KINDERGARTEN l Literacy I Engineering Design Practices I Biomimicry
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Lab Happenings
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Essential Questions
What do engineers do? How can I learn how to think like an engineer? How can I learn how to work like an engineer?
Project Time! Tide Pool Inspired Engineering Challenges
- The Green Moray Eel was this week's featured creature! We hid in rocks and crevices, tested our sense of smell, and did the lateral wiggle dance!
- Sea Anemone Week was a blast! We made anemones out of marshmallows, caught fish with paper harpoons, and explored blowing up balloons with a pump!
- This week we met the clingfish who has amazing sucking powers (even in rough and wet conditions) that engineers are trying hard to imitate. In our Sucker Science Lab we made games and challenges for pop-up toys. We also explored suction with straws, pipettes, and turkey basters!
- We are making a fun game for our school's interactive tide pool mural. We have primed the pieces, brainstormed titles, and made the directions. Painting is next!
- What spends most of it’s life standing on it’s head and eating with it’s feet? Barnacles!
- By making our own spring scale we tested 5 different adhesives. We found out that peanut butter and stick glue are not very strong. The peanut butter could not hold any of the glass gems. The stick glue could hold about 50. The Mod Podge, white glue, and flour and water adhesives, however, all had over 100 glass gems in the cup! So, our results are inconclusive at this time.
- Barnacles can stick like GLUE! Barnacle glue – or cement - sticks to any surface, under any conditions. Even under water! Let's test the stickiness of some everyday adhesives! On Tuesday we will be testing the sticky strength of peanut butter, white glue, stick glue, Mod Podge, and flour and water. Make your prediction now! We will post our results next week!
- What has gills and lives in a shell? Black Turban Snails!
- THE "SHELLS COME IN HANDY" CHALLENGE: Only using the provided constraints, can you make a shell for your snail's soft body (water balloon) that will survive the pesky seagull (Mr. Juan and a suspended bucket of rocks)?
- Sea Star Studies
- Be a Sea Star! Investigation Part II
- Use your sea star stomach (rubber glove) to reach into the rocks and grab your prey! Make a tally mark to keep track of each color food you get!
- Sea stars dissolve their prey. Find out what things dissolve in water.
- THE SEA STAR CHALLENGE: Can you design a maze for your Hexbug that is at least 24 inches long, has a starting line, a finish line, and at least 4 obstacles? (Here is a video link for inspiration! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gB-WPeQxzsU)
- Be a Sea Star! Investigation Part I Can you identify the objects in the bags without using your eyes?
- We love this video clip! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ChMcl4aw17c
- Be a Sea Star! Investigation Part II
- Meet The Garibaldi
- A FISHY CHALLENGE: Can you design your swim bladder so that it hovers at neutral buoyancy (your eye level)?
- Fieldwork
- Swami's, Carlsbad, Cabrillo National Monument, and the Birch Aquarium
- Papa's Mechanical Fish by Candace Fleming
- CHALLENGE: Can you invent an under water viewer to use at the tide pools?
Novel Engineering: Great Literature with an Engineering Twist
- The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by Jon Scieszka
- CHALLENGE: Can you design a house strong enough to survive a wolf sneeze? Test your prototypes out with the hair dryer! Make changes as needed.
- Goldilocks and the Three Bears by James Marshall
- CHALLENGE: Can you design the ultimate chair for Baby Bear? Think about the things he loves. How can you incorporate them into the chair design? Build a prototype.
- The Trouble with Trolls by Jan Brett
- CHALLENGE: Can you design a troll friendly trap for Treva?
- Iggy Peck Architect by Andrea Beaty and What Do You Do with an Idea? by Kobi Yamada
- CHALLENGE: Can you build something using only one material like Iggy Peck?
- Twenty-one Elephants And Still Standing by April Jones Prince
- CHALLENGE: Can you design a bridge that can hold "21 somethings"?
Ask Your Engineer
- Where do we use suction cups in our world?
- What did you do to make your house survive the wolf's sneeze? What materials did you use?
- How do sea stars sense their world? (eye spots on the tips of their arms and temperature sensitive tube feet called "podia") What inventions do we use that have sensors like the sea star? (sinks, hand dryers, grocery store doors, credit card readers, porch lights, alarm systems, etc.)
- What do you know about the Garibaldi fish? (young ones have blue spots, males are territorial, males make nests and stand guard for 3-4 weeks, CA state fish,..) How do fish move up and down in the water? (they have swim bladders that fill up or shrink down like a balloon) What inventions use the idea of a swim bladder? (submarine, scuba gear)
- Does your under water viewer work? What materials did you use?
- What does Baby Bear like to do? How do you know? Tell me about the chair prototype you made for Baby Bear. What were the materials you used?
- Tell me about Treva and her problem with the trolls. What did you use to make your trap? What did you use for bait? Why? How did your trap work?
- Tell me about the story Iggy Peck Architect! What did you design? What one material did you use?
- What did you use to build your bridge for 21 somethings?
- (While doing your daily reading together or watching a movie...) So, what problems do you see? What could we do as engineers to help?
Ideas for Engineering at Home
- The "I Spy"-type card game called "Eye Found it!" is super fun!
- I love the idea of setting out a building material at night with a building challenge card for the early rising engineer! You can download some great challenge cards here! http://picklebums.com/building-challenge-cards/
- Place an object in a bag and have your sea star try to identify what it is without looking! Maybe describe it in detail first before identifying what it is!
- Turn on some music (like The Carnival of the Animals: The Aquarium by Camille Saint-Saëns) and do a buoyancy dance! Have fun floating around together!
- Design a friendly trap for ________! (stuffed animal, sister, elf on the shelf, etc.)
- The perfect gift for your engineer? Here are some things to consider: marbles, masking tape, rain gutters (Home Depot), a stop watch, and the quintessential carboard box! They also love love love "The Trolls" movie soundtrack!
- Build a fort! Can you make one with mutiple rooms? Can you create a skylight?
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Can You Help?
Folks often ask me, "How can I help?" If you are interested in supporting the Engineering Lab through donating your time or materials, please shoot me an email ([email protected]). As our projects get fleshed out, I'll also post a wish list. In the meantime, if you're looking to donate, we always need toilet paper rolls, sharpies, and masking tape. LOTS AND LOTS OF MASKING TAPE. Thanks!
Folks often ask me, "How can I help?" If you are interested in supporting the Engineering Lab through donating your time or materials, please shoot me an email ([email protected]). As our projects get fleshed out, I'll also post a wish list. In the meantime, if you're looking to donate, we always need toilet paper rolls, sharpies, and masking tape. LOTS AND LOTS OF MASKING TAPE. Thanks!