Posts Tagged ‘Sierra STEM’

Colfax Student Movies Highlight Sierra STEM Impact

Thursday, October 31st, 2013

Colfax High School students who benefited from the freshmen Tech Essentials course supported by Sierra College STEM, recently made these STEM interview movies as sophomores. Thanks to Wade Wolff who guided these students in producing this project. The interviews with teachers, counselors and the principal describe the impact that the Sierra STEM Collaborative has had at Colfax High School. Click the links below to see the four movies on the Colfax You Tube ColfaxMultimedia Channel.

Colfax Tech Essentials Teacm

Tech Essentials Team – The Colfax High School Tech Essentials teaching team talks about the positive impact the Sierra STEM Collaborative partnership. The support made it possible to create a Tech Essentials program and curriculum for freshmen. That model is now being used through the Placer Union High School District.

 

Principal – Principal Rick Spears talks about the Sierra College STEM Collaborative and the CTE program at Colfax High. Teachers have benefited from collaboration time, professional development and cutting edge tools. As a result, all Colfax students are being exposed to STEM Curriculum and opportunities after high school.

Career College Counselor – Career College counselor Bobbi Jo Forsyth talks about how the Career Cruising program, supplied by Sierra College STEM Collaborative, is helping her do her job at Colfax High School and attract students, especially girls, to Science, Technology, Engineering & Math.

Counselor – Counselor Rachel Dalton talks about using the Career Cruising program at Colfax High School. Students start using it as freshmen and can use it throughout high school to explore careers, discover their interests, research colleges and make career plans.

The students who made these movies gained valuable skills from the Tech Essentials course that all freshmen take at Colfax High School to learn applied academics. The course taught them to teamwork, project management and documentation as well as provided an introduction to Career Technical Education courses covering engineering, metal fabrication, woodworking, electronics, multi-media and photography. Sierra STEM provides support to the teacher team that created this Tech Essentials course and has supplied equipment to bring the design and innovation labs up to date.


Hands-on Algebra Workshops

Monday, September 16th, 2013

Sierra College STEM with the Placer County Office of Education are offering a hands-on Algebra Professional Development. The training will prepare teachers to meet the new Common Core education requirements. Learn more at Hands-on Algebra.


CTE Online posts Design & Engineering Curriculumn

Wednesday, September 4th, 2013

Nearly 100 new project-based units and 400 new lesson plans have been posted on CTE Online, several developed by teachers in the Sierra STEM Collaborative.

The Engineering Pathway & Project includes the STEM areas of Engineering Design I & II, Engineering Design III, Advanced CAD/CAM, and Advanced Robotics.

The Media Design Pathway & Projects spans Media Design II & III, Video Production and Editing, and Advanced Animation Design.

Our Sierra STEM Collaborative partners have contributed these new lessons:

 


Girls inspired to consider nontraditional STEM Careers at Sierra College

Wednesday, April 24th, 2013

Sierra College faculty inspired high school girls, instilled new confidence and invited them to pursue technical careers at the first Nontraditional Employment for Women (NEW) event held on Friday, April 19.

Small groups, hands-on on projects, female role models, encouraging professors and a warm welcome to Sierra College were all part of the strategy to inspire girls at the NEW event according to Carol Pepper-Kittredge, Director, Center for Applied Competitive Technology Center (CACT), Sierra College. Held at the Rocklin campus, girls from Roseville, Nevada City, Truckee and communities in between were introduced to Science, Technology, Engineering & Math (STEM) education and careers paths.

“We wanted these girls to know that they can succeed in nontraditional careers and make a difference for their families, community and the world,” said Pepper-Kittredge. “The event was designed to engage girls, and help them see themselves attending Sierra College and taking computer, design, welding, Mechatronics and other Career Technical Education (CTE) classes.”

 


Ski Resort Lifts Awareness of Applied Math for STEM Careers

Saturday, March 9th, 2013

Northstar California Resort gave college faculty a behind the scenes tour of the lift maintence operations so they could gain applied math examples to use in their classrooms. The one day externship was funded by the Sierra College Science,
Technology Engineering and Math (STEM) Collaborative.

“Teachers can use simple geometry to demonstrate calculating the angle of the chair suspended from the cable carrying it up the hill,” said Katie Lucero, Math Department Chair, Sierra College. “We saw how data was collected and logged daily; basic math computations were used to confirm that the system is running within safety parameters. A much more complicated series of equations would be used by engineers in the design process to determine the weight per chair for the lift system, with and without people, when it is stopped and when it is moving at maximum speed.”

Learn more at Rocklin and Roseville Today Faculty tour Northstar to Apply Math to Jobs.

 


Math Teachers invited to teach creativity with math

Friday, March 8th, 2013

Math teachers are invited to a professional development program offered by the Sierra STEM Collaborative: Teach creativity while reinforcing essential math skills. It will be held March 14, 2013 3:30-5 PM at Colfax High School. The instructor is Jonathan Schwartz, Math & Engineering, Colfax High School.

Who: Math Teachers in grades 4-12 looking for innovative ways to reinforce Math & Critical Thinking skills.

