Year 9 Student STEM Challenges at Villa Maria
I planned some STEM challenges as part of the Year 9 Tātai arorangi unit. The topic was introduced with footage of the landing of the NASA Mars Perseverance Rover, and a clip from the film The Martian.
The tasks included numeracy and literacy activities: Reviewing planetary data, reading and analysing text to identify the essentials for life. Students also discussed and identified the skills needed by a crew for a mission to the Moon or Mars. They chose four people they would have in their own team, (one famous person allowed), and justified their choices. (Many lists included parents and siblings!).
The girls investigated (film cannister) rockets and also completed a NASA resource challenge to design and build a lander to protect two "astronauts" at touch down. They used simple materials to create and construct a shock-absorbing system.
The next stage was to work collaboratively as a whole class to construct a lunar habitat large enough for someone to sit inside. They formed groups, assigned leaders, delegated and built the various sections of the habitat. The sections were then assembled together.
This topic leads into the next Year 9 unit: Plants. Reference is again made to The Martian where the stranded astronaut, a botanist, must devise a way to make one month’s food last four years (until the next planned mission).
Scientific Literacy
I surveyed Year 9 and 10 classes about their interests to create a Literacy and Numeracy Escape Room.
The idea is how you can ‘Escape in Books’. Students solve a series of problems to allow a ‘book to escape’ by eventually revealing the combination to ‘release’ the imprisoned book. The activities were constructed in line with the survey results.
The introductory page begins with identifying the blood vessel mentioned in the Neil deGrasse Tyson quote:
.wolʇ ƨmɘldoɿq ƨ'woɿɿomoɈ ʇo ƨnoiɈυloƨ ɘʜɈ ʜɔiʜw ʜϱυoɿʜɈ γɿɘɈɿɒ ɘʜɈ ƨi γɔɒɿɘɈi⅃ ɘɔnɘiɔƧ
Other tasks included:
Using Affect and Effect correctly. Distinguishing between Observations and Inferences at the Oscars. Analysing research on Tic Tok including the effect on the brain. Following map instructions and manipulating a cipher code wheel. Completing a Tom Holland (Spiderman) and Zendaya context to calculate averages and identify outliers.
Finally the name of the ‘captured’ book is the chemical symbols from these Atomic Numbers:
6 67 6 8 57 52
The novel and appropriate prizes can then be released.
Links:
This site has techniques on which to structure your content (equally applicable to non-science subjects):
https://www.keslerscience.com/escape-room-puzzle-ideas-for-the-science-classroom/ (or google Kesler science escape rooms)
Below is a very easy to follow guide for making an Escape Room on One Note:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suKBV82sJOk (or go to YouTube and search: Mr Exham One Note Escape Rooms).
Please contact me if you would like any of these resources: