SCIENCE & ENGINEERING
Our hands-on, cooperative, project-based Science and Engineering Program engages children in problem solving and discovery processes, and teaches them how to investigate the way scientists work. It fully aligns with the National Science Education Standards. Each lesson consists of research-based, teacher-tested activities that develop creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills, and teaches them how to think and behave like scientists. Children learn how to form hypotheses, test their ideas, document their experiments, observe the results and make conclusions.
SCIENCE (GRADES 3-8)
ELECTROSTATICS & MAGNETISM - SUMMER 2022
Grades 3-5
Ever wonder why rubbing a balloon on your head makes your hair stand up?
Together, we will use materials you have at home to investigate electrostatics and magnetism. Every class will have at least one hands-on experiment!
By the end of our session, you will be able to:
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Pick up paper without touching it
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Build your own electroscope to “detect” charges
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Make miniature lightning
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Learn how to think like a scientist, and explore how scientists studied electricity hundreds of years ago
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...and of course, much more!
HUMAN SENSES - SUMMER 2022
Grades 6-8
How are we able to see, touch, hear, smell and taste the world around us? We will use everyday items and our bodies to learn about how the human body is able to interpret and interact with our surroundings all the time. By the end of our time together, you will be able to explain…
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Why do some people see color differently?
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How quickly can I react when my brain makes a decision?
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How do sunglasses work?
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How are we able to maintain balance even when our eyes are closed?
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Why are younger people able to hear some sounds that older people cannot?
FORCE & MOTION
Grades 3-5
Have you ever wondered what physicists do? How do scientists communicate with each other about motion? How do forces affect motion? To answer those questions and more, join us for the spring session science course on Forces and Motion!
By the end of our sessions together, you will be able to…
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Relate motion and graphs
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Explain why and how things move and stop moving
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Predict where Angry Birds Pigs will land
Grades 6-8
Interested in a career in science? How do scientists communicate with each other about motion? How do forces affect motion? To answer those questions and more, join us for the spring session science course on Forces and Motion!
By the end of our sessions together, you will be able to…
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Relate motion and graphs (great preparation for middle school
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and high school math!)
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Explain why and how things move and stop moving
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Predict where cannonballs and Angry Birds Pigs will land
CIRCUIT ELECTRONICS
Grades 3-5
Ever wonder how the lights in your home work? Do you know how to stay safe during a lightning storm? Why is that in some homes, turning on too many devices at once like the dishwasher, microwave and vacuum cleaner all at the same time can cause everything to shut off at once? Join us for the AlphaMinds physics course in Circuit Electronics! By the end of our time together, you may be the chief electrician in your household! Our experiments will include:
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Building circuits with batteries, light bulbs, resistors, and wires safely at home
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Discovering ways to make light bulbs glow more or less brightly
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Comparing old and modern devices that keep our homes running safely
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...plus more!
Grades 6-8
When we enter a room, we usually turn on the lights without much thought. But, how does that work? Ever wonder why turning on too many devices in your home at once like a vacuum cleaner, microwave and dishwasher used to start fires in very old homes? What are the best ways to stay safe during a lightning storm? Join us for the AlphaMinds physics course in Circuit Electronics! By the end of our time together, you may be the chief electrician in your household! Some of our activities will include:
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Practicing use of wires, batteries, resistors, and bulbs safely at home
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Making light bulbs glow as brightly or as dimly as we want
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Discovering why hooking up devices in different arrangements can be safe or dangerous
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Discussing how our human bodies are actually electronic circuits
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...plus more!
ELECTROSTATICS & MAGNETISM
Grades 6-8
Ever wonder why you get zapped when you are closing a car door, or why rubbing a balloon on your head makes your hair stand up? Electricity used to seem like magic, but we will show how to explain many of the electrostatic phenomena you see around you. Join us in Fall 2020 for AlphaMind’s first physics course! Together, we will use materials we have at home to investigate electrostatics and magnetism. Every class will have at least one hands-on experiment!
By the end of our session, you will be able to:
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Build your own electroscope to “detect” charges
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Face North without using a compass
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Make miniature lightning
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Learn how to think like a scientist, and design experiments the same way professional scientists do
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...and of course, much more!
