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Catapult Science: One Kit, Multiple Science and Math Projects
Whether you are investigating the frequency of certain candy colors, trying to figure out how everyone did on a class test, or evaluating how well your favorite gyroscope-style spinner spins, understanding how to make and interpret a histogram may be just the boost of statistics you need to transform your data from a bunch of numbers into something with visual punch and meaning.
In the new "Bet You Can't Hit Me! The Science of Catapult Statistics" math Project Idea students launch ping pong balls through the air and learn about practical statistics at the same time. See the "The Results are In: Plotting Numerical Ranges" blog post for suggestions for statistics activities using both candies and paper airplanes.
The Ping Pong Catapult kit from the Science Buddies Store can also be used with these hands-on physics explorations:
Engineering Design Process: Innovator's Corner
New LEGO� Mindstorms� Robotics Challenge
Do your students like to tinker, make, create, hack, or take things apart? Whether they are working on an assignment or just filling time on the weekends, we've got exciting engineering ideas to keep them challenged and inspired. This robotics engineering project is brand new on the Science Buddies site. Maybe your students will be among the first to step up and innovate a solution!
STEM Skills: Video Game Design
Using free game design tools like Scratch, video game players can become video game creators. Video game design projects and resources at Science Buddies help budding video game designers get started. Entries for the 2013 National STEM Video Game Challenge are being accepted through April 24, 2013. Encourage your students to submit their original games!
Science Connections: STEM Projects with Real-world Foundations
Archaeologists and scientists recently identified remains found last summer beneath a Leicester parking lot. Solving the puzzle of the skeleton's identity involved plenty of genetics and genomics sleuthing--students can learn about and use similar techniques.
A 'chill' story about an engineering student who gave a colorful twist to a backyard igloo offers numerous possibilities for physics and civil engineering explorations.
The short "Calorie Detective" video raises questions about the accuracy of nutritional information on labels and provided by restaurants. Follow along as a filmmaker documents the testing of a few foods, then get hands-on analyzing a food's nutritional composition by holding favorite foods to the fire, literally! (Science kit available!)
Custom DNA-filled pendants may be the next big fashion trend around elementary and middle school halls. Using a biotechnology kit from Bio-Rad Laboratories, kids can extract their own DNA, examine it without a microscope, and create their own science keepsake.
Science Activities Sized for Classrooms and for Home
A new weekly spotlight on the Science Buddies Blog showcases pairs of projects that offer science investigations big and small! These weekly pairings highlight a project perfect for independent study or a science fair alongside an adaptation of the project that makes for a great family or classroom science activity. Check our recent highlights: Mixtures and Colloids, Paper Planes, Tie Dye, Heart Science, Left- and Right-side Dominance.
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