Category: STEM Challenge - FOR EDUCATORS OF CATTARAUGUS AND ALLEGANY COUNTIES.

Pop Bottle Rockets

7/30/2020

Challenge
With recent launches of rockets and a few more happening in July, it's time to blastoff this month with the STEM Challenge! Check out the Events Calendar at Kennedy Space Center for upcoming launches to watch them live or previous launches to prepare for builidng your own rocket to launch. Your challenge is to create and design a rocket and launch pad for blastoff. Adjust the rocket fuel and rocket design to see which provides the best blastoff. What size rocket will work best? What if the rocket had fins or other designs? Does the ratio of fuel ingredients matter? What about the ratio of fuel to the rocket size? What should the rocket launch pad be? The goal is create the best rocket you can and to experiment with all those questions!

Design some sort of launch pad first. The goal of the launch pad is to hold the bottle upside down in an upright position. Next, decide on a plastic bottle to use as your rocket and design your rocket. Finally, experiment with the ratio of your rocket fuel or baking soda and vinegar.

Your creation does have some criteria and constraints. Make sure safety is noted at all times. After the rocket is fueled, place it in the launch pad, and back away. Only launch rockets in a wide open spaces and from the designed launch pad. For launching, fill the bottle with the chosen vinegar ratio, pour the baking soda on a 4"x4" piece of paper towel, wrap up the baking soda with the paper towel, stuff it carefully into the spout of the bottle, cork the bottle, and turn it upside down into the launcher and move quickly out of the way. Prepare for blastoff!

Materials

various plastic bottles
corks or foam for bottle toppers
vinegar
baking soda
paper towels
measuring cups/spoons
rocket decorations
launch pad materials: Legos, craft sticks, glue, tape, blocks, etc.

Hints and Tips for Success

Allow students planning and discussion time by having them decide which type of bottle to use so they can start building their launch pad.
Test to see if the launch pad is sturdy and will hold the bottle with liquid. Add water to the bottle with a cap to do this test.
Plan out the ratio of baking soda and vinegar. As a guide, a 2 liter bottle does well with 1-2 cups of vinegar and a tablespoon of baking soda. Have students experiment with different amounts to see which they think is best.
Always ensure safety when loading and launching the rockets.
Record the launches in a constant spot so students can compare heights and launches if wanted.
Connect to math by discussing ratios, measurement, conversions, etc.
Connect to science by discussing engineering, properties of matter, solids, liquids, gases, pressure, chemical reactions, etc.

By: Clay Nolan, CA BOCES Learning Resources

At Home Rube Goldberg Machine

4/29/2020

Challenge
Are you stuck at home and looking for something fun, easy, and science to do? I’m a big fan of Rube Goldberg machines and think this might be something to tie fun, easy, and science all together!
What is a Rube Goldberg machine though? Let’s start with Rube Goldberg, himself. He was an American Pulitzer Prize winning cartoonist, sculptor, author, engineer, and inventor, and his work is a classic example of the melding of art and science. Goldberg began his career as an engineer, and later became a cartoonist who drew elaborate illustrations of contraptions made up of pulleys, cups, birds, balloons, and watering cans that were designed to solve a simple task such as opening a window or setting an alarm clock. Interestingly, Goldberg only drew the pictures, and never built any of his inventions. However, these pictures have since served as inspiration for makers and builders who want the challenge of making wild inventions to solve everyday problems.
So, that is your challenge for today. Can you build a Rube Goldberg machine to solve a simple problem? Maybe you want to turn on a fan, pour a glass of water, knock over an item, catch something, turn on a light, pop a balloon, ring a bell etc.! The possibilities are endless.

For this challenge, there is no criteria or constraints. Use your creativity, ideas, thinking, and materials to create your own contraption!

Materials

anything at home will work, but here are some useful/common items
dominoes
craft sticks
toy cars
wooden blocks
car tracks
any type of balls
string
tape
cardboard tubes
cups

Hints and Tips for Success

Watch some Rube Goldberg videos to get inspired and imagine the possibilities. OK Go is notorious for their amazingly-complicated designs. https://youtu.be/qybUFnY7Y8w
Decide which problem you would like to solve. Sample problems are listed above but don't limit yourself!
Gather your supplies and lay them out so they're easily seen. Start with the basics and then search your home for more supplies as you start to tinker. This list might help you find helpful items https://tinkerlab.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Rube-Goldberg-Activity-List.pdf
Start building your machine! Experiment with the basic ideas of the chain reaction. Anything that tips something else over (and so on)!
Build one part at a time and keep adding on.
Do not be afraid of failure! As you test and try out different set-ups, you will probably fail a few times. But, this is great news! Failure is an excellent piece of the invention process. Without mistakes, you won't learn so celebrate it as part of the learning process!

