1st Grade STEM Activity... LIGHTS & SHADOWS

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 First Grade Working With the New Next Generation Science Standards and STEM

Mrs. Van, like all the science teachers in our district, is following a set of new science standards adopted by the State of Iowa called the Next Generation Science Standards or the NGSS.  The NGSS are very similar to the Iowa Core science standards with one major addition… STEM and integrated performance based tasks completed by our students.  It is my opinion that the state adopted these standards due to their link to STEM. 

Mrs. Van allowed me to visit and help out in her class when her 1^st science classes were given the task of building a raft that would float in water only using Popsicle sticks and twine.  As the students worked in groups, it was amazing to hear and see all the different designs and conversations the 1^st graders in the classroom were having.  Mrs. Van was able to integrate this task while reading a book about “Johnny Appleseed”.  So when Mrs. Van asked me to help her find another task dealing with Lights and Shadows, I jumped at the chance. 

Mrs. Van brought the 3 sections of 1^st grade students to Mr. Pytleski’s STEM Lab to answer the some questions about light and shadows. Students were broken up into groups of 3 or 4.  They were presented with the following problem… ‘What will happen when the flashlight is moved away from the cactus?”  Each student in the cooperative groups had a specific job they were in charge of.  One of the students was the cactus builder.  He or she had the task of building a cactus out of clay.  As the ‘Cactus Builder’ got to work, the whole group talked briefly about where cacti were found.  After about two minutes of cacti building, the ‘Recorder’ and ‘Light Manager’ were ready to help answer the question presented to them.  Each group’s ‘Recorder’ recorded a guess or hypothesis to what would happen when the flashlight was moved away from the cactus.  Each group was given three possible choices; the cactus would get BIGGER, SMALLER, or STAY THE SAME.  The ‘Light Manager’ were then instructed to turn on the flashlight and place the flashlight on a piece of tape about 20 centimeters away for the cactus, so a shadow showed up on the wall.  Mr. Pytleski instructed the ‘Light Manager’ to move the flashlight back to the second piece of tape that was about 40 centimeters away from the cactus.  The students then could see if their hypotheses were correct or incorrect.  Three other questions were presented to the students… “How can a shadow disappear?”  “What happens to the shadow of the cactus when the flashlight is tilted?”  And lastly, “Do you know of any other light source that makes shadows like a flashlight does?”  The expressions and discussions the students were having were awesome!  A lot was learned and a lot of fun was had not only by the students, but by Mr. Pytleski and Mrs. Van Veldhuizen as well!  Take a look at the slide show below…

 1st Grade Light and Shadow STEM Activity