Summer SAVY 2017, Session 4/Day 2- Dive into Design (Rising 1st)
Dear Parents,
Today was a fabulous second day for our Dive into Design class! We began our morning with two critical thinking problem/solution challenges. The first was a mind bender where students had to look at a grid with three objects across the top and three people across the side. They had to listen to clues and decided through process of elimination where to place each person and their favorite mode of transportation on the grid. Our second brain challenge asked students to imagine they had to pick up a lot of paperclips from the floor, but they could not touch the paperclips with any part of their body. Students had to think of ways to accomplish this. I introduced students to a model for problem solving with a thinking/processing chart that included: What do I know?, What do I need to know?. How can I find out? Students applied that thinking model to the problem and came up with lots of great ideas. Some ideas included, tweezers, grabber tools, oven mitts, magnets, scissors, and cups. Students then had to share why their idea was the most effective, and then students voted on the most effective ways to pick up the clips. This activity helped students practice brainstorming and then evaluating ideas for the best one to try (engineering process steps).
Next, we reviewed measuring length, width, height and depth, as well as making sure we begin at the zero point and carefully read the end point to try to attain measuring accuracy. We also had a nice discussion on metric and standard measuring units on the ruler. Then students made meaning out of the concept of volume with the help of an empty fish tank, and measuring cups. Students got to predict how many cups would fill the tank as they took turns adding more water to the tank and counting cups as they went. By the time we finished, students were able to differentiate between depth and volume. After this activity, students finished their rotations from yesterday. After completing their rotations, students either worked alone or partnered up and set off measuring items around the room. One of the highlights of the morning was when one student came upon a table with slightly rounded edges and she couldn’t figure out which side was length and which was width because they looked the same to her. She asked me about it, and I asked her what she knew about a4-sided shape that all sides were the same measurement. Her eyes got very big and she said, it is a square! I told her it was a good idea to measure the sides and see if it was true. She measured and exclaimed that it was a square table with rounded edges. By the way, as students measured this morning, I go the opportunity to introduce them to fractions (4ths), as they encountered measurements that didn’t end on a whole number. We also talked about rounding to the closed fourth, half, whole.
We ended are day comparing and ordering ourselves according to our heights. This led to comparisons regarding relationships between one person’s height and a second person, as well as comparing the first person and a third person. If you have time tonight, students should have a piece of paper in their backpacks to use to trace their right foot (shoes and socks off), with your assistance. Students can decorate their foot tracing, measure the length for accuracy, and carefully cut it out to bring back to SAVY tomorrow. We will be comparing and ordering our feet according to length.
More diving in tomorrow!
Karen Tyson
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