SCIENCE FEST
Crown Valley students have the opportunity to participate in CV’s annual Science Fest Program. All students who participate will receive a ribbon. The projects are due by 7:45 May 27 in the site’s library. The projects will be available for viewing during Open House that evening. Some helpful websites are listed below.
Good Luck.
Brown Paper Bag Simple Machines
Brown paper bags as simple machines? You bet! Students will be using lunch or grocery bags, tweezers, clamps, scissors, corkscrews, rulers and rocks for this simple machines lesson plan for middle school classes.
http://www.edheads.org/activities/lesson_plans/pdf/sm_02.pdf
The Lever as a Machine
Catapults and launches, how much fun can that be? Students will probably love this science lesson plan examining levers as machines — with marshmallows, rubber bands, ziplocs, and craft sticks. They will be investigating resistance, fulcrums, and forces on machines they design in small groups.
http://www.edheads.org/activities/lesson_plans/pdf/sm_03.pdf
Make a Lightbulb
Use this lesson plan for students to create their own light bulbs, and then issue a design challenge to create an improved bulb. A student worksheet is included at the 2nd link above.
http://invention.smithsonian.org/centerpieces/edison/000_lightbulb_01.asp
Link 2 – http://invention.smithsonian.org/centerpieces/edison/000_lightbulb_02.asp
Build a Solar-powered Invention
The design challenge here is for students to use everyday household objects to invent an item powered by a flexible solar shingle. Learn more about the inventor of the solar shingle at the 2nd link above.
http://invention.smithsonian.org/centerpieces/ilives/guha/build.html
Link 2 – http://invention.smithsonian.org/centerpieces/ilives/guha/index.html
Inventing a New Kind of Pencil
Here’s a great way to engage your students in critical thinking and science, with a wonderful project in creating (drum roll for your students please)… a pencil! Find guidelines and suggestions here for an innovative class project.
http://www.noogenesis.com/inventing/pencil/pencil_page.html
Wacky Inventions
Students will be creating their own wacky inventions, much in the style of Rube Goldberg, using three simple machines and five steps, according to the instructions laid out here.
http://www.edheads.org/activities/lesson_plans/pdf/sm_01.pdf
Sketching Gadget Anatomy
Students will be closely examining a variety of small gadgets — cork screws, drills, staplers, etc. — in order to figure out which simple machines are used. They will create diagrams of their machines, labeling how they work — an excellent way to bring your unit on simple machines into the real world.
http://www.mos.org/sln/Leonardo/SketchGadgetAnatomy.html
Leonardo’s Mystery Machines
Which machine was Leonardo da Vinci trying to invent? Your students will have to figure it out, in this interactive exhibit of da Vinci’s incredible inventions.
http://www.mos.org/sln/Leonardo/LeosMysteriousMachinery.html
Be Inventive!
Now that students have explored simple machines, why not let them have a go at creating their own inventions, applying design principles, problems, and solutions.
http://www.mos.org/sln/Leonardo/BeInventive.html
Design a Motion Machine
Use recycled materials (leftover holiday materials are suggested here, but add any recyclables instead) to create your own motion machines. No limitations — except that the final product must move.
http://www.thinkingfountain.org/m/motionmachine/motionmachine.html
Anthony Bogle
Principal
