© 2012 by Project Gals New Goals for a New Year A Learning Activity

New goals for a new year STEM Challenge Examples of this challenge in action

Teacher Instructions: Suggested Materials: Set Up: Prepare supplies. Set up a supply table with all items available. Determine a way for students to collect supplies. Copy engineering design activity guide or show it on a screen. Decide how you will organize your groups. Most STEM projects work best with groups of four. Read the back story, STEM Challenge and rules to your students. Time requirements depend on the age of your students. Typically brainstorming lasts about 5 minutes with building ranging from 40 to 60 minutes. 5 pieces of card stock 10 index cards Rubber bands Scissors Marble for testing Toilet paper rolls 1 roll of duct tape or clear packing tape 4 paper plates Straws or paper cups 5 file folders

Back Story Happy New School Year! It’s the start of a new school year, so its time to set our New Year’s resolutions! For over 4,000 years ancient people have been setting New Year’s resolutions as a way to set and keep self-improvement goals or goals for their community. The ancient Babylonians were among the first civilizations known to set goals or “make promises” at the start of the new year. It is believed that they wanted to start the new year off on the right foot with a fresh start. Historians believe that they often set goals to pay off debts and give back borrowed items. In America, most people set their resolutions in January at the start of the new calendar year, but usually those resolutions are broken within a matter of weeks. As a class, we have the opportunity to set goals for our classroom learning expectations and finally design a solution to the “forgetting” of resolutions! Read the back story to your students.

NEW GOALS FOR A NEW YEAR STEM Challenge Your challenge is to create a system, path or maze that will allow a marble to randomly select one of three classroom goals or resolutions. Once a goal has been selected our class will focus on that goal for the week. The marble should have an equal chance to select each of the goals on any given day. As a group create three resolutions that would improve our classroom learning environment. Share challenge with students

You may use only the supplies provided (and scissors). You can not touch the supplies until the 5 minutes of brainstorming are up. ALL members of your team must be actively participating in a useful manner. You may trade supplies with another team. The marble must travel at least 2 feet. You must include 3 classroom goals/resolutions in your model. Only 1 member of your team will present the project so be prepared to explain the how & why of your project. Stay within the time requirements. Challenge Rules

Identify the Challenge Organize group work space. Can everyone see and hear each other? Think about the challenge. Restate it in your own words on your journal page. Review any rules or restrictions. Preview materials. Share challenge with students NEW GOALS FOR A NEW YEAR STEM Challenge

Brainstorm ideas for behavior and academic goals that your class could focus on. Try to think of goals that would help your classroom run better. Here are some questions to get your creative juices flowing: – What are things teachers expect students to do without being told? – What are systems or procedures your teacher has set up that need to become a habit each day or week? – What are things classes tend to receive compliments for from other adults in the building? – What other creative goals can you come up with? Use the brainstorming journal page to record all ideas, no matter how wild. The more ideas the better! Work as a team No negatives Everyone must participate Do not touch materials while brainstorming Share challenge with students Identify the Challenge BRAINSTORM NEW GOALS FOR A NEW YEAR STEM Challenge

Evaluate which ideas best address the challenge, and which are possible given your time and materials. Sketch your top ideas on the first draft design page. Sketches are a great tool to help your team: Refine your ideas Work out proportions or measurements. Decide how materials are used by labeling where you will use them on the design. Make sure the idea is workable and that all team members are on the same page. Identify the Challenge BRAINSTORM DESIGN NEW GOALS FOR A NEW YEAR STEM Challenge

Once you decide on a plan for your design and have completed your first draft, you are ready to build. Collect materials and tools you’ll need and get building! Follow these steps: 1.Build your design. 2.Test it out and record the results. Does it accomplish the task? 3.Evaluate it. Think about what works and what could work better. 4.Redesign it if necessary and record the improvements you made. Identify the Challenge BRAINSTORM DESIGN BUILD Test & Evaluate Redesign NEW GOALS FOR A NEW YEAR STEM Challenge

Draw, color and label your final design using the journal page. Select who will present your project to the rest of the class. Determine how you are going to present. (skit, song, talk-about etc.) Be sure to explain your design and point out your favorite features. Discuss the learning opportunities (its not a mistake if a lesson can be learned) Talk about how you used the design process. What were the results of testing your invention? Did you make any improvements? Identify the Challenge BRAINSTORM DESIGN BUILD SHARE SOLUTIONS Test & Evaluate Redesign NEW GOALS FOR A NEW YEAR STEM Challenge

New goals for a new year: stem challenge List your group members: _____________ _____________________________ What materials will be available to you: _____ _____________________________ What is the challenge? ____________________________________________ New goals for a new year: stem challenge List your group members: _____________ _____________________________ What materials will be available to you: _____ _____________________________ What is the challenge? ____________________________________________ Journal Sized Pages New goals for a new year: stem challenge List your group members: _____________ _____________________________ What materials will be available to you: _____ _____________________________ What is the challenge? ____________________________________________ New goals for a new year: stem challenge List your group members: _____________ _____________________________ What materials will be available to you: _____ _____________________________ What is the challenge? ____________________________________________

Brainstorming Goals Everyone must share at least one goal. When you have run out of spaces or ideas, vote on the top 3 ideas and rank them in the last column. Classroom Goal IdeaWho Contributed this idea? RANK Brainstorming Goals Everyone must share at least one goal. When you have run out of spaces or ideas, vote on the top 3 ideas and rank them in the last column. Classroom Goal IdeaWho Contributed this idea? RANK Journal Sized Pages

First Draft BEFORE BUILDING, draw a rough draft of your idea. Illustrate with colored pencils and label what supplies you will use for the various parts of your design. First Draft BEFORE BUILDING, draw a rough draft of your idea. Illustrate with colored pencils and label what supplies you will use for the various parts of your design Journal Sized Pages Test After you are satisfied with your newly constructed invention, conduct 10 test trials and record the results below. Observations: ______________________________________ _______________________________________________ _______________________________________________ _______________________________________________ Test After you are satisfied with your newly constructed invention, conduct 10 test trials and record the results below. Observations: ______________________________________ _______________________________________________ _______________________________________________ _______________________________________________ Trial #Goal #1Goal #2Goal #3 Totals

Evaluate and Redesign (Explain the problems you experienced during the testing and evaluating phase, as well as the changes you made) ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ Evaluate and Redesign (Explain the problems you experienced during the testing and evaluating phase, as well as the changes you made) ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ Final Draft Use colored pencils to draw and illustrate a final draft of your working design. Final Draft Use colored pencils to draw and illustrate a final draft of your working design Journal Sized Pages

Reflection 1.Which team’s invention was most accurate at giving each goal an equal chance for being chosen? Why do you think they were the most successful at this task? 2.Which group had the most unique goals for the class? What were they? 3.Which team used the materials in the most creative way? Explain. 4.On a scale of 1 to 10 how well did your team work together? (put a dot where you would rate your team) ___________________________________________________________________ Need Great Improvement Teamwork 5. What changes could your group have made to make your goal setting invention even better? What would you do differently if you could do it again? Reflection 1.Which team’s invention was most accurate at giving each goal an equal chance for being chosen? Why do you think they were the most successful at this task? 2.Which group had the most unique goals for the class? What were they? 3.Which team used the materials in the most creative way? Explain. 4.On a scale of 1 to 10 how well did your team work together? (put a dot where you would rate your team) ___________________________________________________________________ Need Great Improvement Teamwork 5. What changes could your group have made to make your goal setting invention even better? What would you do differently if you could do it again?