Simple Circuits Maker Fun!

Yesterday we were in full Maker mode after sitting in on a Supercharged Science teleclass on DIY Robots. Inspired by the example videos we watched and learning about the engineering process we proceeded to put to use some of the electronic materials I got a few months back when Radio Shack was going out of business. They basically learned about how to make a simple circuit using a battery pack, alligator clips, and either LED light or a small motor. 

The first thing I did in preparation for the Makers session was to take some of my wooden trays and place the basic tools we needed to get started on the project in them. I left it up to them to add any other materials or parts they wanted to use out our Makers closet. 

Here we are watching the teleclass before getting started on our projects. 

They were so excited when they assembled their first circuit and was able to get the LED light to illuminate. 

One thing I do with the children is have them work with one another in pairs. This way they are learning about collaboration and communication which are a part of those 21st Century Skills that are necessary in order to be successful in today's economy. I know not all individual homeschool families have enough children to work in pairs like this but I happen to have a large family so it works out. But if you have a smaller family or maybe an only child these sort of Makers project would be perfect to do with a COOP group or with maybe even some of the neighborhood kids. 

Here is our first team working on a propeller car. They used a motor with two Popsicle sticks to act as a propeller attached to a car frame they built. Although they were able to power the propeller with sucess next week they are trouble shooting the issue they had with the wheels and axle to get the car to move. 

Here is team 2 who decided to make a robot with two different colored LED lights for eyes. They successfully got the LED lights to illuminate but they have to use AA battery holders instead of the D they used and they also would like to add a movement component to the robot in next weeks Makers session. 

Here is some footage of our Makers Session. 

Science Olympiad Competition

This year I had the pleasure of coaching an Elementary Science Olympiad team of local homeschool students. We got to compete against 17 of the local public schools. For those of you who do not know Science Olympiad is a hodge podge of scientific events that the students compete in in timed rounds against competing schools. The competition we were in was  a regional qualifier. So the students that placed got an opportunity to go compete at our state competition and then if they win state they would move onto the National Science Olympiad competition. Science Olympiad spans through grades k-12. But this particular competition was just for elementary grades. They offered well over 20 events but our team competed in 13 of them. I was so proud of our students. They worked really hard in preparation for the competition. We had two of our students place 3rd in the "Can Race" event. I was so excited we placed in our first year going.

The schools support their team through support from the classroom curriculum and teacher volunteers. We had the support of our awesome children's librarian at our local public library and the parent volunteers. Our students practiced hard for 12 weeks leading up to the competition. They learned not only skills in science but good sportsmanship, teamwork, leadership, and perseverance. Because we are homeschool team and we tend to be more age integrated I devised a way for all the students and their siblings to participate and help with the team. The older kids were our Team Mentors, then we had the Competition Team, and of course the Jr. Team members. 

On competition day our Team Mentors were a helping hand in making sure the students got to their event rooms. Our Jr. Team got an opportunity to see what they have to look forward to next year when they compete. And of course everyone was there to cheer the Competition Team on!

Here is are the STEAM Powered Homeschoolers all lined up for the Parade before we began the competition. 

Mecca the Great was proud of her partner and her's work in the "Straw Tower" event. 

Mecca the Great is excitedly waiting to start the "Disease Detective" event. 

Kinetic Kid could not wait to blast his rocket in the "Water Rocket" event. 

Let's look at the highlights from the weeks leading up to the competition. 

We entered several of the Straw Engineering events. We practice the Straw Tower, Straw Egg Drop, and Bridge Building. Our Jr. Team even practice some extreme straw challenges. 

Here is Pony Princess holding the big Straw box the Jr. Team was constructing. 

Kinetic Kid had a huge challenge on his hands in the "Straw Egg Drop" event. We cracked many an egg preparing for this one. 

One of the coolest things about the Science Olympiad Competition was the Build- It Sessions where the students got the opportunity to have access to the power tools necessary to build their rocket launcher and construct our paddle boats. They got assistance from the scientist at our local Science Center which is funded through the county. 

Here is Mecca the Great practicing for her very academically heavy events "Weather or Not" and "Disease Detectives". 

Pony Princess and our Jr. Team had a ball making tornadoes in a bottle, cleaning up mock oil spills, and doing mystery architecture challenges. 

Atlanta Science Fest: BioLogue STEM Adventures

This Saturday was the kick off for the 2nd Annual Atlanta Science Festival. The Atlanta Science Festival is a citywide celebration of Atlanta's STEM community. This year there are over 140 events to choose from throughout the week leading up to the big Exploration Expo at Centennial Olympic Park. 

Well we started out the week with the BioLogue STEM Adventures. They hosted a Hands On Hodge Podge of Science event. There was a long list of workshop offerings. They even had a science fair earlier that day. The workshops ranged from every topic from microscopy to coding. 

