{"id":7103,"date":"2017-10-31T20:58:35","date_gmt":"2017-11-01T00:58:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/?p=7103"},"modified":"2017-11-06T08:11:43","modified_gmt":"2017-11-06T13:11:43","slug":"project-grit-sponsors-stem-thon-fifth-graders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/project-grit-sponsors-stem-thon-fifth-graders\/","title":{"rendered":"Project GRIT sponsors STEM-a-thon for fifth-graders"},"content":{"rendered":"

White Oaks Elementary fifth-grader Michael Jarvis says he likes science because \u201cyou can test different things and figure out quite a few interesting things.\u201d\u00a0 There is, however, one question he hasn\u2019t figured out yet.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always wondered what peanut butter is,\u201d he said. \u201cIs it liquid? Is it a solid? Is it a plasma? I\u2019ve always wondered that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wonder and awe were in full effect during the STEM-a-thon hosted at White Oaks Elementary Oct. 25. The peanut butter mystery may not have been solved for Jarvis but he and his fifth-grade peers had plenty of opportunities to investigate sound and light with activities aligned to their Standards of Learning (SOL) objectives.<\/p>\n

\""<\/p>\n

The STEM-a-thon was hosted at four elementary schools as part of Project G.R.I.T. (Global Resilient Independent Thinkers), a $1.5 million, five-year grant awarded to Virginia Beach City Public Schools (VBCPS) by the Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) Educational Partnership in 2016. The grant supports STEM initiatives and social-emotional endeavors at seven schools: Centerville Elementary, Kempsville Meadows Elementary, Shelton Park Elementary, White Oaks Elementary, Kempsville Middle, Lynnhaven Middle and Bayside High. The division\u2019s Office of Student Support Services selected the schools because of their percentage of military-connected students and a need for enrichment activities in the grant\u2019s focus areas.<\/p>\n

The focus of White Oaks Elementary fifth-graders during the STEM-a-thon\u2019s opening session was on the plasma ball Kelley Clark brought with her from Williamsburg.<\/p>\n

\u201cDoes anybody know what\u2019s inside this?\u201d she asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cLight,\u201d responded one fifth-grader.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a ball with electricity,\u201d said another.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a plasma ball,\u201d correctly answered a third student.<\/p>\n

\u201cDoes anyone know what\u2019s going to happen when I touch it?\u201d asked Clark. \u201cCan I ask for a volunteer? Let\u2019s see what happens.\u201d<\/p>\n

\""<\/p>\n

\u201cThe electricity, it\u2019s all confused in there and all the molecules are bounding all over the place,\u201d explained Clark. \u201cBut when Alyssia touches it, they are attracted to her and they are trying to get to the earth. They\u2019re going through her arm and down to the earth.\u201d<\/p>\n

Clark is the coordinator for the STEM Education Alliance in the College of William and Mary\u2019s School of Education, with which VBCPS contracts to lead STEM initiatives associated with the grant. They will visit the grant\u2019s secondary schools in the spring with STEM activities related to their SOL objectives.<\/p>\n

Clark continued to amaze students with the plasma ball, using thin tubes filled with different elements that would change colors. She saved the best \u2013 and the biggest \u2013 for last.<\/p>\n

\u201cA light saber!\u201d exclaimed several students.<\/p>\n

After a few Star Wars-like flourishes, Clark clarified, \u201cIt\u2019s a fluorescent lightbulb, like what you have in your classroom lights.\u201d<\/p>\n

\""<\/p>\n

Students soon became the scientists, rotating through four classrooms for one-hour investigations on various topics related to sound and light. During their break for lunch, they spoke with scientists and engineers visiting from Naval Air Station (NAS) Oceana Dam Neck.<\/p>\n

In the room focused on the characteristics and properties of light, students learned about and experimented with refraction.<\/p>\n

\""<\/p>\n

Down the hall, students studied sound using tuning forks, plastic straws, glasses of water, metal spoons and more.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really liked the tuning fork station,\u201d said one student. \u201cIt was really cool. I liked the way the vibrations could make things move.\u201d<\/p>\n

