HOW STEM EDUCATION CAN HELP OUR KIDS AND OUR WORLD
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by Melanie Baker, Courtesy of NYMetroParents.com
Science, technology, engineering, and math are the four subjects that may be most important for our kids to be learning now. STEM education is finally getting the attention it deserves and there are many programs, classes, camps, and museum activities that will let your child learn STEM subjects. We need more scientists and innovators and STEM education holds the key. Building rockets, robots, and other cool contraptions helps kids become creative thinkers and problem solvers and may help them and our world in the future.
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Exploring STEM Concepts in the Early Childhood Classroom
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Make an Egg Float in Salt Water
An egg sinks to the bottom if you drop it into a glass of ordinary drinking water but what happens if you add salt? The results are very interesting and can teach you some fun facts about density. |
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What you'll need:
- One egg
- Water
- Salt
- A tall drinking glass
Instructions:
- Pour water into the glass until it is about half full.
- Stir in lots of salt (about 6 tablespoons).
- Carefully pour in plain water until the glass is nearly full (be careful to not disturb or mix the salty water with the plain water).
- Gently lower the egg into the water and watch what happens.
What's happening?
Salt water is denser than ordinary tap water, the denser the liquid the easier it is for an object to float in it. When you lower the egg into the liquid it drops through the normal tap water until it reaches the salty water, at this point the water is dense enough for the egg to float. If you were careful when you added the tap water to the salt water, they will not have mixed, enabling the egg to amazingly float in the middle of the glass. |
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Make Your Own Quick Sand
Quick sand is a fascinating substance, make some of your own and experiment on a safe scale. Amaze your friends by demonstrating how it works. |
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What you'll need:
- 1 cup of maize cornflour
- Half a cup of water
- A large plastic container
- A spoon
Instructions:
- This one is simple, just mix the cornflour and water thoroughly in the container to make your own instant quick sand.
- When showing other people how it works, stir slowly and drip the quick sand to show it is a liquid.
- Stirring it quickly will make it hard and allow you to punch or poke it quickly (this works better if you do it fast rather than hard).
- Remember that quick sand is messy, try to play with it outside and don't forget to stir just before you use it.
- Always stir instant quicksand just before you use it!
What's happening?
If you add just the right amount of water to cornflour it becomes very thick when you stir it quickly. This happens because the cornflour grains are mixed up and can't slide over each other due to the lack of water between them. Stirring slowly allows more water between the cornflour grains, letting them slide over each other much easier.
Poking it quickly has the same effect, making the substance very hard. If you poke it slowly it doesn't mix up the mixture in the same way, leaving it runny. It works in much the same way as real quick sand. |
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