A Hauki on banner creation

Blank but for stray hairs;
To ignite the mind, first you
Graft grid to canvas.

Citations

WATER BOTTLE ROCKET
While talking with a caller about air pressure, the Magic School Bus producer is unaware that Liz is creating a bottle rocket using air and water to launch the bottle.
http://player.discoveryeducation.com/index.cfm?guidAssetId=0D940983-C5A6-4986-9467-13978975C84&blnFromSearch=1&productcode=US

Citation (APA)
Combining Air and Water. Scholastic.
(1997). Retrieved December 2, 2009, from
Discovery Education: http://streaming.discoveryeducation.com/

MOUSETRAP VEHICLE
The most up-to-date and informative mousetrap powered car manual ever written with all new earth-shattering secrets for 2009. Selected by students and teachers world wide as the best resource available for learning how to build winning mouse trap powered racer. Learn how to build the ultimate speed-trap dragsters, long distance racers, boats and more with easy to follow step-by-step plans written for beginners and seasoned veterans alike. This book is designed to eliminate the guesswork! Mousetrap Cars: The Secrets to Success includes over 159 pages of secret construction tips, instructions, design plans, formulas, experiments, and more.

Citation (APA)
Balmer, A. (1996). Mousetrap Car Plans: The Secrets to Success.
(1996). Retrieved December 2, 2009, from Doc Fizzix Mousetrap Racers website: http://www.docfizzix.com/pdf-files/MTV-secrets-sample.pdf

A Hauki on Technical Report Writing

Media Center -
No WiFi, No Noodletools.
See you next Wednesday!

Survey Monkey see, STEMinar monkey do

S.T.E.M.inar at Seminole Ridge High School
Saturday, December 12, 2009
8:30 am – 12:30 pm

The STEMinar at Seminole Ridge is less then 2 weeks away, so it's a prime time to see what statistically significant information will be used for planning it.

Registration for the STEMinar is through Survey Monkey, which if you have a well-designed survey makes analyzing the data a no-brainer.

Question #5 - Please indicate which design seminars you are interested in attending (pick two). Each seminar would lasts 90 minutes.Survey Monkey snapshot as of Dec 1, 2009

See? Out of 11 responses, mousetrap vehicles are in the lead, followed by water bottle rocketry, and a tie for third between balsawood bridges and banner/poster designs. And speaking of no-brainers, no one likes the brain bowl :(

CLICK HERE to register your school for the STEMinar if you haven't already.

DuPont Challenge© Science Essay Competition

DuPont Challenge© Science Essay Competition gets students writing about science! Students in 7th through 12th grade research and write a 700 to 1,000-word essay about a scientific discovery, theory, event or technological application that has captured their interest. Created to honor the Challenger astronauts, students can win savings bonds up to $5,000, and a trip to Walt Disney World and to the Kennedy Space Center.

Teachers win too! Along with the trips with their students, teachers can also win $500 grants. Students have the opportunity to be inspired, to be creative, and to tell a story in this essay about any scientific topic. Teachers can use this competition to motivate students to reach beyond themselves and push the limits! To learn more about the competition, check out the website at http://thechallenge.dupont.com. Entries will be accepted from December 1, 2009 until January 31, 2010.

TMBG - "Nonagon"

EngineerGirl! 2010 Survival Design Challenge

The National Academy of Engineering sponsors an annual essay contest for precollege students dealing with the importance of engineering and its impact on our world. Boys and girls ages 8-18 compete for prizes up to $500, as well as an opportunity to publish their entries on the EngineerGirl! Website. This year, contestants must describe in 1000 words or fewer how they’d survive being lost in a national forest using the contents of their backpack along with clothing or accessories worn and items in the environment to either (a) create a shelter, (b) gather food and water, or (c) try to get the attention of a rescue party. You can find the announcement, guidelines, and related information about the contest on the EngineerGirl! website: 
http://www.engineergirl.org/CMS/Contest.aspx

Entries must be received by 6:00 PM on March 1, 2010. Essays will be judged on the basis of creativity, feasibility, and usefulness of the design as well as the author’s ability to communicate ideas. All entries are read by a panel of judges, whose selections are final.

