The "RAFTy" Teacher Checklist - 5 Things to do to Prepare for Back to School

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...

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...

Let’s Talk Innovation: Adapting Ideas From RAFT’s Innovation Institute for Your Curriculum

By Jen Rodgers, 8th Grade Science Teacher Last summer I attended RAFT’s two-day "Innovation Institute." It would take several posts to share with you everything I learned and was able to apply to my classroom. However I would like to share one activity with you this time, and how I adapted this to teach a concept in my class. I teach 8th grade science, and one of the standards we teach is how to use the Periodic Table of Elements and what the patterns are in the periodic table. We know how amazing the science is behind the Periodic Table of Elements. But translating that to 14 year olds and letting them discover how incredible it is that everything we know is made of these few elements that share so many characteristics and all fall into this pattern is no small feat. We teach them about groups and periods, valence electrons, metals and nonmetals, and how the characteristics follow a pattern and why. Using RAFT’s Idea Sheet “Thinking on the Out...

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