Sept 12th ~ Getting Back in the Groove of STEM

 

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 three CSU Office locations in Mesa, Delta, or Montrose Counties.  Kits include lessons, most supplies, and many ways for kids to explore STEM concepts both through instruction and self investigation.  We include a full kit listing on our website and are always looking for ways to expand our kit inventory or make an existing kit more exciting!  Kits are available to all persons for check-out
  • Kevin our roving Skeleton! Kevin Bones is our newest team member.  Fully annotated in both common and Latin terms, he's a great addition to the classroom for human anatomy discussions! 
  • A qualified STEM Agent available for in-person instruction, teacher trainings, helping with PBL's, Science Fairs, STEM Days or any educational event where you could use an extra hand.


We are lucky to have many other great resources available in our area for youth to explore the world around them!
  • Montrose Library Learning Kits: Similar to our program, the library also checks out kits to community members for short term learning adventures. Stop in and ask them for a full listing of available kits.
  • Outer Range - Montrose's outdoor classroom!  This unique place offers ways to explore nature and the world outdoors.  They hold classes and extra curricular experiences all year long. Check out their programs by Following This Link. 
  • County 4-H Programs:  Each of our 4 TRA Counties have 4-H programs that allow members to develop personal, interpersonal, educational and professional development skills.  Regardless of what you've heard, 4-H is NOT JUST ANIMALS!  There are a ton for 4-H projects that you can dive into from cakes and cooking to crafting, sewing, shooting, blasting off and so much more!  Contact 1 of our Extension offices to find out how to enroll and begin exploring all the benefits 4-H has to offer! 
So as you dial in on your studies, be sure to leave room for STEM!

I am a STEM/k12 Educator with Colorado State University Extension. I love working with youth and encouraging them to participate in many forms of hand on education! Overall, our goal is to promote positive youth development and encourage youth to pursue higher education after high school.

Comments

New comments are not allowed.

Popular posts from this blog

Dec 10th ~ Why Home Economics?

Image
 Soap Box Time! One of the things I think that we've lost in public education is the Home Economics training that so many young people need to function properly as adults. When I was in school, we were taught how to cook and clean, how to mend things rather than toss them away, and how to balance a check book. Today in our 'test score %' society, it's hard to find that old fashion education in any of the curriculum books. And I find that really disturbing since it's many of these basic skills that we depend upon daily to function. However, thankfully I'm not the only one this concerns. Many educators still offer such classes and learning opportunities for youth to gain these skills. One such group is located in Delta, Colorado. Two Tuesday afternoons a month, a group of middle and high school girls get together with their 3 head instructors for what they call Life Skills training. From the creation of their squad, they have covered a plethora o
Read more

Jan 21st ~ Measuring at the Meniscus!

Image
The New Year is here and Problem Based Learning projects (PBL's) are once again shaping up for schools in our community. This time around, we are back with Oak Grove Elementary School to work with 4th graders. I won't give away their PBL question, but they are learning how a rain gauge works and will be collecting precipitation rates all semester with the CoCoRaHS Rain Gauge donated to their school. Our (Dr. Barbara Shaw and myself) first visit was to both introduce the PBL question and to teach kids how to measure liquids in graduated cylinders, beakers, and the rain gauge. The first step when measuring water is knowing that water has adhesive properties, meaning it likes to cling to surfaces. This can be seen when you pour water into a glass container and then meet the surface at eye level. What do you see? Probably something similar to the example below. Example of water in a glass measuring container. Where do you measure when it is a curve? Water will curve (
Read more

The History Behind the Holiday ~ April Fools

Image
Original Story from History.com April Fools’ Day, occurring on April 1 each year, has been celebrated for several centuries by different cultures, though its exact origins remain a mystery. April Fools' Day traditions include playing hoaxes or practical jokes on others, often yelling “April Fools!” at the end to clue in the subject of the April Fools' Day prank. While its exact history is shrouded in mystery, the embrace of April Fools' Day jokes by the media and major brands has ensured the unofficial holiday’s long life. Example of the Julian Calendar Some historians speculate that April Fools ’ Day dates back to 1582, when France switched from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar, as called for by the council of Trent in 1563. In the Julian calendar, as in the Hindu calendar, the New Year began with the spring equinox around April 1.  People who were slow to get the news or failed to recognize that the start of the new year had moved to January 1 and continued
Read more