RAFT Hands-On Education

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 m...

Can’t make it to the White House Science Fair today? Here are some great hands on ideas for your own local Science Fair! Resource Area For Teaching (RAFT) has over 600 Idea Sheets with more than 400 focused on Sciences – Life Science, Earth/Space Science and Physical Science. These idea sheets can lead to a myriad of possibilities! Here are a few RAFT hands on Science activity ideas that you can even conduct as a classroom science project! Colors of Light A Student enjoying the color patterns in the easily built spectroscope. Make your own with the RAFT Colors of Light Activity Kit! White light is actually a combination of different colors. This easily built spectroscope allows students to separate the incoming light into its component colors, forming a light spectrum (rainbow). Besides creating interesting color patterns it can be used to identify different sources of light. Grade Range: K - 12 Download Idea Sheet Buy Activity Kit Hovercraft Create a simple hov...