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