
The school will be hosting a "Falling into STEM" event on Nov. "They're able to explain more to other people they're able to explain more to their parents and, of course, it helps them in the long run when they kind of decide what they want to do with their life as they get into high school and stuff." "So to get them to do the science and the engineering and then to be able to pull in the math, it truthfully makes our students do better in class because they have a better understanding, and background knowledge as well as when they get out into the world. "They have to do multiples of them," she said.
ANEMOMETER FOR KIDS FULL
In order for them to receive the full learning value, she said, they cannot only study one of the four areas of focus. And it's always good to have those parents ask them what they've done and for them to be able to tell them everything they did."Īs Oaklawn is a STEM, or Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math school, activities such as designing and building various objects in a lab are vitally important to the students' future, she noted. "So they love any time they get to test, redesign, and, of course, take it home and show their parents, more importantly. To get to experience it is something that our students typically struggle with, just based on their background knowledge," she said. Luckily enough, last year I taught second grade, so I get to see those kids again this year and they love to do any hands-on learning. In the experiment, students change the "wind" speed using a fan and then measure how fast their anemometer spins.Ĭrawford said the students enjoy the hands-on aspect of such learning opportunities.


Students used paper cups and straws to design their anemometers - a term derived from the Greek word anemos (wind) - which dates back to the 15th century. They built them, they tested them with a fan, and then they were able to redesign." And so they created, in lab, an anemometer, which circulates and counts how many circulations per second to determine the wind speed of a hurricane or a tornado that's occurring.
ANEMOMETER FOR KIDS HOW TO
"The first step in that was learning how to measure the wind speed. "Our students in third grade have been learning about weather and climate and so through that, they're learning how to use the measurement tools to measure rain, wind, severe weather that occurs," Oaklawn teacher and K-6 STEM lab facilitator Dayna Crawford said. Students not only constructed the measuring instruments, but also learned how to use it by counting the rotations it makes within a certain amount of time. Third-grade students, and possible budding meteorologists, at Hot Springs Oaklawn STEM Magnet School recently learned about weather and atmosphere by designing their own anemometers.Ī common weather station instrument, an anemometer is used to measure wind speed and direction.
