The partnership between the JMU STEM Center and Boys & Girls Club of Harrisonburg and Rockingham County (BGCHR) started in February of 2021 when children were still learning remotely. JMU students who are members of JMU STEM Corps visit one of the BGCHR clubs every week for 22 weeks and engage the children in a curriculum developed by the JMU STEM Center director specifically for this partnership.
The curriculum is divided into five 4-5 week themes. Across the 5 themes, we build on the following practices and ways of thinking in STEM: scientific investigation, modeling for understanding, simple systems, how technology is used by scientists and engineers, and how science and math are used to inform and test design.
Biodiversity
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better. -Albert Einstein
The 4-week "Biodiversity" theme uses the curiosity that children have about nature as a basis for fostering early development of STEM skills. Children begin to develop an appreciation for the “T” in STEM” as more than an electronic device. Here, it is a powerful tool that scientists use to better understand the natural world. As the children examine seeds, leaves, mushrooms, and other living parts of nature close-up, they begin to ask new questions that open up a world of wonderment and discovery.
I. Nature Magnified
For all photos below: Please give credit to the photographer, Ibrahim Azad, for any photos you download and share.
II. Traveling Seeds
After learning how to use the microscopes and imaging software to examine their own nature collection in week I, the children used them again here to investigate physical adaptations of seeds that allow for their dispersal by different methods. Seed dispersal collection for education purchased from Carolina Biological.
III. Design a Seed
Here, the children used what they discovered from real seed adaptations to design and test their own model of a dispersal adaptation. As our first design challenge, we introduced the design cycle and using a combination of previous knowledge and creativity to inform their design decisions.
IV. Fun with Fungi
In our final week of the "Biodiversity" theme, children uses their previous three weeks of learning about plants to compare and contrast them to Fungi and do our first "experiment" using investigative practices. They looked at the difference between small Fungi, big Fungi, and plants; examined different types of mushrooms under the microscope; and inflated balloons by feeding sugar to yeast. Yeast & Sugar activity adapted from Sciencebob.com
Energy
Science and everyday life cannot and should not be separated. ~Rosalind Franklin
In this 4-week theme, we use energy as the context for introducing children to why and how we use technology, mathematics, and science in engineering design. In week 1, children build their own tool called an anemometer to measure wind speed. They then use their anemometers in week 2 ("Powered by the Wind") to determine how much wind is required to move the sail boats that they design and build using the design process. Here, we introduce the importance of math in design by determining how the required wind speed is impacted by the shape they chose for their sail. Anemometer activity adapted from NASA
I. Measuring the Wind
II. Powered by the Wind
III. Keep it Hot
This challenges addresses the "hot chocolate problem”. In doing this, we are introducing the concept of "heat movement" as a foundation to later learn about thermal energy. The children were challenged to design and create an insulator to keep their glass of liquid warm as it sat at room temperature for 20 min. We encouraged them to be creative but also intentional in their design by drawing on lived experiences and investigating the possible materials. They tested their design by using the science and mathematics practices of measuring and comparing the drop in temperature over time to a control. Activity adapted from teachengineering.com
IV. Roller Coaster Challenge
Here, we used the roller coaster design challenge as a fun way to explore the energy of motion. As the children designed, tested, and redesigned their structure with a marble as the car, STEM Corps engaged them in conversation about “how much energy" we think our marble has (e.g. in this design with the steeper drop versus our other design) based on how many hills and loops it could pass before stopping. Our goal was to use a fun and memorable experience that fosters creativity and collaborative problem solving (skills for STEM) as a way to lay early foundations for what they will later learn from their teachers as potential and kinetic energy and Newton’s 1st law of motion (science principles for STEM). Activity adapted from teachengineering.com
Human Body Systems
"The future belongs to the curious. The ones who are not afraid to try it, explore it, poke at it, question it and turn it inside out" ~Anonymous
I. Digestive System Modeling
This is a very discipline-focused experience, however, we use this lesson to introduce the idea of systems. Systems-thinking is a cross-cutting skill set for STEM and can be introduced at early ages with simple systems. We talk about what makes digestion a system and build on this in week II by introducing the circulatory system and exploring how those two systems work together as part of a bigger system. In addition, we are demonstrating the importance of models. Making models for understanding is an effective STEM teaching tool if you follow certain criteria which we aim to do. Activity adapted from STEM.org.UK
II. Circulatory System Modeling
This is also a very life science-focused lesson, but there are always ways to incorporate transferable STEM practices that can be differentiated for our 5-10 year-old age range. For this lesson, those practices were "making models to compare a system under different conditions" and, for the older children, we added "interpreting and visually representing data." Helping our STEM Corps members differentiate concepts and skills for the children in their group is an important part of STEM Corps training and much of it just comes with practice as they try different engagement methods to find the ones they are comfortable with and that the children in their group best respond to. Activity adapted from Scientific American.