\""<\/p>\n

In the musical makerspace, fifth-graders Landon Bradshaw and Jason Hunt put to use the lessons they\u2019ve learned this year learning how to play string instruments in the school orchestra.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re trying to make a violin because violins are small,\u201d explained Hunt while Bradshaw went to get a shoebox to complete their instrument. \u201cSo these are the fingerboards and we\u2019re going to attach these together. These rubber bands are going to be the strings and we\u2019re going to make holes here and tie the strings.\u201d<\/p>\n

\""<\/p>\n

All smiles while working through the challenge, both fifth-graders agree their real string instruments will be easier to play.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re already made for us!\u201d said Hunt laughing.<\/p>\n

Making working electronic circuits was the STEM project in the last classroom.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I like about this project is how you can see that it\u2019s sound and also light, and there\u2019s also many different experiments that you can do with all these tiny pieces that I never thought that you could actually do,\u201d said fifth-grader La\u2019Nya Burrow.<\/p>\n

\""<\/p>\n

Emilee Hilliard, in the room with Burrow, also never thought her light-up tennis shoes would activate and change colors when she put her hand on the plasma ball, but that\u2019s exactly what happened \u2013 to the amazement of her peers and teachers. They called over Clark from the room next door for an explanation but even she was stumped.<\/p>\n

\""<\/p>\n

The inquiry. The wonder. The engagement. It\u2019s just what Clark wanted to see happen.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur goal for the day is twofold,\u201d she said. \u201cFirst off, we want the kids to love science and see that it can be fun and engaging, and it\u2019s OK to fail and it\u2019s OK to make things, try things and all of that. We hope to expose them to some science concepts, but the main goal is that they just really love STEM and get to try things they don\u2019t normally get to try.\u201d<\/p>\n

The second goal is professional learning for the teachers who assist with activities throughout the STEM-a-thon. \u201cWe want them to see inquiry-based practices and we want the teachers to be focused on learning in the rooms,\u201d said Clark.<\/p>\n

She met with teachers before the STEM-a-thon to preview the various stations and followed up after the event to discuss various questions. How did you see inquiry being used in that classroom? Could you do that? What was different about that than the way you normally teach? What did you see that would make successful stations? What would make them difficult to use?<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cI love this day,\u201d said fifth-grade teacher Elizabeth Samuelson, a reaction echoed by her colleagues. \u201cWe do investigations that are similar to this but theirs are kind of taken to another level. It\u2019s really cool to see what we do here and take it back to our classrooms.\u201d<\/p>\n

The students think it\u2019s cool too.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey have so much fun!\u201d observed Samuelson. \u201cAnytime you get to have a hands-on experience, I think the students are so excited. And, in talking to them, they\u2019re learning exactly what they\u2019re supposed to learn and we don\u2019t have to tell them. They\u2019re learning it themselves. That\u2019s my favorite part. I love anything inquiry-driven. It\u2019s awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n

After every station, students kept track of their learning and notes in a handbook provided by the STEM Alliance. The teachers and students also get to keep all the materials brought in for the STEM-a-thon.<\/p>\n

\""<\/p>\n

It\u2019s just the beginning of science exploration for Jarvis, who said he may want to work at NASA when he is older.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy mom says: Judging off all the Lego crafts you build and the ideas that you have, you\u2019d be good in NASA and STEM and all that. I\u2019m like, \u2018Wow,\u2019 because I don\u2019t think my ideas are very good. Well, some of them are. But others think they are amazing!\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

White Oaks Elementary fifth-grader Michael Jarvis says he likes science because \u201cyou can test different things and figure out quite a few interesting things.\u201d\u00a0 There is, however, one question he […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":7110,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[21,141],"class_list":["post-7103","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-stem","tag-white-oaks-elementary"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7103","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7103"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7103\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7113,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7103\/revisions\/7113"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7110"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7103"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7103"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7103"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}