Impacting Children Worldwide: RAFT's Trip to Kenya

RAFT employee, Sylvia lodge, recently made a trip to Kenya and was able to visit a school in a Maasai village.

The school employed one teacher who worked with about 59 students ranging form three to twelve years of age. They were having classes under a acacia tree every day while waiting for a one room classroom to be constructed. Through the generosity of RAFT, we were able to donate a few school supplies to each child.

The smiles that emanated from their face truly shows how RAFT can touch the lives of children anywhere in the wold. This experience was on of the highlights of her African trip.

Comments

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...

Plastic to art that’s fantastic!

With Valentine’s Day round the corner, one of RAFT ’s upcoming weekend workshops – ‘Shrink Art Fun’ shows you how to recycle plastic into awesome shrink art! This year learn how to make some meaningful gifts using donated plastic material, available at RAFT in the form of trays and take-out containers, thus preventing them from ending up in a landfill. Shrink plastics encourage creativity, and can be used to supplement a variety of classroom activities. Students can create models, manipulatives, and displays. They can make maps, pins, book report characters, and even cards! But there is also a science behind this hands on art form! Says Instructor Georgina Patterson, who has been in the education field for 40 years, “The science behind the shrinkage process is a chemistry lesson in itself, and the excitement young children get when they watch the plastic change size in the oven is worth the effort!” The base material consists of thin, flexible polystyrene plast...

CUSD Shares Possible STEAM Projects by Grade

Twelve STEAM Innovation Leaders from the Campbell Unified School District (CUSD) came to RAFT earlier this month to create new motivational activities for the start of the school year! They met in grade-level teams with our RAFT Education staff to generate new ideas using RAFT materials that will motivate, challenge, and inspire their students. Each team was given a RAFT Makerspace-in-a-Box containing a wide variety of upcycled materials. They were asked to create a Design Challenge that directed students to solve the instructor’s challenge with the materials from the box. The Design Challenges addressed an engineering standard appropriate for each grade level and could include standards from other subjects. Here are some of their exciting back-to-school ideas: ************************************************************************************* Grades TK – 2 Engineering Standard: K-2-ETS1-1: Ask questions, make observations, and gather information about a situa...

RAFT Hands-On Education

Search This Blog