STEM(in) with Steph is a fun way to keep up with me ~ The STEM/k12 Agent for Colorado State University Extension in the Tri River Area of Western Colorado! Read on for fun STEM activities and community projects! I share updates on programs I'm involved in or cool science you can practice at home!
Sept 16-17 ~ EUREKA KIDS CAMP in Grand Junction
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Cooking Up Nutrition!
Spinach Pops, with kale, chia seeds, OJ, yogurt, peaches, and bananas! Yum!
This last week I was invited to help conduct a nutrition camp at the newly constructed CSU Orchard Mesa Research Center in Grand Junction. In partnership with Amanda McQuade at Community Alliance for Education and Hunger Relief and CSU Extension Family and Consumer Science Agent Ann Duncan, we hosted 25 3rd-6th graders for a 2 day healthy eating and cooking camp!
Picking peppers for the food bank
While there, we picked our own produce from the garden and prepared yummy snacks like baked apples and spinach smoothies, granola energy bites, and even made our own veggie stir fry, testing out 5 different sauces on our mix.
I was even able to present a STEM lesson on the Sugar Content of various common name products. Kids measured out how may cups of sugar they thought was contained in each product, and then were amazed and astounded by the actual amounts of sugar in each product. We discussed the difference between natural and added sugars and learned what the recommendations for each kids sugar intake are!
Overall camp was a lot of fun! So many new recipes to try!
Apollo 17 - Return Landing Many a youth has been asked the probing question "What would you like to be when you grow up?" Although there were many answers (i.e. Vet, Police, Fireman, Doctor...) one that always put a smile on my face was when a little called out ASTRONUT! Yes, even some of us adults still ponder what it would be like to have climbed NASA's stairs to the capsule, entered the control module, and waited to hear the countdown for takeoff and a chance to see the stars, moon, and earth from a completely new angle! Although very few of us have ever had (or will have) the opportunity to do a space walk, for a youth interested in STEM Careers, the space program (past and future) has created numerous avenues for creative and innovative career pathways that are STEM approved and still give space seekers a chance to 'Shoot for the Stars" with their career pathway. History of the Command Module Parachutes! Parachutes were first imagined in the 14th century....
Simple Sugar Glucose This month, I got to teach a class on cellular respiration, or how cells make energy. Cellular respiration is the process of breaking down sugars into ATP (Adenosine triphosphate), what we call energy. Cells can use Aerobic or Anaerobic pathways for breaking down sugars into energy. Aerobic means 'with oxygen' while Anaerobic means 'without/lacking oxygen'. Although a cell can use both pathways to produce energy, the efficiency of ATP production is greatly affected in a non-oxygen environment compared to when oxygen is present for the process. For comparison, a single glucose (sugar) molecule will produce only 2 ATP in the fast paced and wasteful anaerobic process, while the aerobic process can produce 34-38 ATP from the same, single sugar molecule. The complicated process of how a cell makes energy Our class experimented with yeast to see how the process works in real time. We couldn't, of course, see the cellula...
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 ...
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