In the central Minnesota town of Cosmos last Friday, a 2nd grader invented an “air” plane that didn’t use gas–it ran on just air. Call it the “grasshopper,” the student said. . . “because grasshopper can fly for a long ways too.”
Members of the Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City YES! team invested long hours and priceless creativity in developing active-learning modules for elementary students in their district. The “innovation” activity used a problem-solution model. Second graders were presented with kits of interesting objects, including cardboard tubes, foil, dowels, balloons, tape, index cards and mini-clothespins. They were challenged to invent a solution to a problem . . . and their creativity rose to the occasion!
Among their inventions: a flower-shaped foil solar collector; a sign to spread the word about how we can help the earth; two cars powered renewably (they go FAST!); and a farm complete with a wind turbine and a silo.
Other standards-based activities developed by the ACGC YES! students included measuring mass and temperature, sorting recycling/composting/trash, and painting a classroom composting bin. Students also created a museum of interactive displays that spent the week in the school lobby for teachers and students to learn from. In addition, two high school students stopped by each group and demonstrated different appliances using watt-meter. . . they had students guess and compare the energy used by each. Do you know how much less energy a radio uses compared to a hair dryer? The students in Cosmos do!
Students in ACGC’s other elementary school, Atwater, will take part in these education activities on Friday, March 23. Great work, ACGC!
