projects for middle school

Randall Caton rcaton
Mon May 5 08:53:38 PDT 2003


Squeak Projects for Middle School Students

We at the NASA Langley Research Center and Christopher Newport
University have developed two projects using Squeak for middle school
students as part of our NASA CONNECT program . NASA CONNECT has three
components: a video broadcast, an educator lesson guide with classroom
activity, and an interactive web activity. Squeak is ideal for the
interactive web activity. Our use of Squeak may be different from what
you have done in that it is more guided.

1. We developed a Squeak projects called Freefall to help students
understand why astronauts float in space. NASA has used the terms
zero-gravity and microgravity to describe the situation, but those terms
are misleading and we avoid them in the activity. The project can also
be used to review motion (position, velocity, and acceleration). Kids
can start by playing with the elevator or read an active book to get
them started. There are suggestions for explorations and challenges in
the book. You can access it at our NASA CONNECT web site
(connect.larc.nasa.gov). Click on Dan's Domain/ Past Web Activities and
then click on MEASUREMENT, RATIOS, AND GRAPHING: Who Added the "Micro"
to Gravity? In addition to Freefall, there is also a technology
challenge project called Elevator and two short tools called Plotting
and Playing.

2. We developed a Squeak Project for our program on Northern Lights:
DATA ANALYSIS AND MEASUREMENT: Dancing in the Night Sky. Besides being
beautiful to look at, there is plenty of good science in Northern
Lights. After summarizing the conditions for Northern Lights on Earth
from our video broadcast, we the ask the students to explore other
planets with our Squeak project called Northern Lights Challenge and
predict which other planets might have Northern Lights. The Squeak book
contains information on the science related to the planetary properties,
math problem challenges, and the technology/science connection in
measuring planetary properties. You can access it at our NASA CONNECT
web site (connect.larc.nasa.gov). Click on Dan's Domain / Past Web
Activities and then click on DATA ANALYSIS AND MEASUREMENT: Dancing in
the Night Sky.

Finally, I realize the value of play and have developed a series of
Squeak projects on my web page where kids can have fun playing. They are
projects that kids should be able to rebuild to create their own
project. You can access these at www.pcs.cnu.edu/~rcaton/ and click on
Fun Squeak Projects.

Randy Caton


--
I am on leave from Christopher Newport
University from Fall 2002 to Fall 2004.
I will be at NASA Langley Research Center.
However, I will still use rcaton at cnu.edu
as my email.

Randall Caton
NASA Langley Research Center
Hampton, VA 23681-2199
voice: 757-864-5032
FAX: 864-8835
email: rcaton at cnu.edu
web: www.pcs.cnu.edu/~rcaton

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