One way to enjoy a holiday is through STEM activities. I am just venturing into STEM and it seems like a perfect fit for Student-Led Learning. While I was thinking about what to do with the two days before Thanksgiving, STEM came to mind! Why not?! The students' brains would not be able to do much, they would loose whatever learning we were doing over the long weekend, and, well, I would be just to tired to teach-period! Also, I have viewed STEM as a fun adventure-up until creating and implementing one!
I knew I wanted to think of my very own idea! The way I learn how to create something new is by developing something from start to finish. I have always been this way. It allows my brain to cycle through a cycle. I know that's a lot of cycles, but that is truly what it does. Suddenly, the Turkey Hotline popped into my head and that's where I went-turkey thawing! Yep, but HOW?! How do I implement such a crazy thing for kids!
Here's how it went down! First, I shared the basic concept with my students. I designed the pages in the Holiday STEM: Thaw a Turkey to be both printable pages and a PowerPoint presentation.
Then they dove into the process. I designed this with the idea that they would complete the activity in two days. The first day, students worked through the Ask, Imagine, Plan, and Create stages. This took very little time actually. In less than an hour students had worked through these stages and created their thawing devices. Here they are!
So, where were the "turkeys"? My school has a freezer in the office. Once I got permission, I started the freezing process there. Then, the second morning, I sent students to the "grocery store" to pick up the "turkeys"! They all wanted to go! Once the turkeys arrived, we took off the "wrapping" and got started!
There were some interesting designs for SURE! This group actually defrosted their turkey in 45 minutes. This equaled an uncookable turkey! Yep-they better have a different plan!
This group finished in about two hours. Out of nowhere their turkey exited the ice! Yep-uncookable!
These two groups didn't make it but their turkeys thawed within 15 minutes of "time". We talked about how they would have a dinner, but they would have unhappy guests because the meal would be late!
And this teams took an additional hour to thaw! They would have very unhappy guests, because their turkey would not have been able to be cooked!
Overall, they had an AWESOME time with this STEM. We had just finished learning about states of matter and freezing points, so that is all they had to go with scientifically. Our next unit is energy, including heat energy and insulators. We will finish right before the Holiday Break! Guess what we will be trying again! Yep! Students completed the Imagine stage at the end of our STEM. I am keeping their papers and will give them back with their new found knowledge and give it a go again! I can't wait to see what they come up with!
You can grab the Holiday Stem: Thaw a Turkey in my store, The Best Days. I'd love for you to try it out! And, feel free to share what kinds of STEM have you tried in your classroom. I'd love to hear all about it! Leave a note in the comments and have an AWESOME Thanksgiving!