Skip to main content

RAFT Activity Kits at the Annual Fundraising Dinner

I was excited as soon as I saw the new RAFT Activity Kit "Solar Collector" on the night of the RAFT fundraiser. I spent the rest of the evening sharing my enthusiasm with the patrons who stopped by for a passport stamp. Here's why...

 My textbook describes the scientific method using wind turbine efficiency. Currently I pay $200 for a wind turbine kit that serves only 4 students for a total expenditure of $2,000 per year for 10 kits.

 In contrast, the new RAFT Activity Kit will allow each of my 155 - 160 students to create their own wind turbine for under $50 - what a tremendous cost savings each year!

 In addition, the new RAFT Activity Kit will allow me to include the new NGSS standards on energy and engineering, because the students will learn about solar collectors and create a mathematical model for measuring the efficiency of their wind turbine design.

 So, RAFT worked its magic once again. I felt like RAFT held a fundraiser just for me, because with the money saved, now all of the 8th grade Physical Science teachers and all 400 of our 8th grade students can individually participate in the wind turbine project!

Hope Oliver, RAFT Fellow and Middle School Teacher
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Science fairs: Nurturing the 21st century thinker

3D Tessellation model A bespectacled 6th grader enthusiastically explains ‘efficiency of 3D space tessellations’ with myriad equations and handmade tessellation patterns to address the needs of the packaging, storing, shipping and construction industry. Another middle school student, was inspired by his little brother’s telescope and built a simple vacuum chamber using a PVC pipe with a microphone and a speaker on both ends to find out how sound travels on Mars! This 8th grader from Granada Islamic School used an oscilloscope his mother found at an auction to measure the sounds. “I poke around and find junk to build my projects. It’s fun.” Science projects today have become fun for many students as they use more hands on activities to experiment and understand concepts. These two middle school students were among 996 participants at the recent Synopsys Silicon Valley Science and Technology Championship , where RAFT was one of the special judges. Moenes Iskarous, President, S...
18 comments
Read more

How does math relate to real life?

By Jeanne Lazzarini, Math Master Educator/R&D Specialist, RAFT How does math relate to real life?   One way is to take a look at the shape of a cloud, a mountain, a coastline, or a tree!   You might be surprised to find that many patterns in nature, called fractals, including growth patterns, have very peculiar mathematical properties ---   even though these natural shapes are not perfect spheres, circles, cones, triangles, or even straight lines!  3D Fractals For Inspiration   So, what is a fractal?   Benoit Mandelbrot (November 20, 1924 – October 14, 2010) is commonly called the father of fractals. He created the term “fractal” to describe curves, surfaces and objects that have some very peculiar properties. A fractal is a geometric shape which is both self-similar and has fractional dimension.    Daydreaming fractals Ok, so what does that mean?   Well, “self-similar” means that when you magnify an object, each of...
Post a Comment
Read more

RAFT’s Summer of Fun Includes Camps for Teachers & Kids!

Want to stoke the creative innovator in you and your students?   Ever wonder what it takes to design an engaging project or design challenge? Interested in generating your own project based learning experiences but don’t know where to start?   What does it mean to empower students? Ever think of letting students use power tools?    Then rush to sign up now for this year’s exciting new summer workshops at RAFT! Our summer RAFT “EduCAMP” (for teachers)   http://www.raftbayarea.org/workshops   are ten separate 4 hour workshops taught by RAFT’s master educators, each focusing on creative ways to engage teachers and students to become innovative thinkers and makers! All dates and course titles below are at the San Jose location except July 7 th and 14 th :  ·          July 5 th :     Engagement through Design Thinking ·          July 7 th : ...
Post a Comment
Read more