Science

Students will make a marble slide to learn about the basics of motion and forces. Grades K-2 will have no material constraints and will just learn about pushes and pulls. Grades 3-5 will focus more on Newton's 1st Law and will have constraints on the amount of material that they can use.

Students will use an assortment of recycled materials to create musical instruments as a means to reuse materials and limit their inclusion in landfills. For grades K-2, students will only be expected to make simple noises that can be repeated on their instruments. For grades 3-5, students will be challenged to produce at least two distinct pitches on their instruments.

Students will create a nest to explore how a baby bird develops and is protected from predators while it is vulnerable. Additionally, there will be a focus on what makes a good nest: camouflage, up high, etc... Students will take the role of a mother bird and learn about that time in a bird's life as well.

Students will build helmets to protect 'your brain' (a plastic egg) from injury. As background, students will learn about the importance of the brain and why it needs to be protected. Constraints include that their helmets must be able to protect the egg from a collision (a small book being dropped on it) and it must be able to be securely fastened to the egg. 

Students will explore gravity to varying levels depending on grade level. They will build safety devices to protect a plastic egg for two different scenarios depending on grade level. Grades K-2 will have no constraints and Grades 3-5 will have a total material constraint of 21 items. They can choose how much of each material to use with this constraint.

Students will build a simple windmill to observe wind speed. Teacher will use a fan to blow “wind”. If the fan increases or decreases in speed, the windmill should spin faster or slower. For grades K-2, students will be able to hold their windmills in front of the fan. For grades 3-5, students will create free standing windmills and have to account for them not being knocked over by the wind.

Students will build a shelter that can cover 4 plastic toy bears. They will need to experiment to determine which of the provided materials will be best for the construction of their shelter.

Students will build a small dog house that is able to fit a small dog figurine and protect it from the heat of a heat lamp. In addition, students will briefly learn about insulators and conductors to inform what materials they build their houses out of. At the end, students will test their houses under a heat lamp, and the instructor will measure the temperature of the figures both before and after being placed under the lamp to measure the effectiveness of each house.

Students will explore the nuances of habitats / ecosystems by creating a habitat / ecosystem for aliens. Grades K-2 will be exploring habitats and will create one alien for their habitat. Grades 3-4 will be exploring ecosystems and will create two plants with explanations about how they survive in the ecosystems. Grade 5 will be exploring producers, consumers, and decomposers in their ecosystem and will create one of each with explanations about how they survive. They are exploring these different approaches based on learning standards / difficulty level

Students will create a model of a creature with different body parts that allow it to survive in its environment, including parts that allow it to gather food, protect itself, and move from place to place. For grades K-2, students will create their creature and make specific choices for their design of body parts. For grades 3-4, students will be challenged to incorporate an understanding of the skeletal and muscular systems in their design (e.g. bones to protect internal organs). For grade 5, students will be challenged to incorporate even more complex organ systems in their design (e.g. digestive organs that allow the creature to eat food).

Students will create a solar oven to explore sunlight and energy transfer. Grades K-2 will talk about sunlight and the basics of the sun and heat. Grades 3-5 will go more in depth into energy transfer and will apply this to heat transfer of the sun into their solar ovens. This activity is a little more complicated so there is an optional tutorial for teachers to include in their slideshows for younger or more disorganized classes. This activity is the last one for the year, so it is also meant to be fun and a way to get outside.