment doesn’t provide enough food.
Robotics and Automation--
How do robots help people perform tasks?
If you were a roboticist, what type of robot would you want to design? What would it be able to do?
How can automation and robotics be used to protect the Earth’s resources and environment?
How can the engineering design process be applied in daily life?
Infection Modeling and Simulation--
How do computer models and simulations help us to make sense of scientific phenomena?
In what ways can computer models and simulations be used to predict outcomes?
How can a step-by-step process help you design or improve a solution to a problem?
How can computer models and simulations help doctors make recommendations to the public about how to protect themselves from communicable diseases?