Part 3

Antarctic Night Lesson Plan Clarkson Honors student Kara Butterfield worked with the FIRST team advisor, teachers and SLL-BOCES instructional specialists to refine one of the workshop lesson plans called “Antarctic Night” –designed to have students explore the insulating properties of common materials, e.g., cotton balls –uses FLL technology with Robolab and a Vernier surface temp sensor for data logging –designed for 5/6 th grade students In February, this lesson was implemented for ~125 students

Implementation Details Worked with 5 th and 6 th grade classes in the Massena school district 4 day lesson plan: –Intro –Construction –Testing –Analysis Lesson specific testing administered before and after classroom implementation, including an attitudinal survey –All Clarkson IRB approved

Day 1: Intro Overview of the lesson plan –During a trip to Antarctica: what sleeping bag materials would keep you the warmest? Technology overview –NXT brick –Vernier temperature sensor –Reasons for using robotic technology

Day 2: Sleeping Bag Design Class discussion on insulators Students chose materials to use as insulators to create a “sleeping bag” for their hand, e.g.: –Feathers –Bubble wrap –Paper towels –Cotton batting –Wool cloth

Day 2: Design Students building a sleeping bag with Kara

Day 3: Testing Goal: to determine which insulators were the most efficient at keeping your hand warm Technology used: –NXT brick running Robolab code for data sampling (provided to students) –Vernier surface temperature sensor used to take samples (student run) –Data uploaded to computer for analysis using Excel (mentor guided)

Day 3: Testing Students testing their sleeping bags with the support of Clarkson student mentors

Day 4: Analysis Class discussion on experimental results –which sleeping bags were most effective and why?

Results Statistical analysis of pre/post testing showed significant learning occurred among students Reflective and attitudinal feedback showed enthusiasm increased towards STEM learning and careers after the experience Discussions/questions about STEM fields were explored with students throughout Made use of the FLL (or FTC) infrastructure that is already available to participating CoSer school districts; extending the reach of the FIRST programs into the classroom

Questions? For more information contact: James J. Carroll, Associate Professor Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering Wallace H. Coulter School of Engineering Clarkson University, Box 5720 Potsdam, NY (315) [voice] // (315) [fax]