It's Electric!

Today, Sara Szeliga from Talquin Electric came to speak to our club. She taught us how coal is turned into electricity, and shared some very important safety tips with us. We learned when Ms. Sara was little, she was actually electrocuted while sitting on a transformer! Luckily she survived and was able to share what she learned from that experience with us. She also showed us examples of how the energy from the power lines can be conducted into humans accidentally. We learned what types of things can be conductors (metal and water being the main two) and why humans are at such a risk for being electrocuted (most of our body is made from water!) We learned about insulators as well, specifically rubber that helps protect us in many ways. Check out the pictures from Ms. Sara's visit!

Cans for Cause

Please collect your aluminum cans and bring them to school! Green S.T.E.M. Club is sponsoring a can drive to purchase a tree for the 25th Anniversary Celebration of Springwood. The tree will be dedicated to our "Silver Owls" (those teachers who have been teaching at Springwood for 20+ years.)

Springwood Recycles

At our last STEM Club meeting, Carole Gentry from Waste Management came to talk to our members about recycling. We learned the difference between the terms "reuse" and "recycle." Reuse means I can take an item and make something new out of it (such as rinsing out a container, decorating it, and making a pencil holder out of it.) She showed us several crafts we could do like cutting a chip bag and sewing it to make a pencil case, or cutting up aluminum cans to make flowers for decoration.

Recycle, however, is a chemical process that takes place to convert materials into other products. We learned a great deal about how the recycling center operates. It's a pretty high-tech process, and sounds like it would be super cool to watch!

At the end, we got to take home some reusable bags to take to the stores with us in place of plastic bags. Our club members found they also make good hats!

We are super excited to take over our recycling program here at school, especially now that we know how important it is!

 Aluminum cans reused to make flower decorations.

 Answering questions about recycling.

 Listening to an interesting presentation.

Ms. Gentry shows us our cool new bags we are getting.

 Our new bags!

 Reusable bags=Awesome hats!

April STEM Club Meeting

We are excited for our April 9th meeting! Carole Gentry from the Leon County Waste Management Facility will be visiting Springwood to talk to all of our club members about recycling. The second and third grade members will soon be in charge of our school's recycling program, and we are excited to learn more about what happens to recycled items. Stay tuned to see what we learn!

Just Chillin' With My Peeps

With all the Easter candy out and about, we decided to conduct some observations on some seasonal treats: Peeps!

As any good scientist does, we hypothesized and made predictions about the task at hand: What would happen if we put a Peep in a beaker of 200 mL of water? What will happen if we put a Peep in 200 mL of vinegar?

Some ideas: Sugar dissolves, so the Peep will dissolve. Vinegar is acidic, so it will dissolve the Peep faster.

After letting the Peeps sit for an hour, we discovered only the sugar on the Peeps in water dissolved, but the marshmallow portion was still in tact. As for the vinegar, it was bubbling a little bit, but the sugar was dissolving at a much slower rate than the Peeps in water. Again, the marshmallow was still in tact!

Click the link to see a similar experiment, and possible explanation for why the Peeps didn't completely dissolve: http://www.peepresearch.org/solubility.html

A Garden for Florida

Fourth grade students participated in Garden Dedication Ceremonies on March 12, 2013.  Springwood is one of 500 schools across Florida to plant a native wildflower garden and to dedicate it to a special Floridian in celebration of Florida's 500th birthday. We chose to honor John Gorrie, a physician and an inventor who paved the way for the invention of air conditioning.  A biography writing contest was held and the top two essays were chosen to be read at the ceremonies held that day.  Students also wrote and shared original poetry, sang Happy 500th birthday to Florida, and planted our state's wildflower, Coreopsis.  WCTV news covered the event and we were featured on the evening news! 

Check us out on the news!

http://www.wctv.tv/home/headlines/Wildflower-Garden--197446811.html

Egg Drop

Second and Third Grade STEM Members were finally able to complete their Egg Drop Experiment today. The club members put the finishing touches on their designs before loading up their eggs and taking them for a ride through the air! 

 Finalizing their designs

 Working hard

 Finishing touches!

 Isaac climbs up to the top.

 Michael climbs to the top.

Michael got stuck. A little STEM Club love and teamwork got him down!

 This egg didn't fair too well!

 3-2-1

 Logan's egg hits the ground. Do you think it survived?

Kai shows off his unharmed egg.