Why come: Gain a new tool to use in your classroom, experience using it in this hands-on workshop and benefit from hearing what your peers are doing to enhance math education. You will get one set of Core-Cards to use.

What are Core-Cards? They are an incredibly flexible set of cards can be used to teach needed fraction, decimal and percentage skills. The cards are designed to visually prompt students so teachers can use the cards to help learners of all levels. Cards are 1/8, 2/8, 3/8, 4/8, 5/8, 6/8, 7/8 and 8/8 and the equivalent reduced fraction, decimal and percentage. A diagram also appears on the cards. To play Go Fish, students collect cards that sum up to one in the same suit. Slap Jack is an anticipatory game; they slap when the last two cards add up to one. In 21, students add cards to get close to two.

How does it teach creativity? Students use their creativity to invent their own games. Through the experience, they use critical thinking skills and experience deeper levels of understanding. Students take a test to determine what skills they need to improve. Then they develop their own games to practice the needed skills. Students can write papers and/or give presentations about their hypothesis, the game developed, how the pilot of the game went, the results of the post-game test and how well the game improved their skills. This engages students and empowers them to take a more active role in their own education. They also benefit from going through an invention design process to create their game. Once developed, the games can be played by other students in your classroom. At this workshop, learn how to coach your students effectively through this process.

Learn More: http://core-cards.com/


Colfax Project Amplifies Interest in STEM Careers

Wednesday, January 23rd, 2013

Colfax students display their team's amplifiers in Tech Essentials for Freshmen

Christian Kinsey, Terry O’Keefe and Wade Wolff, Colfax High School Tech Essentials Instructors, developed a new student project this year – an amplifier –that appeals to both boys and girls. The Freshmen Design Tech students can easily plug in their ipods in to the amplifier and listen to music.

The amplifier was designed in 3D software and made with hand tools, a vacuum former and a soldering iron. Students then customized the design of their ‘skin’ using design software and a vinyl printer/cutter.

Students also used Career Cruising to assess their interests, and researched two colleges where they might apply to pursue education after high school. For instance, they might be intersted in Welding, Mechatronics, Engineering, Energy Technology or Drafting & Engineering Support at Sierra College. The Sierra College STEM Collaborative grant provided access to Career Cruising and some of the design and fabrication tools. In addition, the students took the Kiersey Temperament test to discover their personality strengths and challenges, and learning style preferences.

Students also developed their own digital portfolios, which will follow them after they graduate.Working in teams, students developed a marketing video and branding materials, and prepared a seven-minute presentation that was delivered three times to ‘judges’ attending the event on Friday, December 21. Students used digital technology (the ipad) to demonstrate their portfolios which include their four-year plans, examples of their coursework, resumes, and the amplifier fabrication process. Judges filled out a plus/delta evaluation following each team presentation, and voted on overall best table design, best video and best ‘skin’ design.

The team presentations were really outstanding! All of the ninth grade students were excited – and proud – of their projects,” said Carol Pepper-Kittredge, Director, Center for Applied Competitive Technologies, Sierra College and one of the community judges who listened to the students’ presentations. Colfax students display their team’s amplifiers in Tech Essentials for Freshmen


NSF grant demonstrates how to teach applied math

Saturday, December 8th, 2012

The National Science Foundation (NSF) funded a grant that enabled Sierra College to develop a model for teaching applied math while fabricating a catapult project called Tech-Explorer (www.tech-explorer.com).  Findings showed that using hands-on projects, connected to authentic work situations, improves teaching of mathematics. Watch the Tech-Explorer movie on how Sierra College integrated math instruction with a catapult building project.  The Sierra College Center for Applied Competitive Technologies (CACT) received NSF Advanced Technological Education grant #1003259 for $150,000.

A total of 306 students built catapults using mills, lathes, drills and other industrial tools. Then the students captured speed, distance, and height of a launched ball during a competition and used the data in a parabolic equation to determine the best launch angle. In addition, 32 teachers participated in three workshops on using hands-on math projects in the classroom.

According to the project principle investigator, Sandra Scott, integrating practical application into math classes and math into technical classes is imperative. “Students really responded when they realized that the parabolic curve is used in headlights, snowboards and solar collectors,” said Scott. “We need to show students how math is applied.”

The Sierra College Tech-Explorer catapult project has been adopted at College of the Canyons, College of the Sequoias, and San Bernardino Community College. The Regional Center for Advanced Manufacturing’s Advanced Manufacturing in Tennessee used it at a camp for 8-9th graders. Nebraska’s Columbus Public Schools incorporated Tech-Explorer into SHINE, a NSF funded program.

Learn more about Sierra College NSF Tech-Explorer.

 


Placer High School students learn Mechatronics skills

Monday, November 26th, 2012

Placer High School Mechatronics program students in Auburn built robots using the motors supplied by the Sierra STEM Collaborative. The Mechatronics teacher, James Anderson, said that as a result of this project, he “saw several kids really getting excited.”

 

 


Rocklin Lab Grand Opening

Monday, October 29th, 2012

Congratulations to Dan Frank and the students of the Engineering Support Technology program at Rocklin High School for hosting such a successful Grand Opening of the design and fabrication labs.