STEM(in) with Steph

That's a question a lot of kids are asking themselves today. Me? I'm realizing that I haven't updated this blog in over 2 months (or more....)!?!? Oops... This week, many of the schools are releasing their "Back to School" plans for fall 2020. For many parents, the decision of how to safely return our kids to schooling is a bit, overwhelming? Do we send our children back into the classroom, with the additions of social distancing, increased health checks, mask attire, etc... OR do we accept responsibility for them to be educated at home, in a safe and controlled environment? Many families may not feel like they have an option. It's a little un-nerving, and stressful. But be encouraged parents! I have spoken to many of our teachers and school staff out there. They are very concerned about the health and safety of every student and I believe they have worked hard to bring together the educational opportunities available to students this next year. Their exciteme...

 A few weeks ago, I was saddened to hear that the summer (in-person) programming we partnered with the Montrose Public Library District (MPLD) on would be canceled due to the current COVID status. Not wanting to leave any stone un-turned, we asked the library if there was any way we could still partner with them in programming, albeit from a distance. We were excited to hear they are doing activity bags for the youth of Montrose County all summer long! We immediately started brainstorming how we could participate in this venture and offered to produce a series of STEM at Home self contained kits in a bag for individual kids. Kits would serve kids ages 5-13. The library was on board with the kit idea, so all last week we assembled STEM kits! We made over 200 kits to be distributed out to local kids for summer fun! The kits we assembled included a Plant in a Bag science project and a Spoon Catapult engineering project. We made approximately 100 of each kit, which contained all suppli...

It's been a month, and yes I'm still working from home...but while at home I've taken to gardening! Let me show you a little bit of what's happening around the yard! Top Photo: This spring, I was privileged to have a family member help build a raised garden bed. Now usually, they aren't this wide, but I am a big garden fan and wanted a lot of room; plus I'm not afraid to get a little dirty when it comes to harvest time. Strawberry Patch! Because who doesn't want fresh strawberries in the middle of June? Hydro-buckets! This fun science experiment uses the wicking ability of water  (Wick means to travel against the flow of gravity) to keep the bucket planted plants hydrated for longer periods of time. It's cheap to do and saves on water and time! The process is pretty simple. Materials I used for each plant included: (1) 5 gal bucket 1 recycled lidded coffee container (30oz) 2 ft of water line (but you can use old hose or PVC as well!) Duct tape A drill S...

How's everyone doing? Personally, I'm on week 3 of self quarantine and I've run out of things to work on, clean, and cook...! However, my spirits are up and hopes are high that this too will pass. Well since this month is traditionally filled with eggs, that's where I've been spending a lot of time focusing. I have been working on updating my embryology lesson plans for at home chick hatching and I have been experimenting with shell-less eggs. Wait Whaaaaaaaaaat?!?!?!?! Yes, you read that right - Shell-Less Eggs! A Shell-Less Egg! This month, my teammates and I are working on recording online videos with short experiments you can do at home (while in or out of quarantine!). While the video's are still being edited, I figured it wouldn't hurt to show some photo's from my latest experiment! Sorry no spoilers...you will have to wait for the movie for full instructions! Eggs in Solution - Bubbles are a Chemical Reaction Occurring! To mak...

Ok, that's not totally true, but I'm sure that's how many families are starting to feel right now. Good News!? There's a lot of fun stuff out there to help parents keep their kids learning and their sanity turning. Now is the perfect time of year to be at home during the day. Gardening season is beginning and kids love to get dirty. Have them start their own little sprouts indoors and then transfer them outside when it warms up a little more. They will love watching their little sprouts take shape. Want to add a little education to the planting? Have kids do a nature walk out and around the house. Flowers are blooming, pick some of the flowers and take them inside for a dissection discussion. Break the flower down one section at a time and define the parts. Older children can be encouraged to make a Flower Inventory poster. Materials are simply: paper, tape, and writing utensil. Then have them pair up parts and label. They can even do show and tell when the rest of t...

This past week I teamed up with Mesa County 4-H Agent Melissa Wonnenberg to bring the CSU STEM Mobile Energy Trailer to the Mesa County Safety Fair. Grand Valley Power electrical coop sponsored our attendance at this awesome event where over 2,000 mesa county elementary school children were able to come and learn about safety and energy! The kids were introduced to may types of energy production including crank, click circuits, fruit powered, and wind energy.  Thanks to our Partners Grand Valley Power for sponsoring our trailer at the fair! Melissa Models! The kids really enjoyed tinkering with the clip circuits and following new pathways and connections to try to make things move or light up! Sometimes their paths didn't work, but with a few helpful hints, they were able to make things happen. The trailer itself is equipped to be totally run on power generated from solar cells OR wind power, but since we were inside the mall, those sources were not available to demonstrate. Ho...

 This last week has been very busy, but very rewarding as well! A while back I was invited to guest speak to the Johnson Elementary School 2nd Grade classes about Livestock Animals. My topic to share was 'Livestock Animals, their attributes, and how they help humans solve problems' . This is a very exciting topic to me because animals are a crucial part of human life all over the globe. Cattle Each class began with a quiz about their knowledge of proper names for species, and boy/girl. I laugh a little right now because the first slide I put up was of cattle - but every class yelled "COWS!". I explained that was not right because technically cows are the female, but no one would judge them for calling cattle, cows...hahaha! After we had some fun naming livestock, the kids were challenged to match the animal with a product it provides. We then brought up the web of products and discussed many things we knew animals provided and a lot of things we d...

Happy Happy Superbowl weekend! If you didn't watch, you missed out on a great championship game yesterday. FYI - My team WON!!!! Hurrah! (If you don't know who won....I guess I can wait until you get back from googling it....) Ok, now onto something just as cool. Let's talk about the Physics of a Perfect Punt (You didn't think I was done with football yet did you?). I love learning how things work and how to do something better, so while watching the big game, I wondered; What does it take to make a perfect down field punt? The answer is Physics! Let's see what former NFL punter Craig Hentrich has to say about the Perfect Punt. Science Behind the Perfect Football Punt Makes sense, right? The perfect punt is about Initial Speed, Launch Angle, Air Resistance, and desired Range & Hang Time the play requires. All of these variables work together for the punter to make the perfect game punt! Lets talk application! For younger kids, pull together craft recyclables fro...

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...