Sense It!
Posted on April 6th, 2018 by Mary Lord
Sensors are in everything from smart phones to corn fields. They also can be a powerful and engaging tool to teach STEM. SENSE IT, a free, research-based curriculum, involves students in hands-on learning about their local environment by constructing, deploying, and interpreting data from a network of water-quality sensors.
Filed under: Grades 6-8, Grades 9-12, K-12 Outreach Programs, Lesson Plans, Web Resources | Comments Off on Sense It!
Tags: circuits, Curriculum, data analysis, Environmental Engineering, Environmental science, Grades 6-8, Grades 9-12, integrated STEM, Internet Resources, iSTEM, Lesson Plan, Liesl Hotaling, SENSE IT, sensors, Teacher Resources, water quality, Web Resources
AFS and energy giant BP have teamed up to create a new study abroad scholarship for high school STEM students that covers travel, housing, and program costs for BP Global STEM Academies in Brazil, Egypt, and the United States this summer. Apply by March 31, 2018.
Do you know a young high school woman who enjoys engineering and could serve as an inspiring role model for other girls? Encourage her to apply to be a National Academy of Engineering’s EngineerGirl Ambassador. Ambassadors receive up to $250 to fund their project, a paid round-trip to the Society of Women Engineers national conference in Minneapolis, and leadership development and mentors. Apply by May 31, 2018.
Students in grades 3 to 12 explore the effects of gravity, friction, and air resistance upon acceleration by using the engineering design process to design, build, and test their own bobsleds with the aim of reducing run times with each attempt.
High school students design and build wind chimes using their knowledge of physics and sound waves, and under such constraints as weight, cost, and the number of musical notes their chimes must generate. They make mathematical computations to determine the pipe lengths. Links to similar activities for younger students included in activity scaling section.
Spider-Man’s creator, Stan Lee, finds inspiration in STEM. And he hopes students in grades 6 to 12 will, too, by dreaming up comics or short videos in the National Science Foundation’s Generation Nano: Superheroes Inspired by Science competition. Top entries can win up to $1,500 in scholarships, with $500 stipends for teachers. Enter by January 8, 2018. 
Middle and high school students follow the engineering design process to create wearable devices to monitor the health of humans, animals, or both in this competition sponsored by North Carolina State University’s Nanosystems Engineering Research Center for Advanced Self-Powered Systems of Integrated Sensors and Technologies (ASSIST). The program includes teacher training and lesson plans to help implement the design challenge. Register teams by Feb. 15, 2018.
In this lesson on using mathematical modeling to solve real-world problems, middle and high school students work in teams to build a graph/model of their city map, then try to solve a real problem based on the model. They evaluate their solutions and present their reflections to the class.
Students follow the engineering design process to design and build a usable device to propel school T-shirts up into the stands during home sporting events while keeping costs under budget. 
