Step into S.T.E.M. - Using littleBits to Make Big Advances
My students need two littleBits Deluxe Electronics Kits to make observations and provide evidence that energy can be transferred from place to place by sound, light, heat, and electricity. We also need a class set of KNEX.
$581 goal
Hooray! This project is fully funded
Hooray! This project is fully funded
Celebrating Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month
This project is a part of the Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month celebration because
it supports a Latino teacher or a school where the majority of students are Latino.
Our school just opened a STEM Lab. We give students opportunities to collaborate, plan, design, invent and test whatever their minds can imagine. Adding littleBits will give students the opportunity to use hands-on engineering skills to understand science concepts such as the transfer of energy.
Our students come from a multi-cultural population containing 43% English Language Learners and almost 92% economically disadvantaged students.
However, they are inquisitive learners, especially when they use hands-on activities that relate to the concepts they are learning. Our students need to develop better understanding of core vocabulary, particularly in science, to improve test scores. Using littleBits, students will work together to ask questions about problems, brainstorm solutions, predict outcomes, build and test their solutions and revise until they have reached the desired outcome. This reflects one of our action steps in our school improvement plan to help students use the engineering design process to better understand concepts and vocabulary in science.
My Project
My students need two littleBits Deluxe Electronics Kits to make observations and provide evidence that energy can be transferred from place to place by sound, light, heat, and electricity. We also need a class set of KNEX. Students will be given opportunities to use littleBits in collaborative groups during S.T.E.M., with their classroom teacher during co-teaching with S.T.E.M. and/or during after school S.T.E.M. club.
Students will apply scientific ideas to design, test, and refine a device that converts energy from one form to another. They will build a design using materials such as cardboard boxes, paper towel rolls, Legos, K’Nex or other supplies. Then they will add appropriate littleBits electronics to make their creations move, light up, make a sound, etc. This will take place during and after their science unit on the Transfer of Energy.
Once designs are complete, they will write a “How To” task card so that other students can re-create this design. “How To” cards will be stored in Google and scored by a rubric. Interested students can present their projects at the local S.T.E.M. Expo. Students will deepen their understanding of science concepts and vocabulary through presenting.
Donations will improve our science curriculum, entitling students to really use the engineering and design process.
Students will collaborate to ask questions about problems, brainstorm solutions and predict outcomes. Students will build and test their solutions, revising them until they have reached the desired outcome. They will write about the process to share with other students their solutions. Students will gain confidence and take risks and learn to think outside the box.
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As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Mrs. Graham and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.