Hawks Have ‘Fizzix Funday’

Seminole Ridge High School physics students showcased their skills Tuesday, November 24, testing their “Fizzix Funday” research projects. Students chose to either ‘Drop It,’ ‘Build It,’ or ‘Launch It,’ creating the ideal container to protect an egg from a six-story drop, building the best roller coaster model, or blasting off the ultimate water bottle rocket.
Drop It!
Launch It!
Build It!

In April 2009, in a speech at the National Academy of Sciences annual meeting, President Obama remarked "I want us all to think about new and creative ways to engage young people in science and engineering, whether it's science festivals, robotics competitions, fairs that encourage young people to create and build and invent -- to be makers of things, not just consumers of things." Physics teacher Erich Landstrom listened to President Obama, and challenged his students to design, construct, and compete.
Ein Ei!

The Fizzix Funday began with Drop It. The Palm Beach County Fire Department assisted in testing the lightest package to protect a raw egg from cracking after a sixty foot free fall from the ladder of the fire truck. Congratulations to Patrick Costan and Brian Harner, whose “Death Cock” creation weight just 19 grams and survived three falls!

At 10:30 AM, the students began Launch It, aiming for a projectile put together around an ordinary 2 liter plastic soda bottle with the greatest air aloft “hang time” launched by compressed air and water. Congratulations to Andy Bernardo, whose “Smurfette’s Nipple” was airborne for 7.0 seconds!



After lunch, the students finished big with Build It: creating a coaster with the longest ride time to go from the Start position to the Finish (with bonus points for loops and attraction). Congratulations to Christopher Bainter and Andrew Piroli, whose “Perfect Plumbing” kept rolling along for an average of sixteen seconds!

Fizzix Funday 2009: Drop It, Build It, Launch It

Rocket+tree=rocketry

Seminole Ridge physics students showcase their STEM skills on Tuesday, November 24, 2009.

Erich Landstrom’s physics student will test their “Fizzix Funday” research projects to either “Drop It,” “Build It,” or “Launch It” – by creating the ideal container to protect an egg from a 3-story drop, building the best roller coaster model, or blasting off the ultimate water bottle rocket.

Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education is increasingly being appreciated as the key to assuring that America cultivates a new generation of experts as well, with the skills to create the new green technologies we need to strengthen our economy in the 21st Century. Science and technology are responsible for a very large portion of this nation’s economic growth over the past 50 years. And scientists and engineers today are in the best position to solve many of the most pressing challenges facing the nation and the world.

8 AM - drop it: design the lightest package to protect a raw egg from cracking after a five-story free fall; (schedule subject to change)
10 AM - launch it: put together a projectile around an ordinary 2 liter plastic bottle with the greatest air aloft “hang time” launched by compressed air and water.
12 Noon - build it: create a coaster with the longest ride time to go from the Start position to the Finish (with bonus points for loops and attraction)

Watch the Fizzix Funday 2008 video

Obama Launches "Educate to Innovate" Campaign for Excellence in STEM

The White House
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release November 23, 2009

President Obama Launches "Educate to Innovate" Campaign for Excellence in Science, Technology, Engineering & Math (Stem) Education

Nationwide effort includes over $260 million in public-private investments
to move American students to the top of the pack
in science and math achievement over the next decade

President Obama today launched the "Educate to Innovate" campaign, a nationwide effort to help reach the administration’s goal of moving American students from the middle to the top of the pack in science and math achievement over the next decade.

Speaking to key leaders of the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Math) community and local students, President Obama announced a series of high-powered partnerships involving leading companies, foundations, non-profits, and science and engineering societies dedicated to motivating and inspiring young people across America to excel in science and math.

“Reaffirming and strengthening America’s role as the world’s engine of scientific discovery and technological innovation is essential to meeting the challenges of this century,” said President Obama. “That’s why I am committed to making the improvement of STEM education over the next decade a national priority.”