Original ideas for STEM projects, what a topic! I am really enjoying doing these lesson plans
focused around Minecraft. Not only are
my kids thrilled, but it is a new approach that I would have never even thought
about. It took me a long time to allow my
kids to even begin playing it last year.
Now I see a lot of really great things that can come from it, if you
really take the time to plan a lesson around it. So, I plan on incorporating Minecraft into my
STEM project. I would love to be able to
do something with movement, like lava, or creating natural disaster
simulations. Maybe have them figure out
how to protect themselves from a natural disaster, then simulate it. I really liked the comet scenario. It really puts things into perspective. Another project that would be fun would be
looking into creating a spaceship. What
would you need to build a ship that could actually go into outer space? What survival gear would you need for a trip
to the moon and back? Could we build a
ship that could sustain us in outer space?
What would we need to take with us to survive indefinitely?
STEM topics I am interested in exploring this semester would
be space. I am very interested in learning
more about this vast world that people tend to neglect.
As for tonight’s class, I have always had difficulties with
complex conversions. Just figuring out
where to start, and how to get where I need to be is hard. It was really nice to be about to talk it out
with everyone and to see how the solutions were figured out. I would love to have more practice on
conversions. Starting out smaller and
working my way up. I am going to look
into this a little more on my own. I
feel so out of practice in this area. An
area I am not as confident in.
Sunshine - great ideas for a STEM project! You could easily walk them through the engineering design cycle with these by having the students research, sketch out and plan their ideas for a lava-proof structure prior to building it, build it in MATLAB, then evaluate how it performed, and suggest improvements for next time.
ReplyDeleteAs for conversions, think about writing down your starting value with units in fractional form on the left side of your paper, then write down your goal (= blank value with desired units in fractional form) on the right side of your paper. Then arrange your conversion factors, in fractional form as well, in a way that will cancel units to achieve your goal. Since conversion factors are really equalities, you can flip them as needed as long and your keep the proper value with the corresponding unit (ex: 2.54 cm/in and 1 in/2.54 cm are equivalent). Work on converting one unit at a time (either the unit in the numerator or in the denominator). Hope this rambling is helpful!