By: Clay Nolan, CA BOCES Learning Resources

Snow Way

1/24/2020

Challenge
January is a great time to have a snowball fight. Every good snowball fight needs some kind of fort for protection and to build more snowballs under cover. Snowball fights are best suited for outdoors, but what about modeling one inside? This will be part of your challenge, building a fort to withstand attacks from snowballs. Since you will be modeling the activity, representing an idea, object, a system or process, think of the materials being used. What kind of structure makes the best fort? Are different shapes better than others? How can the materials be manipulated for best use?

Your snowball fort creation does have some criteria and constraints. The fort is being constructed out of 100 index cards and only 12 inches of tape. The fort has to be at least 9 inches tall and 10 inches long. To test the fort, determine how 3 snowballs (cotton balls or wadded up pieces of paper) can be fairly launched at the fort to test its durability.

Materials

index cards
cotton balls
tape
rulers
paper
scissors

Hints and Tips for Success

Allow students planning and discussion time by having them experiment with the index cards to see how flexible and durable they are.
After experimenting, allow student groups to plan their design by drawing it out and doing a little testing with a few cards. Include as many ways to improve their forts as needed.
For differentiation, adjust the amount of materials available and allowed to use, add any additional materials, take away certain materials, include different amounts of snowballs launched, change the dimensions of the fort, etc. Adjustments could be made to make it more challenging or simpler.
Make sure to standardize the launching of the snowballs so all forts experience similar attacks. Also, standardize the snowballs if using paper to make sure they are about the same size.
Connect to math by discussing dimensions and what that means, measurement, shapes, symmetry, angles, etc.
Connect to social studies by researching the different kinds of forts, how they were used, the different materials used to build them, where there still are forts, etc.

By: Clay Nolan, CA BOCES Learning Resources

STEM Day

11/15/2019

Challenge
Did you know, STEM Day falls on November 8? There’s no way around it: children are significantly better off with strong science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics skills. That’s why STEM education programs are so important. It’s undebatable that these subjects push society forward, and these programs help to find fun and engaging ways to teach them to students, which is all worth commemorating. So, on November 8, we celebrated STEM Day! How can you celebrate? By taking part in the STEM challenge on this day or any other day this month. This month's STEM challege is a little different. The challenge is to build and make a model to brainstorm and answer, "What does STEM mean to you?" Students can build a model to represent what they think STEM means or how they see it using various materials.

There are no criteria or contstaints to this challenge. It is an open-ended, metaphoric prompt to let students explore and think critically about the solution.

Materials

any items needed or available

Hints and Tips for Success

Allow students planning and discussion time by having them brainstorm their ideas.
After brainstorming, allow student groups to plan their design by drawing it out and labeling their materials being used.
For differentiation, allow students to share their ideas with each other on how they are relating STEM to their creations to spark students' thinking, allow students to write their answers to the question first, share a model you would build to portray the question, etc.
Connect to ELA by having students present their models to their peers and then write their summarized answers. The hands-on activity sparks creativity and deeper thinking prior to writing.

By: Clay Nolan, CA BOCES Learning Resources

Dog Days of Summer

7/2/2019

Challenge
The days from July 3 to August 11 are known as the Dog Days of Summer, usually the hottest, muggiest of the year. This is the period when Sirius, the Dog Star, rises at the same time as the Sun. The ancient Romans defined this period and believed the weather was warmer because Sirius was also providing heat for the Earth, hence Dog Days of Summer. So, how can this heat help us with this month’s STEM challenge? Heat rises which is going to be a good fact to know when building your solar updraft tower, which harnesses the Sun’s heat energy to do work. Our version to going to use empty cylinders with a pinwheel attached to the top. The goal is to get the pinwheel to rotate from the heat rising through the solar tower. What materials would be best to use for the tower sections? Do certain items warm up faster or more than others? How can the pinwheel be attached so it can spin freely? How high off the ground should your updraft tower be? Your challenge is to create an updraft tower that uses the Sun’s heat energy to spin the pinwheel the most amount of times. Updraft Tower Example.