III. Circulatory System in Action
This lesson alone is not STEM, but provides an opportunity to see the relevance of our previous lessons to their lives and relevance is a key feature of STEM. Children recognize their heart beats faster when they exercise, but don't often understand the “why." With older learners, we talk about the role of oxygen, but that's an abstract concept for young learners. Instead, we focused on energy-containing nutrients from food to help answer the "why". In week 1 of the human body systems theme, we talked about the system that provides us with those nutrients by getting our hands yucky in a digestive system model.
In week 2 of this theme, we talked about the system that circulates nutrients from the intestine to the rest of the body by making a simple heart and vessel model under healthy and unhealthy conditions. Here, we talked about (and experienced) our bodies needing those energy nutrients faster when exercising, which is why our hearts beat faster—to get us what we need when we need it so we can keep on dancing! What better time to celebrate our hearts than February, National Heart Month.
IV. Central Nervous System
Our 4th human body systems lesson was on the central nervous system (CNS). For the macroscopic perspective, we did a combination of sensory tests focusing on functions of the occipital and parietal lobe and then we zoomed into the microscopic level by modeling the parts of a neuron. Because of the complexity of neurons and their role in the CNS in addition to our primary goal of having the children create a tool they can use to share what they learned with their families, these “models” were more artistic representations of the parts than our previous models that incorporated process and could be tested. "The ability of students to switch between various representational modes increases their potential for learning, not only of modeling itself but also about the central concepts and practices of the STEM discipline in question” (Hallströn & Schönborn, 2019).
V. Design to Protect
For our final human body systems lesson, the children were challenged with designing a coating for a “pill” that would protect it from breaking down in the acidic environment of the stomach. They investigated properties of the optional materials (kitchen baking products), coated a colored dye tablet with their design, and compared the rate of color loss when placed in soda with that of a control tablet. We chose this challenge because the concept of getting a pill from your mouth to the targeted body part allowed us to draw connections to our previous lessons on digestion, circulation, and the brain. Activity adapted from teachengineering.com
Our Land and Water
“Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, Nothing is going to get better. It's not.”
~
With a field this broad, we chose to focus on the topics below because 1. children have some familiarity with and are naturally curious about natural disasters and pollution and 2. we can build in connections between the concepts themselves and their relevance to the relationships between humans and their environment.
I. Flood Plain Modeling
For our first week of this theme, we adapted a floodplain modeling lesson. We used our colorful models to test flow rate and riverbed configurations on the extent of water damage to their DIY houses, recorded data, and compared results to predictions. Activity adapted from teachengineering.com. (Photos by Julianna DiRocco).
II. Oil Spill Clean-Up
Here, we modeled the investigative process of identifying the best materials for cleaning an oil spill. In addition to examining absorptive properties of common house-hold materials (so they can repeat this at home with their families), this lesson allowed us to compare and contrast accidents with natural disasters. Activity adapted from teachengineering.com.
III. Earth Quake Challenge
For the third week in this theme, we first made a model of the earth’s layers, including discussion of how and where in these layers earth quakes occur. We were then challenged to build and test shake-resistant structures that can also hold weight by trying different shapes, heights, and other aspects of design. In addition to practicing creativity, this lesson allowed us to build on the role of math in design and the importance of understanding the science of a problem being addressed with engineering design practices.
IV. Water-Filtration Challenge
Week four was our water filtration design challenge. In addition to reinforcing elements of the design process, this lesson allowed us to draw science and engineering connections to 2 previous lessons in this theme: ocean oil spills and river flooding. We also discussed global inequities in access to clean water while introducing how to read a colormap.
Space Exploration
"Space is for everybody. It’s not just for a few people in science or math, or for a select group of astronauts. That’s our new frontier out there, and it’s everybody’s business to know about space."
~Christa McAuliffe, American astronaut and teacher
I. Newton's Balloon Rockets
We wanetd a rocket-themed activity that uses every day materials (so they could replicate it at home) but that also teaches underlying science principles and doesn’t introduce confusion about the forces powering a launch (such as "straw rockets"). This activity is not an engineering design challenge, but is a simple testable model for what can be a challenging concept- Newton's 3rd Law of Motion. This experience allowed the children to create an interaction force pair and see it in action (and reaction) under different conditions in a way that demonstrates the parallels to a real rocket launch.
