Monday, March 14, is Pi Day. Get it? 3/14?
Pi – that glorious and notorious number starting 3.14159265358979323846 but stretching to infinity – is incredibly important. It expresses the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter. It is represented by the sixteenth letter of the Greek alphabet – π. And it goes on forever without falling into a repeating pattern (making it an irrational number).
But does it actually exist?
Topics: IDEAS & INSPIRATION, Science, Activities, Hands-on Learning, Math
I’m writing this while sitting in a coffee shop at a table near the door. Every time a new customer enters, I’m hit with a swirl of arctic air that chills me to the core. For me, that prognosticating groundhog can’t come out of his den soon enough.
Topics: IN THE CLASSROOM, Middle School, Elementary School, IDEAS & INSPIRATION, Homeschool, Science, STEM, Activities, Hands-on Learning, STEAM
A great physical science education tool isn’t just exciting while you are using it; it continues to provoke thought and make real-world connections well after you’ve placed it back on the shelf. Case in point: I recently spent time exploring Pitsco’s T-Bot® Hydraulic Arm. It was a fun challenge using the hydraulic robot arm to pick up and move blocks, and I thought about links to automation and heavy machinery as I used it. But, to my surprise, after I put the device away, what I really couldn’t stop thinking about was my own arm.
Topics: IN THE CLASSROOM, Middle School, Elementary School, High School, ROBOTICS, Teacher Resources, Science, Technology, STEM, Authentic Learning, Activities, Hands-on Learning
December 8 is Pretend to Be a Time Traveler Day, the day we use our imaginations to travel to the past or future. You’ll find yourself in the future eventually, but it’s natural to want a sneak peek. Will we have flying cars at last? Will the world still revolve around silly dances on TikTok?
Not even our imaginations can answer for sure.
Topics: IDEAS & INSPIRATION, Science, Technology, STEM, Engineering, Careers, Coding, Future Ready, Hands-on Learning, Math, Workforce Development, Women in STEM
Since its founding in 1998, the Urban Youth Racing School (UYRS) in Philadelphia has earned a fair amount of publicity for the spectacular opportunities it offers to inner-city students. Sneak a peek during the school’s Build A Dream summer program, and you are likely to see students learning about engines, designing cars, and racing go-karts as part of a simulated racing team.
Topics: Middle School, High School, BEYOND THE CLASSROOM, Competitions, Science, STEM, Dragsters, Engineering, Careers, Authentic Learning, Activities, Future Ready, 21st Century Skills, Maker Ed, Hands-on Learning, STEAM, Workforce Development, Art
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