STEM(in) with Steph

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 (...

Tuesday brought me back into the Delta Life Skills group to bring some spice to a favorite meal - pasta! The girls group have learned in previous lessons how to make spaghetti for their families, but what happens when traditional spaghetti gets old? You add a new twist to the old fav. We learned how to make Home-Made Chicken Parmesan! During this lesson, girls learned to cut whole chicken breasts in half to increase portions, how to triple recipe measurements, assembly line preparation, and about the differences between cheeses even when they look the same. They really enjoyed using my meat mallet to squish down the meat, although some might have beat their meat a little too thin (they were having fun!). Note: No food was shared with the public! Hands were all washed! Now even though we were making something new (none of these girls had tried Chicken Parm before) there was still some hesitation when adding ingredients. Some girls wanted less cheese or sauce...

 Happy New Year! We are super excited to begin a new year in programming and exciting learning experiences! In the STEM department, I am personally looking forward to several upcoming events this winter and spring. Some of these include: CoCoRaHS Rain Gauge Germ Swabs in the classroom with Kindergartners Mesa County Safety Fair at the Mall with the CSU Energy Trailer STEM Night at local Elementary School CoCoRaHS Weather Gauge courses for a PBL 4-H District 10 Retreat in April Western Colorado Water Festival at CMU with the Energy Trailer CSU STEM Mobile Energy Trailer We also have a lot of other exciting programs taking place throughout the year that are hosted by other Extension Agents around the area. The best way to find out about these programs? You are already HERE! Look at our upcoming programs link on this website to find out about programs that might interest you! You might enjoy trying a Native Plant course or a Fermenting Foods class? The sky's the limit...

Candy making is a favorite activity for many when the holidays draw near. Some may ask how this is STEM related? Well, there are a lot of details behind making the perfect candies! Things like ingredients, shopping (with discounts!), measuring, temperature controls, and decorating with unique style! So when the Delta Life Skills girls group {Note: See post from Dec 10th ~ Why Home Economics? for more info about this group} asked me to come help them learn about homemade Christmas candy making, I couldn't resist the opportunity! Cutting up the Cherries! The girls group started by breaking into twos to cover more candy making. We decided to try four different recipes including: Cherry Mashers, Peanut Delights, Butterscotch Stacks, and (my favorite!) Peppermint Cane Fudge! Although the candy was for personal enjoyment, we did discuss proper sanitation when making food and gifting it to others. Then the groups split off to there culinary tasks. We experime...

 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...

Christmas treats tend to be our downfall each year! Breads, Cookies, Jams, Cheeses, Processed Meats, Candy, etc.... You name it, and my family usually eats it! So I'm bringing you a new treat to try, so you can join us in our holiday treat stuffing tradition. Everyone knows you shouldn't eat the cookie dough - because of raw products like eggs and uncooked flour, BUT you can eat cookie dough FUDGE! Yum! Credit to Delish for recipe. INGREDIENTS: Cooking spray 1/2 c. (1 stick) Butter, softened 3/4 c. Granulated sugar 1 tsp. Pure vanilla extract 1 c. All-purpose flour* 1 tsp. Kosher salt 1 1/4 c. Mini chocolate chips, Divided 1 (14-oz.) can sweetened condensed milk 1 1/2 c. melted white chocolate DIRECTIONS: Grease an 8" or 9" square pan with cooking spray and line with parchment paper. In a large bowl using a hand mixer, beat butter, sugar, and vanilla until smooth.  Place flour in a microwave-safe bowl and microwave until flour is hot, abou...

  It's me again! This time, I'm bringing in some fun resources I've found for doing at home, Thanksgiving themed STEM activities! The best part? Many of these activities have ingredients you can get while doing your own Thanksgiving grocery shopping trip! I want to shout out "Little Bins for Little Hands" for providing the link to the materials for this Food Themed science project! You can find all activities and instructions at their website by simply following this link: Thanksgiving Fun! STEM-Giving Bread in a Bag Bread making is one of the most exciting and visually stimulating activities kids can do; not to mention the end product tastes and smells amazing! Pick up the simple ingredients of flour, sugar, yeast, salt, water, and oil and you're on your way to exploring chemical reactions! Kids can learn about the importance of following the recipe and get to mix ingredients in a zip lock bag by hand. After mixing, watch the dough triple in size and toss i...

