STEM(in) with Steph

  DNA is the building blocks to all life Deoxyribonucleic-Acid, or DNA for short, is the genetic material that forms the basis of all life.  Without DNA, you would basically be a rock (i.e. rocks are not living and therefore don't have DNA).  Another way to think of DNA is to compare it to a building's blueprint; it is the instruction manual for constructing life.   DNA lives in the nucleolus of every living cell.  It takes the form of a double helix structure, usually depicted in a counter-clockwise rotation (upwards).  Some might refer to its unwound shape as a ladder, with two sugar phosphate 'sides' and rungs made of 4 nucleotide bases joined 1:1: Adenine, Thymine, Cytosine, Guanine.  Unique is also the fact that if you look at the 'rungs' of DNA, Adenine will only pair with Thymine, and Cytosine will only pair with Guanine.  If you really want to get minuet, the whole of DNA is purposefully designed based upon the use of the 5 base atoms: oxygen, carbon, hy

 Planning forward for Spring 2023! Welcome to the new year and a new season of STEM talks!  If you are like me, you might be breaking out that new 2023 planner and have already started color coordinating your dates, meetings, summer camps, and maybe even a vacation squeezed in there somewhere? I'd say most of us like to plan ahead, and if you're a teacher (or parent), you are always looking ahead to the next scheduled thing to keep your kids learning and having some fun along the way.   I'm a big fan of planning ahead, so below I've put down a couple ideas for classes, activities, and just plain fun things to do that might take just a little planning beforehand to accomplish!  Chicken Embryology 101 Growth Stages One of our most popular spring projects. Learn about life cycles while you watch and learn through a real classroom hatching experience.  Classes receive 12-18 fertilized eggs, an incubator, and all hatching supplies.  The cycle typically extends 21 days from f

  Welcome back to school!  Yes, some of you have been at your desks since August already, but time flies as you get older (Trust me....).  It's exciting to see that STEM is taking a front row seat in our districts' this year as each school has brought on a STEM coordinator to bring the joy of hands on education through Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics!  I'm going to be brief today but want to share just a couple of fun resources available through our STEM Programming this year! Three (3) In-Classroom/Home Chicken Incubators available for loan out to study life cycles/sciences.  These kits include all the materials needed to go from a fertilized egg to the live chicks and engages students in discussions about the industry, parts of the egg and cycles, creating a farm, and even life and death conversations and dissection's.  25+ STEM Kits for Check-out through our kit loan program.  Like a backpack program, STEM kits can be checked out from any of our th

 "Welcome to group! Today we are going outside in the cold, grim, windy weather, to compete in a 'Hometown Photo Scavenger Hunt'!" ...is exactly how I introduced yesterday's activity to the bi-monthly girls Life Skill students.   Now how in the world, you ask, does a photo race incorporate life skills? AhHa!...I'll get to that, but first a little info on how we did it. The race had two teams of 3 girls each and an adult driver. The rules were simple... Everyone had to participate in the hunt, directions, and incorporate teamwork A total of 21 items had to be reached on the listing of 25, with 3 bonus items available for extra points only after meeting the 21 total.  Group Photos had to include the whole group - Driver too 1 camera had to be used for all photos Have fun, but be back to our meeting point by ___ time We split them into teams (broke up sister pairs and friend pairs - Oooo how mean of us!) and then headed off to the chariots to race around Delta f

  Have you ever watched CSI (Crime Scene Investigation)?  It was (is?) a fictional crime drama that invited viewers to follow the process behind crime scene investigations, evidence collection, lab analysis, and eventually apprehending the bad guys!  Another similar program, yet often more realistic as to timelines, is Forensic Files.  Unlike the fictional TV show, Forensic Files shared true case files and the real people who had a hand in solving them.  Where as the TV drama makes it look like evidence review and lab results lead to closed cases every few days, the real investigators make it very clear to audiences that in reality, it can take weeks, months, and even years for evidence to lead them to the crime perpetrator, if ever... Either way you like to watch your crime TV, both shows are exciting as they share the secrets behind solving the mystery!  Both use real life terms, evidence collection methods, lab techniques and machinery, and good old detective work.  Watching them of

