Ray Byle

This is a one period activity/lab to teach students about the concept of density and Archimedes Principle, why things float. Students each get a piece of aluminum foil and design and make a boat. They then must calculate how many pennies it will carry before sinking, and then test it. This is an excellent one day STEM project that combines science, math, design and construction. Students will use the formula Density=Mass divided by Volume.

This is an exciting, hands-on STEM project in which students make small catapults with classroom supplies and collect data to calculate force, work, power, momentum and kinetic energy. At the end of the project the class can set up and compete in mini battles with their catapults in whatever type of games you want to come up with. Some game suggestions are given.

This is an activity that involves the students in measuring, collecting data, calculations and graphing. This is done as a class with 8 timers, 3 volunteers to walk/run and a recorder. Volunteers are timed moving down the hallway and the time and distance data is used to create graphs showing constant speed/velocity and acceleration. Students have to calculate average speed and answer questions on how to identify the differences in movement on the graphs.

This is an activity that requires students to use conversion math skills to change English units to Metric following the steps of the Scientific Method. Students work in pairs to calculate how much water, sugar and Kool-Aid powder will be needed for a family reunion or group of people. They have to read directions and units from a packet of koolaid and convert to metric units.

A 1.5 to 2 day lab activity for grade 7-10 students studying waves, light and lasers. Students will learn about the Law of Reflection, use a protractor and design a maze of mirrors to bounce through a laser beam from a laser pointer. You will need pencil, paper, protractor, some mirrors and a laser pointer. Students will have to learn how to use a protractor to measure and draw angles if they don't already know.

This is a 25 minute Physical Science activity in which students calculate their walking and jogging speeds in miles per hour. They measure out a distance and time themselves walking and jogging it. They first calculate speed in feet per second, then convert it to miles per hour using dimensional analysis. There are six follow up problems using variations of the formula Speed = Distance/Time to calculate distance or time using their speeds from the initial activity. This can also be used in a