  Animals and Spring Creek ! Third PBL panel sitting in three weeks, but I never get tired of watching kids present and listening to what they learned during their projects! This time around, 3rd graders shared with panel members what they have been learning about animals that use Spring Creek in the winter. This PBL was special to me because it's the first one I helped with solo (with PBL materials supplied by Dr. Barbara Shaw, STEM/K-12 Specialist). Sunflower Bird Feeder 3rd graders were definitely nervous going into presentations, but once they began to speak they showed they were confident about the information presented. Oct-Nov they had been learning about winter habits of animals and how they survive, experimented with bird diets (See Oct 21-22 Blog on Bird Feeder experiment), and learned how to ID birds by their silhouette's when we can't ID them with normal factors. Wild Turkey Silhouette The presentations used either photo slide shows or full power point presenta...

  Oak Grove 2nd and 5th grades present their results! Presentation time has arrived! Over the fall semester, Oak Grove Elementary has partnered with CSU Extension STEM/K-12 to provide learning materials and lessons to help students with their Problem Based Learning (PBL's) projects and final presentations. Soil Site Jar 2nd grade was charged with learning about soils around their schools and how soils might affect the water quality of Spring Creek? 5th grade had the exciting opportunity to study the creek itself to determine the overall water quality. Soil Layers October 30th was 2nd grade presentations and man oh man they delivered! Groups brought in soil sample jars from three locations around their school and explained the different soil layers and differences of the three mixes. Some groups also brought in a home made grass filter to demonstrate how soil can help filter water. All this helped to explain how soil around the school and creek accepts, filters,...

  There was Magic in the Air! Sometimes my STEM Agent persona gets to get outta town and do bigger events with her STEM skills. Meeker was a haunting experience to say the least - because I felt like I'd stepped into Hogwarts Academy. Hogwarts Night in Meeker This was my first experience at Hogwarts Night, and I wasn't disappointed! Meeker county 4-H puts on their annual event around Halloween each year hosting about 300 kids and their families for an exciting night of characters, games, rides, mazes, and magic! This year, I brought the magic! Young wizards began sharpening their skills on creating and balancing dry ice bubbles. If they were really adapt they could even form their own crystal ball. Crystal Bucket Ball From there they turned glue into slime in Alchemy, discovered magic charms with their wands and had to write them in invisible ink (pH indicator revealed the message), and even dabbled in Herbology by growing their own Mandrake pet. F...

  Jamming with Germs! Johnson Elementary 1st grade is doing their part to live healthier and more active lives! Back in October, I was invited into their classrooms to help them look for bacteria (Germs!) around them that they couldn't see with just their eyes. We started out on a Monday by talking a little about germs and what types of bacteria are found around us, good and bad bacteria, and good tips for being healthy. A swab and petri nutrient dish (before germ growth) Next I encouraged all students to wash their hands, and then each put a finger print on the petri (germ depository) dish. Then, students were challenged to take swabs from 1 of 4 places around their classrooms: the sink, their desks, and....my cell phone.... among other class specific locations. The results were...well judge for yourself Johnson 1st Grade Germ Swab Results! DISGUSTING!!!!!! Oh you bet I went home and cleaned my cell phone! After viewing the bacteria cultures on some pretty cool...

  Birds and Bird Feeders! Bagel feeders displayed outside classroom 3rd grade at Oak Grove is studying animals that use Spring Creek during the winter months. Since kids spend so much time indoors during the winter, what better way to observe the birds than by building bird feeders for outside their classroom windows! Students wanted to learn what diets birds best like to eat when given a choice. They crafted 6 bagel bird feeders using a variety of different ingredients including: Lard, Birdseed, Sunflower Seeds, Crackers, and Oats. the bird feeders were all weighed before being hung up outside for a week of observations. Oat bagel 2nd weighing 3rd graders then watched out their windows to see all the different feathered friends that came to eat up the yummy treats. Can you guess what bird feeder was most popular when we re-weighed the feeders a week later? HINT: It shouldn't surprise you!

  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 prod...

  Streamflow and RUBBER DUCKIES?!?!?! I'm thrilled to be able to work with Oak Grove Elementary this year on their Problem Based Learning (PBL's) projects. In partnership with Dr. Barbara Shaw, CSU Extension Western Regional STEM Specialist, we are working with 5th grade students to determine the baseline water quality of Spring Creek, which runs behind their school playground. Water is one of the most important resources we have on this planet and our students are learning to both appreciate and protect that resource from pollution. Not our actual rubber duckies Today we visited the creek with our supplies of waders, nets, rulers, measuring tapes, and rubber duckies! QUACK!!! Our goal was to look at 5 different locations around the creek and determine the rate of flow of water by measuring width, average depth, and water speed (by means of racing rubber duckies!) to calculate the water's movement in Cubic Feet per Seconds (CFS). The different speeds, volumes, and movements...