Pony Princess enjoyed taking part in the microscopy workshop. She was excited to tell me about how much she learned. She was able to break down to me how to prepare a slide to look at it under the microscope. Her favorite part was when she looked at the fish blood under the microscope. She said it looks like pond water.

Mecca the great took the Chemistry of Cosmetics workshop where she got to learn about the chemical make up(pun intended) of the typical cosmetic ingredients. The students got to make their own lip balm with all natural ingredients as a take home gift. Of course you know my girly girl squealed with delight over that. 

Kinetic Kid was given special permission from the event coordinator Ms. Gladys to participate in the Epidemiology and Forensic Science workshops. They were designed for ages 10 and up but I explained Kinetic Kids unique circumstances of being an advance learner. Since Mecca the Great was in the courses as well to keep and eye on him they gave him a shot. It went very well. It was truly a lesson in learning to advocate for your children. I am 100% he got way more out of the advance workshops than he would have gotten in the early elementary microscope stuff. 

I look forward to attending events hosted by BioLogue STEM Adventures in the future. 

Here is Mecca the Great in the Chemistry of Cosmetics Workshop. 

Take a look at my CSI Team in the Forensic Science Workshop. 

Filtering Water Experiment

Kinetic Kid has been working on an environmental science unit in preparation for his

 "Save Our Earth" event in the Science Olympiad competition this year. Well this week we have been delving into water contamination and safe drinking water. He has been experimenting with various methods of filtering dirty water.

We have been using common materials you can easily find anywhere from your kitchen pantry and backyard to your local big box store. Here is a list of the items we used for the experiment.

Materials

Clear/ Transparent Plastic Cups

Coffee Filters

Activated Carbon(You can find this in the pet isle they use it for fish tanks.)

Sand

small pebbles/rocks

dirt

oil

Knife or Sharp Point( This is to cut a hole in the bottom of the cups.)

In addition to creating our own filtration system we also worked on a

                                                     4M Clean Water Science kit as well. 

Take a look at our video for how ideas on how to put together the filter. 

When I Say Big Top You Say Circus

This past week the children and I had the pleasure of seeing the best show under the big top. The Universoul Circus during a student matinee. It was an awesome experience to say the least. 

It just so happened we went on one of the coldest days of the year down here in Georgia. Here are the children shivering in line. 

A circus ain't a circus without the elephants. 

One of the most unique aspect to the Universoul Circus show is that the performers are from various countries across the African diaspora. The host was South Africa, they had a contortionist trio from Ethiopia, a tight walk group from Cuba, etc.. It really would be easy for me to do a geography lesson to expound upon our experience. There were zebras dancing, women turned into white tigers, and 4 motorcyclist driving around inside a sphere.

The highlight of the whole show was the last performance done in an elegant Alvin Ailey style dance routine to show solidarity to the Black Lives Matter Movement. They left us with a quote from the great Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. which made such a powerful impact considering this was a student matinee show in Atlanta during Black History Month. It was proud moment to see the art and entertain community stand up to injustice. It was a wonderful show. The children really enjoyed themselves. We will definitely be going back again next year. 

College Tour: SCAD(Savannah College of Art and Design) Atlanta Campus!

Yesterday Mecca the Great had the opportunity to explore SCAD- Atlanta Campus thanks to

 Atlanta Cares during their open house called "Scad Day". This was our 3rd college tour that we had the pleasure to go over the years. Mecca the Great's interest lay somewhere between Biology and Illustration. More than likely she will find a way to marry the two knowing her. Visiting SCAD gave her an opportunity to explore career options in the field of Art. 

Here is Mecca the Great experimenting with the Cintiq tool in the Illustrator student classroom lab area. 

We stopped for a bite to eat in "The Hub" which is the heart of campus life at SCAD. Its where you can grab some delicious food and sit while listening to cool music in a beautifully decorated area displaying student work. 

Here we are taking a visit to the Fashion department. The hallway displayed the designs of SCAD's creative students. 

Of course Pony Princess couldn't resist taking a picture in front of this horse statue decorated in red sequin. 

Inside the Dome we learned about Summer program opportunities at SCAD for incoming students. 

Mecca the Great has definitely considered adding SCAD to her top 5 college choices. 

Our 1st Planetarium Show

We recently had the opportunity to experience our first planetarium show. I personally had not been to one since I was a elementary school student so it was cool to see how things had improved since the late 80's early 90's.

One thing about the show is that your seat does matter. If you are not seated in a prime location you feel like your neck is going to break trying to see the projected images on the doom right side up. Also two of my children had a moment when the simulated tornado got a bit to real for them and they wanted to get up immediately and leave. I managed to get them back relaxed and got them to understand that it was a projection and there was no tornado in the room. But I guess that's a testament to the quality of the show. 

Seeing the show did spark an interest in the constellations and the zodiac. I was actually surprised out how many constellations the children were familiar with. Its been about 3yrs since we last formally studied astronomy. Its always cool to see how much information is still retained. 

