We participated in McCormicks Creek Elementary STEM night along with a dozen other exhibitors. We had batteries and bulbs, an assortment of PVC pipes and connectors, earth-moon necklaces, and corona chalk art. Some kids worked at all 4 stations, some only did one. When someone was doing an “eclipse” activity, we talked about the eclipse, what they knew plus some more info.

POP fest is a day for Brown County High School students to get a glimpse of post K-12 ideas, careers, jobs, pursuits. They attend 6 sessions lead by business community experts. We did a cardboard construction sessions where they designed and prototyped food trucks. As they built, we talked about all the types of brains and thinking and work that would be involved in running a small business such as a food truck. We also talked about how this project could work in many classes (art, business, science (science of food), math…). So many great ideas and designs and conversations. A couple of kids might have stayed around for more than one session.

We headed north to Plainfield to work with 3 – 1st grade classes at Brentfield Elementary. We did a Q&A about the eclipse so we could all share things we knew about the eclipse. A basketball and tennis ball are good (proportional) models for the Earth & moon. For this size, they would be about 24 feet apart (the sun would be a 9 story building and almost 2 miles away).

Then we made earth-moon necklaces. We had choices, wooden beads 25 mm & 6 mm, or flat  discs that I laser cut and laser engraved continents. Students colored in oceans and land. We had a short book about the eclipse. Finally we made corona chalk art.

We participated in the Lotus Blossoms World Bazaar Community Day. We had a variety of homemade instruments.

 
 
 
 
 
 
We started with a regular straw to make a “straw oboe”. Flatten one end a and cut the edges off to make a point. You are making a “reed” type element. Then find the right spot in the mouth and the right pressure and blow softly. You should get a buzzing sound, like a kazoo. This is difficult to find the right position and pressure. The shorter the straw, the higher the pitch.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Next we had “drums”… pizza boxes and bamboo skewers taped together. The Aofie Scott band was in town from Dublin Ireland. She plays the Bodhran (her bandmates play guitar & violin). She uses bamboo skewers for her drumstick. She also mentioned that at music festivals, they teach kids the various ways to drum using pizza boxes…what an easy instrument to “make”

Then we had “palm pipes”. Different lengths of PVC (shorter = higher pitch). Youuse your palm and tap on an open end.

Finally, we had the sound effects creator – a metal slinky tape to a tote or bucket.
No one knows what to expect and are always amazed when the slinky hits the ground.

We had another after school STEM club get together.
First we had some eclipse Q & A.
One statement by a student I wasnt 100% sure about. They said that eclipses happen every 100 years. I knew that was wrong, but didnt know the exact timeframe. I thought they happened every year. And they do, 2-4 times a year (just mostly over water since the earth is mostly water). But TOTAL solar eclipse’s happen about every 18 months (I assume mostly viewable over water).

We did some eclipse art, the corona chalk art activity (oops, forgot to take pics). Some went to town and did multiple corona’s on one page.

Then we went for our walk through the Nature Trail. We were looking for “new life”, signs of Spring and new things popping. The trail area did not really have much, other than vines with some fresh leaves. There was one dandelion, a few tiny white flowers, and a patch of berries (which one student said were poisonous).

Linton–Stockton Elementary School held a SCIENCE night and many, many kids and parents came (at least 100 /50). There was a variety of activities for students to do : magnetic painting, work with Root robot, explore conductivity, launch stomp rockets, make bubbles, make invisible ink, corona chalk art, and make an eclipse paper circuit (station I helped with).

It was non-stop kids from the beginning to the end. We talked about the sun & earth & moon and what is happening one month from now. I had a 9ft diameter circle behind me, which is the proportional sun size for a 1″ earth (and quarter inch moon)

Recently, Paoli had a family STEM Night with various activities. They were demonstrating their 3D printer and laser cutter, as well as some robots. They had a couple of tables with science experiments, someone had a VR experience. I had stomp rockets. We quickly hit the ceiling in the cafeteria, so we started launching at an angle. We never reached the kitchen, but some did get theirs to go most of the way across the cafeteria (no one was injured).

35 students and 3 educators from  Avondale Meadows Middle School came to visit IU campus to get a glimpse at college life. They get an activity and a tour of a classroom building, dorm, and dining hall.

The activity was a cardboard prototyping project. Design something. One group designed a special hearing aid, one did cool glasses, most did an IU building from the book “Good Night Indiana University ” (which a student Ambassador from Office of School Partnerships read to them).

We had cardboad tools ready for them, along with craft materials…

(office 365 doesnt like to share my powerpoint)

There are various ways to get started with circuits (batt & bulb ; paper circuits ; circuit blocks…)

At the Unionville Elementary 4th grade science class, we started with the kits they had been exploring and they remade a series circuit. Then we switched up and gave them an LED & a battery and they had to figure out (observe & test) how to light it up (then multiples, then which colors work together. Then we added alligator clip wires to the mix. Most make the mistake of clipping the alligator clip to the battery (it is a clip , after all). We got that figured out. Since they knew how to make a series circuit with their kits, we had them make a series circuit with a neighbor. Now we had several points to trouble shoot. One being that LED’s are directional, the other being in series EACH needs 3 volts, so they have to add a second battery. They got that to work. We finished up by making a parallel circuit. Again, some had one light backwards, but we got that figured out.

Paper circuits is another way to work with electricity. It still starts with a battery & a bulb, but then they get to make a drawing and we draw a circuit on the inside of the drawing and use copper tape.
At the Wabash Valley STEAM Day (Sullivan Middle School) I did 3 sessions of this. Kids created some artwork, then choose 1 or two (or 3) places/components that they want to light up. I draw a circuit that they have to lay copper tape on. With the younger kids, it is nice to have parents involved to help with this.

I borrowed the Tale-Bots from the TTL in School of Education and headed out to Unionville Elementary. They had some Bee-Bots, so we were able to pair kindergarten students up on a bot.
We talked about what it meant to be robotic (sense, think, act) and which directions our typical bots can move (forward, backward, turn right, turn left). Then we let them code their bot to do whatever they wanted. Some of them I asked to code the bot to go around its box. Many really enjoyed the “dancing” that the Tale-Bot did.
We switched bots half way through our time so they got to work with both.
At the end, we came together and summarized what we learned and re-enacted the what a bot does when you press certain buttons (I held up examples of the button – i need bigger cards to hold up)