Pippen Posted November 22, 2017 Share Posted November 22, 2017 Could you please brainstorm with me or point me in the direction of some resources that have worked for you? I have 2 different STEM classes to prep for--50 minutes each per week--and I'm looking for some cheap and unusual ideas. I have zero funds, but I do have access to a minimally stocked science classroom. Many of the ideas that surface easily on google have been done in earlier grades by many of the students. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vonfirmath Posted November 22, 2017 Share Posted November 22, 2017 One thing I remember vividly from middle school is learning all the different systems in the Body. Nervous system, Circulatory, Skeletal, etc. Maybe you could do something with that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
athomeontheprairie Posted November 23, 2017 Share Posted November 23, 2017 My next stem class for middle school will be bridge building out of match sticks. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
visitor Posted November 23, 2017 Share Posted November 23, 2017 For electronics and programming Arduino is cheap. BBC microbit is also cheap (programming with great output) You can also learn them to program. Scratch and Python are for free. I have seen strawbees in a makerspace book I loved the many options. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
athomeontheprairie Posted November 23, 2017 Share Posted November 23, 2017 For electronics and programming Arduino is cheap. BBC microbit is also cheap (programming with great output) You can also learn them to program. Scratch and Python are for free. I have seen strawbees in a makerspace book I loved the many options. I really wanted to love strawbees... But they were a giant flop for us 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
visitor Posted November 23, 2017 Share Posted November 23, 2017 Really could you tell me why strawbees didn't work out for you? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
athomeontheprairie Posted November 24, 2017 Share Posted November 24, 2017 Really could you tell me why strawbees didn't work out for you? I thought they'd be awesome. I had two large packs. I used them with a group of 20+ kids of various ages over the course of 3 weeks. During my scheduled programming, they were a flop. I had guided activities and the project book. Nothing held up. Vertical structures leaned and fell. Kids didn't seem to enjoy building with them. ​In "free time" no one picked them up for more than 5 minutes. ​I eventually donated them to a nearby library. She's an awesome librarian that does amazing programming also, and they were a flop for her as well. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CAJinBE Posted November 25, 2017 Share Posted November 25, 2017 I'm doing physics with middle school aged kids at co-op this year. My dh built some ramps and I bought marbles, toy cars, stop watches, and measuring tapes. We had a lot of fun learning about Newton's Laws of Motion. Last year we did an Arduino robot kit from Parallax. That wasn't cheap, but I feel like it was a good value for all the learning we got from it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
visitor Posted November 28, 2017 Share Posted November 28, 2017 I thought they'd be awesome. I had two large packs. I used them with a group of 20+ kids of various ages over the course of 3 weeks. During my scheduled programming, they were a flop. I had guided activities and the project book. Nothing held up. Vertical structures leaned and fell. Kids didn't seem to enjoy building with them. ​In "free time" no one picked them up for more than 5 minutes. ​I eventually donated them to a nearby library. She's an awesome librarian that does amazing programming also, and they were a flop for her as well. Thanks, that sounds very disappointing. I thought that the quality would be good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arcadia Posted November 29, 2017 Share Posted November 29, 2017 Really could you tell me why strawbees didn't work out for you? We played with strawbees at the Barnes & Noble Mini Maker Faire last year. My kids didn’t like it. If your child enjoys playing with straws, you can have fun with the links below for straw tower and straw bridge https://www.soinc.org/sites/default/files/StrawTowerChallenge.pdf https://www.msichicago.org/fileadmin/assets/educators/learning_labs/documents/straw_bridges.pdf 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pippen Posted December 2, 2017 Author Share Posted December 2, 2017 Thanks for the ideas, everyone! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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