ENGINEERING
"Engineering is Elementary" - Sample Topics (Gr. 1-5)
Go Green - Engineering from Recycled Materials
In this course, we will put on our engineering hats and go green to engineer with recycled materials. Throughout this unit, children will learn about green engineering and work to engineer several projects made out of recycled materials. Projects include: building a ballon car, a straw rocket, a cotton ball launcher, a phone cup, or a parachute. The unit is set in a real-world context: children will learn about the recycling culture in Senegal and the toys children make there.
Aerospace Engineering
In this course, students will use what they learn about the science of astronomy to design and improve a parachute. The unit will begin with a story about a boy from Brazil who solves a similar engineering design challenge. This unit introduces students to aerospace engineering—and how aerospace engineers use their knowledge of astronomy to design space technologies. After completing this unit, students will be able to do the following:
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explain how aerospace engineers design things that fly through air or space.
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discuss atmospheres and drag (or air resistance) and how they relate.
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identify the basic parts of a parachute and explain how parachutes work.
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identify and explain the steps of the Engineering Design Process.
Sound and Light
We begin the study of Sound with a story of a young drummer from Ghana, Kwame, who is blind; his father, an acoustical engineer, shows Kwame that sound is vibration and can be represented with both visual symbols (such as musical notation and spectrograms) and tactile symbols. Hands-on activities in this unit will lead students to explore the properties of volume and pitch, investigate ways to dampen sound, and develop their own novel way to represent the key elements of sound.
In the second part of this course, students will explore another core physics topic: Light. Optical engineers design all kinds of devices that use light to do something useful—from lasers and telescopes to fiber-optic communication systems. Students will be introduced to a story about an Egyptian boy who uses what he learns from optical engineers working inside ancient tombs to develop an ingenious system for lighting the dancers in a school performance. This unit gets students thinking like optical engineers as they explore how light interacts with different materials. They will use what they’ve learned about the properties of light as they design a system to illuminate hieroglyphics in a model tomb.
Air and Weather
Mechanical engineering involves the design of anything with moving parts. In this unit, students will think like mechanical engineers—and also use their understanding of air as wind—to design and create wind-powered machines. The storybook Leif Catches the Wind introduces students to wind turbines that generate renewable energy. Students will study how common machines such as mechanical pencils and egg beaters work, then use their mechanical engineering skills to design sailboats and windmills that catch the wind.
Balance & Forces
When civil engineers design bridges, they must take into account factors like balance and motion. This unit introduces the principles behind bridge design with the storybook Javier Builds a Bridge, about a boy who needs a safe footbridge to get to his island play fort. Students will reinforce their understanding of “push” and “pull” as they explore how forces act on different structures. They’ll use what they know about balance and force as they experiment with beam, arch, and suspension bridges—and learn how bridge designs counteract and redirect forces and motion. In the final design challenge, students plan, build, and test their own bridges.
Solids and Liquids
If you’ve ever followed a recipe, you know that the amount of each ingredient and the order in which you mix them matters. Chemical engineers use these same principles when designing processes. When students read the storybook Michelle’s MVP Award, they learn about a girl who designs a better way to make play dough. The activities in this unit reinforce the science concepts “solid” and “liquid” as students explore the properties of different materials—and the properties of mixtures of materials. The final engineering design challenge? Design a process for making high-quality play dough.
Floating and Sinking
To study the ocean, scientists and engineers use submersibles—small, remote-controlled underwater vessels. This unit introduces students to the field of ocean engineering through the storybook Despina Makes a Splash, about girl in Greece who designs a submersible to retrieve lost diving goggles. Students learn about sounding poles and sonar as they map a section of ocean floor. Then they apply their knowledge of density, floating, and sinking to design their own submersible, equip it with research instruments, and retrieve packages from a model ocean floor.
Organisms
Membranes are thin layers that let helpful substances pass through and keep harmful substances out. In this unit, students learn to think like bioengineers as they design a model membrane to mimic the properties of real membranes in live organisms. The storybook Juan Daniel’s Futbol Frog sets the scene, as students read about a boy who engineers a membrane to keep a frog alive. Students learn how membranes function and apply their knowledge of the basic needs of living organisms to the engineering design challenge: designing a frog habitat with a model membrane that delivers just the right amount of water.
Water
The water you drink is clean and safe thanks to the environmental engineers who design and manage our water supply and water treatment systems. In this unit, the storybook Saving Salila’s Turtle introduces students to the problem of water pollution—and to some solutions. Students will investigate the properties of filter materials, apply their knowledge of water, and think like environmental engineers as they plan, construct, test and improve their own water filters.