STEM City Coordinator Mindy Bell took Swedish science museum educator Kajsa Berg on a tour to some of STEM City's (aka Flagstaff's) STEM education sites. Kajsa is visiting as half of an exchange established by the Swedish-American Chamber of Commerce. 6th grade science teacher Kaci Heins, from Northland Preparatory Academy, is the American half. You can read more about the goals of the exchange at their blog. We began the tour at Sinagua Middle School. Teachers Gretchen Downey, Carrie Jenkins, Jenna Samora, Kathryn Wertz, and Jillian Worssam showcased student-centered learning in engineering musical instruments with recycled materials, plate tectonics with graham crackers, coding at your own pace, creating models of human systems, and doing investigations with dry ice respectively!
Flagstaff Junior Academy is in the ol' Flagstaff Middle School building by the pond. We visited science and math teachers Elii Chapman, Todd Saunders, and Heather Berginc. Kajsa was taken by the open format of the middle school, popular at the time the school was built!
We had a great time touring STEM City! If you want to know more about great STEM sites to visit in STEM City, please contact the STEM Coordinator.
0 Comments
7th grade science teachers Carrie Jenkins and Susan Brown, from Sinagua Middle School and Northland Preparatory Academy respectively, have been collaborating for four years on an investigation of macroinvertebrates in Oak Creek and the Rio de Flag near Willow Bend Environmental Education Center. Carrie and Susan spend hours each fall preparing thirty leaf packs for each site and depositing them in the two environments. They retrieve the packs approximately one month later. Their students then compare the macroinvertebrates they find in the leaf packs from Oak Creek with those from the Willow Bend "pond". The teachers use online resources from the Leaf Pack Network, a network of citizens, teachers and students investigating their local stream ecosystems. The site has protocols for collecting the samples, resources for macroinvertebrate identification, and a data portal for them to upload their results. Macroinvertebrates are organisms that are large (macro) enough to be seen with the naked eye and lack a backbone (invertebrate). They inhabit all types of running waters, from fast flowing mountain streams to slow moving muddy rivers. Examples of aquatic macroinvertebrates include insects in their larval or nymph form, crayfish, clams, snails, and worms (see photos below). Most live part or most of their life cycle attached to submerged rocks, logs, and vegetation.
After completing their data sheet, students compile their data and upload it to the Leaf Pack Network site. The site has tools for students to compare the data from their two schools, as well as other schools and sites. The students can use the data to determine general stream health. If the overall pollution tolerance value of the organisms is low, the stream is most likely less burdened by contaminants than if the overall pollution tolerance level is high. This year had some disappointments for the two educators, as the leaf packs in Oak Creek had been purposefully cut away from their anchor so only one pack remained, and the leaf packs in the Willow Bend pond area were imbedded in four inches of ice - making removal difficult. Undaunted, the teachers collected leaf litter along Oak Creek so their students could still look for organisms, and thawed the iced bags in time for class. The Flagstaff STEM community is thrilled to have these dedicated educators!
Barnes & Noble bookstores hosted Mini-Maker Faires the weekend of November 6th - 8th. Scott Hathcock and Amanda Kristinat from the Greater Flagstaff Chamber of Commerce taught a coding workshop at our local store. The Chamber has been actively involved in increasing technology education in Flagstaff through two summer camps (see blog post here) and a Hack the Class initiative at Flagstaff Junior Academy and Killip Elementary School that is expanding to other schools as well.
Flagstaff Medical Center’s Future Health Leaders Summer Camp Flagstaff Medical Center, a member of Northern Arizona Healthcare, held its first Future Medical Leaders summer camp for high school students from Monday, July 6, through Thursday, July 9. The event, sponsored by Patient and Family Experience Services, was designed for incoming high school freshmen through senior students interested in becoming healthcare professionals. More than 40 students applied to attend the camp, but only 24 were selected to participate. There were nineteen young women and five young men representing five high schools in Flagstaff (Coconino High School, Flagstaff High School, BASIS Flagstaff, Flagstaff Arts and Leadership Academy and Northland Preparatory Academy) as well as one home-schooled student. The students spent the week attending lectures about contemporary healthcare topics; visiting different departments and discussing ethical issues. They met with Rob Thames, NAH’s president and CEO, and spent time with physicians, nurses and other colleagues who care for patients. They also participated in hands-on activities, such as a trauma lab, where they practiced patient-care scenarios and learned CPR and first-aid. On the last day of camp, they worked on their public speaking skills and developed basic resumes. Flagstaff Medical Center is a member of Northern Arizona Healthcare, which also provides healthcare services through Verde Valley Medical Center, Team Health, Verde Valley Medical Clinic, Cancer Centers of Northern Arizona Healthcare, EntireCare Rehab & Sports Medicine, Fit Kids of Arizona, Guardian Air, Guardian Medical Transport, Heart & Vascular Center of Northern Arizona, Northern Arizona Homecare, Northern Arizona Hospice and Valley View Care. For more information on Flagstaff Medical Center programs and services, visit FlagstaffMedicalCenter.com. “Like” FMC at Facebook.com/FlagstaffMedicalCenter. Thank you to Patient and Family Experience Services at NAH who hope to host this event again next year. And a special thank you to Sophia Papa, Public Relations with Northern Arizona Healthcare, for the primary writing of this post.