Your updraft tower does have some criteria and constraints. Only the materials provided can be used in your design. The tower needs to be at least 1 foot tall. Every group should build and construct the same type of pinwheel for fair testing during the rotations.

*This idea and challenge can be further explored in the Advancing STEM Grade 4 Unit, Full of Potential: The Effects of Energy.

Materials

aluminum cans (various sizes without tops and bottoms)
can opener
cardboard tubes (various sizes)
plastic cylinder containers (various sizes)
different colored duct tape
clear tape
paper clips (for attaching the pinwheel)
paper for pinwheel
simple pinwheel template

Hints and Tips for Success

Allow students planning and discussion time by having them experiment with the items to see how flexible, movable, and heavy they are. Students could conduct mini experiments by placing different items in the heat to see which warm up the fastest or are the warmest by the end of a set time period. Students could also experiment with different sized pinwheels and the type of paper used to make them to see which spins easiest or the best.
After experimenting, allow student groups to plan their design. Include as many ways to improve their updraft towers as needed.
For differentiation, adjust the amount of materials available and allowed to use, add any additional materials, take away certain materials, show them different versions others have created, help determine how to attach the pinwheel or how to raise the bottom so air may enter. Adjustments could be made to make it more challenging or simpler.
Make sure to standardize the pinwheel students are using and the area they are placing their towers. Or, the latter could be part of their experiment/challenge. Additionally, how high the towers are placed off the ground could impact how well it works. This could also be standardized.
Connect to science by discussing solar power/energy, renewable/non-renewable energy, convection, weather patterns, energy, work, etc.

By: Clay Nolan, CA BOCES Learning Resources

this month's stem challenge

5/31/2019

Check out this month's Advancing STEM Challenge!

Chalk It Up

Advancing STEM Challenges are designed to bring engineering and design to your classroom in a simple, easy-to-implement, challenge-based way. Modify our Advancing STEM Challenges for your classroom. A new challenge will be post

this month's stem challenge

4/29/2019

Check out this month's Advancing STEM Challenge!

Have Seeds Will Travel

Advancing STEM Challenges are designed to bring engineering and design to your classroom in a simple, easy-to-implement, challenge-based way. Modify our Advancing STEM Challenges for your classroom. A new challenge will be post

Catapulting into Spring!

4/29/2019

As the winter snows melt and sunshine begins to extend and warm up each day, you know Spring is in the air. At Gail N. Chapman elementary school in Randolph, 2nd grade students ‘Catapulted into Spring’ with a STEM activity that consisted of two parts. Each student was given a bag of various materials that could be used for each part. In part one, students could use pieces of wood, rubber bands, tape, and a spoon to create a catapult that would fly a plastic egg into the air. In part two, students needed to create a nest type structure to catch the egg. The structure could be made out of toothpicks, lollipop sticks, jelly beans, gumdrops, marshmallows, and grass clippings.

The first part of the STEM challenge focused on leverage and force, as students needed to be sure their catapults could take an egg at least 6” into the air. They experimented with various lengths for their catapult, and how much force would be needed to get the proper height and distance they were looking for.

The second part of their STEM challenge required their catapulted eggs to be caught in a nest type structure and they were not to touch the ground. Students discussed various creative ways to accomplish this and were left to explore their own engineering and design. Conversations about what design to use, and what materials worked best were taking place all over the classroom. Once time had elapsed for their construction and building, it was time for each student to attempt to catapult their egg into their created nest. No matter how many students were able to launch their eggs into the nest, all students succeeded in having fun and experimenting with leverage and engineering.

By: Rob Griffith, CA BOCES Professional Development

This month's Stem challenge

3/1/2019

Check out this month's Advancing STEM Challenge!

Did you hear that?

Advancing STEM Challenges are designed to bring engineering and design to your classroom in a simple, easy-to-implement, challenge-based way. Modify our Advancing STEM Challenges for your classroom. A new challenge will be posted monthly.

THis month's stem challenge

12/2/2018

Check out this month's Advancing STEM Challenge!

