Do kids engineer?
We’re not talking about driving the train although the science related to locomotion is interesting.
The kids program Engineering for Kids is all about kids, science, STEM and just basic learning in a fun way. This Lakeland, FL program – Engineering for Kids STEM .
They offer camps, classes, and all kinds of science related for activities for children as young as 5 years old.
Tag: building science
Did you know that occupations like home inspection require quite a few STEM skills?
Our friends at InterNachi have a lot to say about the science of buildings.
“Home inspectors should impress upon their clients the importance of proper maintenance of their home’s HVAC system. The most common maintenance task is regularly cleaning or replacing the filter for the unit’s optimum energy efficiency, as well as the home’s improved indoor air quality. And a high-rated MERV filter box may be an option that can be retrofitted to an existing HVAC unit. (nachi)”
Lakeland home inspector at Dixieland Inspection Services reminds us that performing home inspections requires sound knowledge of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Who would have thought?
November 8 is National STEM/STEAM Day
November 8 is National STEM/STEAM Day, and we’re excited to celebrate! The day is an opportunity to focus on helping kids advance in the fields of science, technology, engineering, art, and math. Creating understanding around STEM and STEAM is a big topic of conversation today. Statistics show few American students pursue expertise in STEM fields—and we have an inadequate pipeline of teachers skilled in those subjects. On the flipside of that the need for STEM oriented job skills are skyrocketing.
STEM Day
Perk up Education -from School Assembly to College Engineering -STEM to STEAM
Reactory Factory are education leaders in getting kids to perk up an learn Science at school assemblies in Tampa/Orlando area of Florida. While Reactory Factory focuses on elementary school assemblies in science, STEM, and reading shows. However, William Ristenpart and Tonya Kuhl are leaders at the University of California that get college students to Perk up to Coffee using a STEM (or should we say STEAM) approach.
Engineering programs are creating such experiences in order to fight attrition; too many of these so-called STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) students have been dropping out after a steady diet of mathematics in the first years of college.
Kuhl “had the idea of taking apart a Mr. Coffee coffeemaker” to study how the designers solved the small-scale engineering challenge of brewing coffee,” says Ristenpart. As they talked, it dawned on Ristenpart that every aspect of coffee-making matched a major topic in the chemical engineering curriculum, from the chemical reactions of roasting, to mass transfer (when hot water extracts oils and flavor compounds from coffee grounds), and fluid dynamics, which control the flow of hot water and steam.
Read more at http://www.scpr.org/news/2016/09/08/64475/stem-to-steam-how-coffee-is-perking-up-engineering/
Copyright 2016 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.
Art and Science Together Again
Art and Science Reunite
Today’s students may become artists, doctors or politicians or any number of careers, but we also know that the challenges their generation faces will demand creative solutions. We expect this and push to get more STEM, or rather STEAM (added the ART) into the classroom.
Safe Music and Videos for Kids
Cable tv and the internet can be the boogy man as far as parents are concerned.
Cable tv has a thousand channels of possible unfit content for children while the internet has a million sources. The problem is the internet is so convenient.
In comes Reactory Factory TV with their
music videos for kids
Their site is at http://reactoryfactory.tv/ and consists of music videos for children only. They are working on removing all ads since they can be a source of inappropriate content.
They are brand new and have a difficult road ahead of them to work with their content providers. The format is sort of like MTV, when it was cool, in the 80’s.
Best part is its free and works on mobile.
STEAM IN SCHOOLS
Many schools are lacking in STEAM programs for their students. A few schools in a district may offer STEAM as a special program for their advanced students only (defeats advantages of STEAM).
Because of this, parents have been looking to outside sources to help their kids gear up to learn STEAM skills. Check out this article:
This is not your mother’s after-school program.
Students in Athens started this month filtering through the doors of New Earth Music Hall, Double Helix STEAM school and, on Saturdays, Nuci’s Space, to get the kind of creativity-based education inspired by, but not necessarily offered in, their regular course load.
Gizmo is a collaborative program out of Slingshot Productions LLC, the Athens Music Project with advising help from Clarke County schools. Program director Eric Marty says the program’s mission is to provide innovative educational opportunities while serving as a lab for STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art and math) education.
“The time is right,” said Marty, who co-directs the Athens Slingshot Festival, teaches after-school music at a montessori school as well as graphic design at UGA’s Lamar Dodd School of Art.
He admires the STEM and STEAM electives being offered at local schools, and those programs, enhanced by interactive workshops taught by local specialists, are a recipe for continuing success for students interested in the disciplines.
Gizmo aims to have a broad impact, and Marty sees it as an accessible way to bring UGA into town.
“Athens is a densely talented population and the school district recognizes that with some of their new initiatives,” he said.
If you’re wondering why you haven’t heard of Gizmo before now, it could be because it came together quickly.
Within about eight weeks, Marty and his team found the pieces and raised $1,610 to buy equipment. But despite the time crunch, the programs are as rich in content as they are fun, and go a long way to tap into Athens’ tech culture.
For the winter session, which runs January to March, students in grades fourth through eighth can choose from weekly music or game labs, and a music production workshop over two Saturdays.
Gizmo has tapped some of Athens’ finest music and art minds as its instructors ‑ music teacher Vicky Tavernier, strings teacher Keiko Ishibashi and Marty teach the music lab at New Earth Music Hall, where students learn to play a range of mallet and percussion instruments while developing music literacy.
This is no multi-purpose room ruberick. The students are being taught on professional-level equipment, and they’ll get help with composing, performing and recording their own music while learning about world and electronic styles.
At the Game Lab, hosted at Double Helix STEAM School on Prince Avenue and taught by Lucas Jenson, who directs the GameWerks summer camp at UGA, students are schooled on the basics of video game design and development. They’ll use professional-level programs along with good-old-fashioned pen and paper to prototype their original video game ideas.
The programs are also designed to be inclusive. No experience in music or game design are necessary, and the students are given the tools to walk away with the foundations they’ll need to keep going.
The Spring session, which runs April to May, will be expanded for high school students to include a radio and podcast production lab, a maker lab that will focus on 3D printing as a creative tool, as well as continuing the music and game labs.
“One of the things that interests us the most is having a broad impact and touching all parts of the community,” Marty said.
Regular fees run about $120 for eight weekly classes, and Marty said fundraising efforts will continue with the help of the University of Georgia Foundation to begin offering reduced and free rates for qualified students.
Registration and course information can be found at http://www.gizmoathens.com.
Contact government reporter Kelsey Cochran at (706) 208-2233.
STEAM School 