"Hello! and Welcome to ________, May I take your order?" is one phrase that many of us have uttered in our lives at one point or another.  In fact, it is estimated that 1 in 3 American's first job was in fast food/restaurant related services.  With the current US Population above 332,000,000 and rising, that means approximately 110,000,000+ of us have at one point or another....had our fingers in someone else's food. GROSS! (You know it happened...) That being said, I think we can all agree that safe food handling education is super important when it comes to first time job seekers striking out on their own to find gainful employment in the highly demanded industry of food away from home.   Therefore, this last week our girls group took part in a educational course about safe food handling and learned many reasons why it is important to practice these skills, both in a workplace and at home! Learning the areas on hands that germs most like to cling to! There are curre

  What a summer it has been! You might have noticed I've been a little silent. That's because I've been out on leave enjoying family time. But now I'm back in the saddle and ready to share exciting resources, STEM lessons, videos, workshops, and much more!  Fall 2021 STEM Materials are updated!  If you go to our webpage, www.tra.extension.colostate.edu you can find a ton of resources from canning to insects, 4-H, and of course STEM.  Bubbles Galore! Kit On our STEM pages check out the Fall 2021 STEM Kit Loan Out Listing.  Our office has over 20+ STEM kits that are self contained and provide materials for interactive, hands on learning!  A sample of some kits/topics includes: Rockets, Bubbles, Water Pollution, Soil Science, Germs, and Embryology (Chick Hatching) plus more!  All kits are available to teachers, parents, afterschool programs, etc... and most materials are supplied! Hatching Chicks! The complete listing of kits is on our webpage and a google request form is

Howdy all! Summer is quickly approaching and I wanted to quickly give an update on some exciting programming coming your way from TRA STEM!  Firstly, let me remind you in addition to this blog, TRA STEM has a Facebook page, YouTube page, and Website filled with fun, hands on, and STEMulating activities and experiments! The links to these great resources can be found here: Facebook Page: STEM/k12 Programs - TRA Extension   YouTube Channel: STEMin with Steph TRA Extension STEM Website: STEM/k12 I encourage you to follow the links above and check out our resources for yourself! This summer, we are releasing weekly STEM activities and videos on our Facebook page! Mondays and Fridays are STEM Bucket List releases with a count-up to our 20 top bucket list items we want to explore all summer long!  Wednesday's have become our STEMin Vids release days! We will premiere vids that were produced by our STEM team and partners that vary on topics from engineering to mathematics and gardening to

Soil Test Collecting April has hit and those of us who are really excited and itching to get outdoors are thinking about the best ways to get the garden going for the 2021 growing season!   I'm always excited for this time of year because I love working in the garden to grow my own produce and enjoying the fruits of the labor all summer long.   Even more exciting?!?!  When a school program gets on board to start school gardens and teach young youth the joys of working hard to produce their own food.  It teaches a lot of pride and satisfaction to young kids when they see what they can accomplish with a little sweat and dirt under the fingernails! This spring, Pomona Elementary has decided to revive their ailing garden beds and start a combined 2nd, 3rd, and 4th grade school garden for the remainder of the school year.  Last week, I had the pleasure of visiting the kids on a sunny Friday afternoon and starting the conversation about gardening! Combined Classes Learning About Starting

 Another fun Life Skills group took place today!  Since we are beginning to grow in numbers, and still wanting to be socially distant, we made the decision to split up into small group sessions.  My group was the 'Never Before Used a Sewing Machine' group.   Later this season, all the girls will be doing a fun sewing project to make tie-dye, handkerchief pillows, but before we get to that point, I needed to give a course on some of the machine basics to the girls who have never used one.  Because even if you have the best sewing machine you can buy from your super discount store (i.e. my model), it won't do you any good if you don't know the basics about Thread, Bobbins, and Needles, Oh My! Mint Sewing Machine - Basic Model  For beginning sewers, it's important to start with the basics of the the machine.  I had a machine for each girl, but the machines ranged from super simple, to mid-grade, to digital master!  Even with the differences between them in functionalit