Now You See Me...Now You Don't

Advancing STEM Challenges are designed to bring engineering and design to your classroom in a simple, easy-to-implement, challenge-based way. Modify our Advancing STEM Challenges for your classroom. A new challenge will be posted monthly.

February Advancing STEM Challenge

1/31/2018

Check out this month's AdvancingSTEM Challenge!

AdvancingSTEM Challenges are designed to bring engineering and design to your classroom in a simple, easy-to-implement, challenge-based way. Modify our Advancing STEM Challenges for your classroom. A new challenge is posted monthly.

Post a photo of your students in action in our comment section or post a comment on how you modified the Challenge to work in your classroom.

Advancing STEM Challenge

7/5/2017

Check out this month's Advancing STEM Challenge!

Sliding Down a Slippery Slope

Advancing STEM Challenges are designed to bring engineering and design to your classroom in a simple, easy-to-implement, challenge-based way. Modify our Advancing STEM Challenges for your classroom. A new challenge will be posted monthly.

June STEM Challenge

6/1/2017

Check out this month's Advancing STEM Challenge!

Plethora of Pollinators

Advancing STEM Challenges are designed to bring engineering and design to your classroom in a simple, easy-to-implement, challenge-based way. Modify our Advancing STEM Challenges for your classroom. A new challenge will be posted monthly.

Advancing STEM Challenge

5/1/2017

Check out this month's Advancing STEM Challenge! Keeping Afloat - Oh Buoy!

Advancing STEM Challenges are designed to bring engineering and design to your classroom in a simple, easy-to-implement, challenge-based way. Modify our Advancing STEM Challenges for your classroom. A new challenge will be posted monthly.

STEM Challenge: How long is a piece of paper?

2/1/2017

Advancing STEM Challenges are designed to bring engineering and design to your classroom in a simple, easy-to-implement, challenge-based way. Modify our Advancing STEM Challenges for your classroom.

Check out this month's STEM Challenge.

January advancing stem challenge

1/3/2017

Advancing STEM Challenges are designed to bring engineering and design to your classroom in a simple, easy-to-implement, challenge-based way. Modify our Advancing STEM Challenges for your classroom.

Challenge
Did you know snowflakes generally are hexagonal structures because of the chemical bonding that occurs within the water as it freezes? or that each snowflake is unique? Do you know what kind of snowflake falls the fastest or slowest through the air? Your job is to find out this last question! The task is to design a prototype snowflake using paper and scissors. Once you've built your snowflake prototype, you can test it out by dropping it from different heights and using a stopwatch to time which design falls the fastest or slowest.

Your snowflake design does have some criteria and constraints. Every snowflake created has to be from the same origami template (see step-by-step instructions with pictures here: http://www.origamiway.com/how-to-make-paper-snowflakes.shtml). There has to be a 1cm border on the top and bottom that cannot be cut. At least three areas have to be cut out from the template. The snowflake should be dropped from the same height every time, held open with two hands, and held horizontal (flat) to the floor for fair trials. You and your group should try to design a snowflake following these guidelines that falls the fastest or slowest.

Materials

square pieces of paper
scissors
stopwatches

Hints and Tips for Success

Allow students planning and discussion time by having them experiment with a sample to see how cuts shape and design the outcome.
After experimenting, allow student groups to plan their final design. Warn students that the final template will be the only one given for their design.
For differentiation, adjust the size of the paper squares, type of paper, size of the borders, height of the drop, number of areas cut out, or only focus on one challenge (fastest or slowest). Adjustments could be made to make it more challenging or simpler.
Have an origami template ready for each group with borders already marked.
Connect to mathematics by having students identifying shapes, graph their snowflake drop trials, practice reading and writing decimal numbers, adding/subtracting decimals, and ordering decimals.
Connect to ELA by using the text, Snowflake Bentley by Jacqueline Briggs Martin, to introduce and provide background knowledge on the structure and uniqueness of snowflakes. Students could also practice sequencing with the book or create a timeline of Wilson “Snowflake” Bentley’s life.

STEM Challenge - Turkey Cooker

11/2/2016

The November STEM Challenge: Turkey Cooker.

Advancing STEM Challenges are designed to bring engineering and design to your classroom in a simple, easy-to-implement, challenge-based way. Modify our Advancing STEM Challenges for your classroom. A new challenge will be posted monthly.

Post a photo of your students in action in our comment section or post a comment on how you modified the Challenge to work in your classroom.