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Weave storytelling and hands on activities to interest your students in science concepts

using the RAFT shake table capture your student's
imagination and interest in plate tectonics
and earthquakes!

‘Nothing was going right for Alice today. Her socks didn’t match in the morning, she left her homework at home and was admonished by her 6th grade teacher…and now Alice ended up leaving her glasses at school! How could she see? Her mom has left her a note on the refrigerator, but Alice couldn’t read without her glasses.

Alice tries to call her mom on the cell phone to take her back to school but her mom wasn’t picking up her phone! Then her friend Felicia walks in asking Alice to explain some class notes. Alice was a whiz at explaining and wanted to help her friend but she didn’t have her glasses. Alice then had an idea…she put a plain plastic sheet on the notes and put some drops of water on the sheet and magically the words were legible!’

With this story you can strike a chord with your students and explain the concept of magnification - as light goes through a drop of water, it bends and magnifies the words underneath – the water here plays the role of a magnifying glass.

Laurie Pines, a professional story teller and educator has found that incorporating stories into the curriculum at any level to introduce and augment the lesson, acts as a surprisingly potent magnet to stir the students' desire to learn. The learning becomes more effective if story telling is combined with hands-on activities!

Says Laurie, “I look at the RAFT Materials, Idea Sheets and Activity Kits and think what kind of story can I make around it? We can make up stories like Alice’s story here or we can even use real stories like Archimedes’ story to teach Archimedes principle and supplement it with an hands-on activity!”

This RAFT Member is one of the three instructors who will be showcasing various hands on science activities for 4th graders and above, at the ‘Science Mini-series: Taking Science Outside the Box’ workshop on March 17th at RAFT San Jose. Come and find out how you can weave stories around a science activity/experiment to interest your students in biology, chemistry, earth science and physics.

Eric Welker and Tom Gates from the RAFT education team will also walk you through various tips and innovative techniques for science curriculum teaching. The hands on science workshop gives you access to many RAFT Science Activity Kits, Idea Sheets and materials.

Come and learn about Fingerphones, Benham’s Disc, Mini Ice Mountains, Shake Tables, Who is the daddy, and other RAFT hands on science activities - register for the day long Science Mini-series workshop today! To register click here.

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