Sparking Curiosity at Home
Engaging in science investigations at home doesn’t need to be daunting. An abundance of resources are available to help spark your child’s curiosity at home. I encourage you to implement the Engineering Design Process with your investigations at home. This process helps students intertwine math and science practices, creativity, and complex problem-solving, which are essential to building STEAM literacy (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics).
The Engineering Design Process has seven components - Ask, Research, Imagine, Plan, Create, Test, and Improve. Ask is where the critical thinking begins. What is the problem? What is the goal? Who is it for? Are there any limitations to my idea? During the research stage, scientists begin to collect information about what products or inventions already exist, what may already be available to be adapted to fit their needs, and discover which specialists they can reach out to in order to gather more information about their topic of interest. The imagination portion of the process is where engineers begin to brainstorm as many solutions to the problem as possible. Next, inventors revisit all their possible solutions and decide on the best option to move forward within the planning stage. During the creation stage, a prototype is built to see if the design meets the original challenge objective. Does it solve the need? Analyze the results during the test stage to see what works and what could be improved. Finally, make plans to revise the prototype using your data from the test stage. Once you made new plans, begin the Engineering Design Process all over again! This is a cyclical process that allows for structured design, implementation, and revision in order to become a complex problem-solver.
Below, you will find different websites to explore with your child!
Educational Virtual Field Trips:
https://www.weareteachers.com/best-virtual-field-trips/
Research:
https://www.brainpop.com/science/diversityoflife/algae/
https://askabiologist.asu.edu/
Museums:
https://www.exploratorium.edu/explore
NASA:
https://www.nasa.gov/kidsclub/index.html
Activities & Experiments: https://www.steampoweredfamily.com/category/science-experiments/
https://littlebinsforlittlehands.com/
https://theyounginventorsclub.com/blog/
https://theyounginventorsclub.com/parents/
Sources:
Engineering Design Process. Teach Engineering. Retrieved August 11, 2023, from https://www.teachengineering.org/populartopics/designprocess
