Make It Relevant
Staff Development Guide
Training Situation: Meeting (small group)
Length: 25 minutes
Objective: Participants will brainstorm science practices in order to add more opportunities for youth to connect the work of scientists to their everyday activities.
Agenda:
- What Do Scientists Do? – 10 minutes
- See the Skill in Action – 5 minutes
- Discussion – 10 minutes
Download
DownloadVideo-Based Learning Module
As you watch the skill video below, think about these questions:
- What does the facilitator do to ensure that all youth have some prior knowledge before beginning the design challenge?
- How does the facilitator learn about youth’s prior knowledge and experiences wtih roller coasters?
- What are some other ways you could introduce a roller coaster design challenge?
Now that you’ve watched the video, reflect on what you saw and post your responses.
- What can make connecting to prior knowledge and experiences more difficult when doing a design challenge activity?
- Why is it important to go over instructions when doing a design challenge? How can that influence youth engagement?
Explore More Like This
Organizing Your Computer Science Activities
Discuss the challenges you face and develop strategies for organizing materials and managing computer science activities.
Developing Skills Needed for Active STEM Learning
Bring STEM possibilities to life by showing youth the skills they need (and already have) to be successful at STEM learning.
Making STEM Meaningful
Apply strategies for making STEM meaningful to their upcoming activity plans to learn to get youth actively engaged in STEM learning.