 It was an awesome experience. We definitely plan to go back again in the future. 

Science Themed Netflix Favorites!

Like most families these days we have a Netflix subscription that we use for commercial free entertainment. But we also use our subscription to extend our current lessons or maybe even as a spine resource or spring board of sorts for a lesson. Lately I have notice an influx of awesome documentaries that fit into the science themes we have been studying. I thought I would share some of our favorites. 

Mecca the Great is working on a Disease Detectives(epidemiology) as well as a Weather and Climate unit. She also has some strong interest in bio- medical science so she watches anything she can get her hands on in that genre. Although Kinetic Kid's focus is on Environmental Science and Rocketry and Pony Princess' is Chemistry their list is a bit more of a hodge podge of different topics. Smallville is into all  Things That Go.Here are some of the movies we have watched or have on our list for our current units. 

Epidemiology

Frontline: Ebola Outbreak

Frontline: Hunting the Nightmare Bacteria

Frontline: TB Silent Killer

Forensic Files

TED Talks: Defying Disease 

Weather and Climate

Nova:  Deadliest Tornado 

Nova: Megastorm Aftermath

Bio- medical Science 

Nova: Cracking Your Genetic Code

Neurons to Nirvana: Psychedelic Medicines 

TED Talks: Brave Neuro World

The Incredible Dr. Pol

Environmental Science

Damnation

Fracknation

Gasland

Bottled Life

The Atomic State of America

Revenge of the Electric Car

The City Dark

Last Call at the Oasis

More Than Honey

Farmageddon

Food Inc.

Dirty Business

YERT Your Environmental Road Trip

Addicted to Plastic

School House Rock! Earth

GMO OMG Is This the End of Real Food?

Space and Rocketry

The Next Space Race

Mission to the Edge of Space

Ultimate Mars Challenge

Things That Go

Mighty Machines

Bob the Builder on Site: Trains

Scholastic: Tall Tales

Chemistry

Nova: Hunting the Elements

Other STEM/STEAM Stuff

Nova: Meteor Strike

Brain Games

Why Ships Sink

Fetch With Ruff Ruffman

Sci Girls

Tesla Master of Lightning

The Magic School Bus

The National Parks: Americas Best Idea

Particle Fever

Connected

Silicon Valley

 Maker Stuff

Design is One

The Re- Inventors

Print the Legend

Making Stuff 2

Rocket City Rednecks

Inside Lego

How to Make a Book with Steidl

TED Talks: Rebel Design

Jr. Disease Detectives! CDC Museum Field Trip!

This past week we got the opportunity to visit the CDC Museum here in Atlanta. This year my children are participating in Science Olympiad. I am the coach of our team of 3rd-5th graders that will be competing with over 17 of our local public schools. Its a great opportunity for our children to be able to compete with there public school peers in the community. Mecca the Great is signed up to compete in the Disease Detectives event which is all about epidemiology. So what better place to take a field trip than to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It was am awesome experience. We received a guided tour by volunteer who works in a STEM field. He did a great job of catering to our mixed age student group. He provided a scavenger hunt for lower and upper grades. The lower grades scavenger hunt was pictorial base. We watched a short film that highlighted the Ebola Outbreak of 2006. It showed how the center response to global outbreaks and how they work with the country for containment, identifying the source and prevention. 

They had three floors of exhibit space. They started with the video in round meeting area overlooking the exhibit halls. 

Even Chunky Diva got to walk around and enjoy the learning experience. 

We stopped at this exhibit and got a bit of Black History facts in. This display highlighted the unethical practices of the Board of Health in Tuskegee, AL in an effort to compile research data on non-treated syphilis in over 300 African American patients from the 1930's to the 1972. 

Mecca the Great squealed with delete when she spotted this hug contraption. She shouted out "Look Mom its an iron lung!" Of course it turns out she was spot on. This machine was used to treat TB in sanitariums. 

The exhibit that had the most profound impact on our experience was "GYRE: The Plastic Ocean". When we learned that there are 5 major whirl pool like vortex of plastic waste floating around in our planets oceans we were floored. The children really got to visualize the impact that plastic has on the environment. This was a surprise to see at the CDC for us. But it worked out great as a bonus info session for Kinetic Kid since he is competing in the Save Our Earth event at the Science Olympiad competition this year. 

Here is an artist creation of a dog sled team made of plastic found in the Pacific Ocean Gyre found off the Alaskan coast, 

Here is Pony Princess listening to information of  on "Ghost Dog" which is made from synthetic ghost net. 

Mecca the Great is standing in front of  "Thongs" an printed canvas environmental piece.

Here the children are looking at the sorts of plastics toys and everyday items found in the oceans. 

Of course my Lego League kids couldn't resist taking a picture of the plastics timeline and pointing out when LEGO was born in 1953.