The Flagstaff Junior Academy Math Team rocked the Math League Championship Qualifying Round in Prescott on February 25, 2015. Evan Belt-Moyer, Ben Andrews, Nikolai Shade and Marlee Stephens, the four members of the team, had a great time doing math for three hours and felt strongly that FJA should participate again next year. The FJA team was only beat by one other team at this competition. In addition, Marlee's scores brought her qualification for participation in the State Championship in May. Congratulations to Elii Chapman, 5th and 6th grade math and science teacher at Flagstaff Junior Academy, and her super math team! For more information on Math League, see www.Mathleague.org. The website has many sample math problems. You can also check out Math Counts, another site that offers online math support for students and teachers. www.mathcounts.org
Elii is currently looking for math tutors to help all of her students with their mathematical endeavors. Contact Mindy if you are interested in helping tutor math at Flagstaff Junior Academy. Elii Chapman is the 5th and 6th grade science and math teacher at Flagstaff Junior Academy. Elii engages in numerous hands-on studies with her students. She recently became a beta tester for Foldscope. What is Foldscope? Taken from their website: Foldscope is an origami-based print-and-fold optical microscope that can be assembled from a flat sheet of paper. Although it costs less than a dollar in parts, it can provide over 2,000X magnification with sub-micron resolution (800nm), weighs less than two nickels (8.8 g), is small enough to fit in a pocket (70 × 20 × 2 mm3), requires no external power, and can survive being dropped from a 3-story building or stepped on by a person. Its minimalistic, scalable design is inherently application-specific instead of general-purpose gearing towards applications in global health, field based citizen science and K12-science education. Ten thousand beta testers in over 130 countries were chosen to receive 50,000 Foldscopes. As a chosen tester, Elii received 12 Foldscopes. She invited FJA students and their parents to form a family Foldscope Club, and they met on April 11, 2015 to build the foldscopes. Foldscopes were designed when Manu Prakash and his bioengineering team at Stanford University asked the questions, "What happens to the world if every single kid carries a microscope in his/her pocket? Moreover, what can we achieve in science, medicine, and industry with improved access to microscopes around the globe?"
Foldscopes can be attached to smart phones and the camera function can then take photographic images seen through the scope. These images can be uploaded to the Foldscope image site. The Foldscope Club also has a Pinterest site where you can see some of their images.
Congratulations to Samantha Thompson, Curator at Lowell Observatory, and Rich Krueger, science and engineering teacher and robotics coach at Flagstaff Arts and Leadership Academy. Thompson and Krueger have been selected for the SOFIA Airborne Astronomy Ambassadors program. Later this year, they will take flight alongside scientists on NASA’s flying observatory. The Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) is a modified 747SP jetliner equipped with a 100-inch telescope. Flying at altitudes between 39,000 and 45,000 feet, the craft collects data from the infrared portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. One of the instruments on SOFIA is the High Speed Imaging Photometer for Occultation (HIPO), a device built by astronomer Ted Dunham and his engineering team at Lowell Observatory. Lowell director Jeffrey Hall said, “Lowell Observatory has long been involved scientifically with SOFIA, so it’s very appropriate to have one of our staff members take part in the ambassador program.” The Thompson/Krueger team was just one of 14 chosen from a highly competitive, nationwide field of educators. Each team of ambassadors will work with a professional astronomer to experience airborne astronomical research first-hand. Afterward, the educators share what they learned with their classrooms and local communities. Thompson said, “We will create one exhibit here at Lowell and one that travels around to STEM fairs, the Festival of Science, schools and elsewhere.” Because these displays will be shown at both informal (Lowell) and formal (schools) education sites, they will reach a wide range of audiences. Plus, Krueger’s students will gain valuable firsthand experience. Krueger said, “When we take the exhibit to Wheeler Park and classrooms, my students will go and help teach the concepts in the exhibits.” Thank you to Kevin Schindler, Lowell Observatory, for allowing me to borrow heavily from his post at www.lowell.edu!
|