STEM - Measurement Olympics

Juda has been part of the I^2 STEM summer institute at UW-Platteville the past 2 years; its goal is to have more STEM in schools which couples extremely well for my desire for large hands-on projects.  So I wanted to post about the Measurement Olympics I ran in my Intro to Engineering Class this semester and encourage other teachers to use it (motivation came from the institute and our school's Olympic theme this year).

Instead of homework I am trying to issue challenges this year.  I am pushing students to be persistent and solve difficult problems - really trying to focus on Habits of Mind.

I created a short youtube video about the events (so that my judges could know see first hand what the students were doing  - also here is a link to the materials)

It went great.  The students were divided into teams and estimate, calculated and worked hard on solving these problems - it ended with them presenting their results to panel of judges.  It went well and taught a lot of the real world skills we want in students.  Plus first prize was cool (see facebook post).....

Having a Booth at WASB Convention in 2 weeks!

Now that Juda School has installed solar and became a national finalist in the Samsung Solve for Tomorrow (SFT) contest - one of the big things we are trying to accomplish is the idea that reducing your carbon footprint as a school (installing solar, etc) is not some sort of huge endeavor that cannot be accomplished.  Every school can do this.  It takes tenacity, time and some leg work, but it is something most schools can accomplish - and I believe - it can be done by students.

And real world projects is what we need to be trying to achieve!  But a road map is really needed for schools and teachers.

That is why I was so excited Friday when the WASB (Wisconsin Association of School Boards) offered to give the Juda Physics students a booth at their Forward Together convention this month.  The staff at WASB was extremely helpful, and now we will be able to showcase our project - as the Samsung SFT StateWinner.

And it helps the students with a big part of our SFT goal(s).  We wanted to show other schools and communities that green projects can be done, there is payback and ways to help reduce a school's carbon footprint.  And now we have the chance to showcase our project, ourselves and our ideas in a building where nearly all of Wisconsin's adminstrators will be for two days.  We should see board members, principals, administrators - it is the chance to meet the people that really can help get our message back to their schools.  We will be handing out DIY packages is the plan!  {If you want a DIY package of our project (a "lesson plan")  please just message me and I will get you a copy once it is done!}

Ahhhhh - another really good day!  Now the challenge to gather all of our materials by January 22nd! 

Planning is tough

So as I sit finishing my lesson plans for the week, I am left with the thought of how tough it can be to plan a week in advance.  And how I often I deviate from the plan, and if I deviate, and I do, why plan?

I plan cause it makes me reflect on the goals for the next short duration, it makes me consider what I really want the student to understand and be able to apply to real problems in the immediate time frame - always being able to create, revise, and create.  I also hope to instill a belief they can do anything and a tenacity to not stop pushing forward - whether it is revisions or learning new skills or doing what it takes. 

And I consider that every Sunday night as I plan my week.  Nearly all the things I plan happen - but often I find what I would like to get to by Friday is actually the following Monday (that is probably the optimist in me).

It is tough to plan - and plans change, but the reflection is really the important part - because then I deliver on my commitment to reflect on how to make learners.

Green Energy - Putting Solar at Our School -- Two

So this has been an excellent week for green energy at my school. Thanks to tremendous community support we have been able to raise over 25% of the system cost (over $5000) with donations and grants.  (Synergy Renewable also donated labor to help lower our overall cost.)

This brought the payback of the system into a reasonable range for our school!  And this past week the board approved the purchase of Juda's first solar array.  This is a commitment to the school, the community, the students and is a great support of our educational initiative to have the students do real world work.  The students created a project that worked and will have be helping the district reduce costs for decades.

We are now proceeding with a 24 panel, 4.3 kW system that is warrantied for 25 years.  And the day we get it install it will lower our electric bill!  It will supply less than 5% of our needed power but it is a start (because the first step is hardest, the next step is always easier).

And due to the support we were able to buy a system that was slightly larger than our smallest plan!  We may have even more support coming yet which would allow us to buy a slightly larger inverter thus allowing for another row or  12 panels to be added in the future.

This project showed that you just have to hold on to good ideas, cause sometimes things simply take time.  The project will meet all the goals the Physics class of 2011-12 except one - which was to install the spring/summer 2012.  

Yet I call the project a complete success.

Interest and Loans

During Algebra 1 (which is a combo of 8th & 9th graders) we work on an ongoing yearly analysis of loans, payment plans, etc.  We use google docs as a landing page, with individual lessons linked to it; from those documents we create essays that address the questions in each of the lessons.  Everything is about the interest we pay on loans and other things.

What I am reflecting on is a combo of  where this project fits into the CCSS and my student's beliefs that stores, or vendors would not charge interest for a long payment plan.  The lesson we just completed is about "Crazy Eddie" who sells a $2499 TV for only $66 per month (Lesson 7).  The assignment is to determine, or give an estimate on the number of months and what interest Eddie charges. 

Now you can tell I did not provide enough info, but my students are to make and defend their guesses in the essay.  I do not grade for correctness, but just the essay format and the student's use of math as a base for their conjuctures.

Nearly all my students, except for a couple always guess the payments at 38 months.  Their math is $2499/$66 per month = 37.9 months and they round to 38, a few even round down!  And they think Crazy Eddie will only take $9 in total interest in 38 months, over 3 years! (38 months*$66/month = $2508;  $2508-$2499 = $9 interest)

This lesson is "taken" from a Rent-to-Own situation.  The actual plan is 5 years, or 60 months.  The next lesson when they analyze the actual plan is really "eye-opening" for many students.  It is funny the anger they get for Eddie, and the interest rate on the plan is less than some credit cards!

This is the things we should all teach.  All of these students had done simple and compound interest, yet they had no real world feel for how interest really works.  Yet as I plan my curriculum it would be hard to keep these lessons based upon the huge amount of standards we are now being expected to teach (now "a mile wide, and 6 inches deep!").  I am going to keep these money units and push a lot of the CCSS to PreCalculus, because the math and the understanding is just too important.

Because really understanding interest is way more important than Cramer's Rule, matrices, or proofs.