Our Lower School and Early Childhood STEM Expo!

 

There's not much to say...these pictures speak for themselves.  What a fabulous job done by our students and teachers, especially our STEM Instructor, Mrs. Maryann McGrath.

 

 

 

 
 

 

 

  

Science-Based Prompts - Inquiry Based Learning

• An amoeba and a paramecium are sitting on a park bench.  They observe some children playing. Write the conversation between them in which their comments derive from their function and purpose in life.  (ELA)

• Imagine that a miniature submarine is wandering through your body.  Write their account of what they see as they meander through one part of your body.  (Group-work; groups based on part of your body; ELA)

• An insect emerges from the egg with the same defenses it will have at death.  Alter this reality by introducing another reality that allows the insect to learn.  Write this scenario.  (ELA)

• Pose this problem to students.  "Genetically, at the age of 45, I am not the same person I was at the age of five.  Explain changes that would normally have occurred to make this statement accurate." (ELA, Math)

• Ask students to select an item from everyday life.  For example, chewing gum.  Pose this problem: "Without consulting any further reference, hypothesize how chewing gum would have come into existence."  (Group-work; groups based on item; ELA; theatre; engineering)

• Ask students to imagine they are attending a conference called by bacteria who live within their body.  Students are to identify issues raised by the bacteria and, if possible, identify a strategy they will employ to make them sick.  (Group-work; groups based on bacteria type; public-speaking; debate; engineering)

• Pose this problem to students: "In the early days of antibiotics, bacteria had difficulty coping with these new enemies.  What happened that enabled bacteria to survive and prosper?"  (Group-work; groups based on bacteria; research; engineering)

• Students are to imagine the dinosaurs were not wiped out and continued to exist.  Pose to students: "How would life today be different?" (Group-work; groups based on dinosaur type; research; engineering)

• Ask students to compose "dinosaur poetry".  In other words, if dinosaurs emerged being able to read and write, what type of poetry would they compose?  The poetry should be consistent with the type of dinosaur that is doing the composing. (Independent work; ELA; research)

• Ask students to create a dialogue between all components of the photosynthesis process in which they discuss what they are doing.  (Group-work; group members choose a part of photosynthesis; ELA; theatre; research)

• Pose the following to students: "The planetary system emerged differently.  The sun only comes out five hours per day.  How would this have changed life on planet Earth?"  (Group-work or individual; research; engineering)