Activities for Students

A keyword in education is differentiation, meaning that, in essence, each student will always have an opportunity to work at an appropriate, challenging level, no matter what the skills and ability level are at any given moment. Even in Chem-Phys, where students are accelerated, bright and motivated, some individuals will learn material more quickly while others need some additional time, and that is all fine and normal when dealing with samples of people. What we want to establish is a system where, no matter where you fall on the spectrum of learning and your background, you will always have the opportunities to be challenged and make continuous progress in learning science, laboratory techniques and methods, and math/computer applications. In other words, I don’t want you to ever be bored.

Here are some opportunities you may wish to take advantage of:

For the researchers:

What: Do independent science research. It can be through physical experimentation, or theoretical/computational research, or both! It could be in a professional lab, on your computer, or something you build in your basement. 

How: Choose a very specific research question of some topic of interest, and then try to figure it out. We can help you find that topic and question.

Options: Many students will write up the research and submit a paper to the Regeneron Science Talent Search (also known as the Nobel Prize for high school), the Google Science Fair, the IJAS Science Fair (first step to Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair, ISEF), and the Junior Science and Humanities Symposium.

You can also help Doc V with the CABS site, which is an effort to help any students and teachers around the country do original science research without the need to access professional labs.

See Doc V’s web site for some examples of past student papers.

Do work in H320, which is the ETHS Research Center, during AM Support, free periods, lunch periods, and some days after school, throughout the year.


For the Physicists:

What: Work on more advanced problems, develop new experiments or simulations for class, or explore other areas of physics that interest you but are not covered in class.

How: See Doc V, and we’ll chat and get you started on something.

Options:
- If you learn certain physics topics more quickly than the rest of the class, we can get you going on more advanced problems, or try to figure out topics such as Lagrangian or Hamiltonian mechanics, Maxwell’s equations (in E&M), relativity, quantum mechanics, cosmology, particle physics, etc. This can include designing your own independent study course, if you have time.

- Work on additional computer applications. These may include setting up your own computer simulations via Interactive Physics (for mechanics) or doing ActivPhysics or PhET simulated labs online in just about every physics topic; learn about additional topics outside the curriculum by writing your own simulations with Java, C++, FlexPDE (such as heat flow and diffusion) or NetLogo; making use of Matlab, Mathematica or Python coding to access data or do advanced analysis; making use of electronic sensors and computer interfaced data collection systems, as well as data analysis techniques; digital photo and video analysis (including high speed video up to 1000 fps); Excel exercises for data manipulation and analysis;

- Try advanced problems in physics to prepare for Physics Olympiad and Physics Bowl;

- If you are into video production, check out the Breakthrough Junior Challenge. This one has a $250,000 top prize...crazy!!! Pick a science topic and put together a 3-minute or less video explaining it so anyone can understand it. See a wonderful example about superconductivity!

- If you are a photographer, try to come up with the best photo in the Physics Photo Contest.


For the Tinkerers:
What: Get your hands dirty and figure things out by ‘playing’ with a variety of devices or objects.

How: Getting your hands on appropriate tools and materials. Doc V can help with this.

Options: There are many – here are a few:

- Take part in bridge building or robotics contests, or anything else you enjoy;

- If there is sufficient interest, pursue possibility of partnering with NU and a school in Alabama (Mr. Brian Copes) to 3-D print prosthetics or suitcase solar chargers for laptops for people in 3rd world countries. How about design a bike that washes clothes as one pedals. Be creative, bring on innovation, think about what can be built that is original and does something great! See Doc V if interested!

- Bring in devices and gadgets from home that you want to share with us or try to figure out how they work (like a ‘show and tell’ activity);

- Develop video techniques for making measurements and observing various phenomena, especially any level of high-speed photography and videography. High-speed camera use may be arranged in the NU lab of Prof. Michelle Driscoll, depending on the project samples and availability;

- Get involved with the FUSE that will be taking place about once each week;

- Build Rube-Goldberg machines;

- Build advanced electric circuits, possibly even your own computer;

- Use Arduinos or Raspberry pi to develop your own sensors and measuring devices;

- Try to learn a computer programming language, such as Python. Take advantage of having NU grad students coming to ETHS to help out!


For the Competitors and Collaborators:

- Many of you will be invited to be on TSA TEAMS (formerly JETS) teams;

- Participate in the COMAP High School Math Modeling Contest (HiMCM, better known as the 36-hour problem); teams that are rated Meritorious or higher will be invited to try the International Math Modeling Competition, and potentially represent the U.S.;

- MathWorks Math Modeling Challenge (i.e. the 14-hour problem, with scholarship money). Note only two teams per school can participate, and teams can have up to 5 students;

- There are writing contests, such as DuPont Essay Challenge and the Samsung Scholarship (write short essay about how technology advancements will affect the future);

- And yet another option for writers is to take tough science topics or issues and write them up for the 'layperson.' This may involve working with a professional research group or professor. It can be similar to a Wikipedia entry, with links and videos embedded when appropriate. We'll put you work on the blog to share with the world!

- Take on a team challenge like Exploravision, where you project where certain technologies will be in 20 years;

- Engineering and Design Competitions:
SourceAmerica Design Challenge develop assistive device for people with disabilities to help them in workplace;
Internet Science and Technology Fair (ISTF) allows teams of students to use Internet tools to develop solutions to real-world problems...each team will have an engineer or scientist online adviser
Destination Imagination teams develop creative solutions to problems
FIRST High School Robotics Challenge
The National Robotics Challenge
And many more are out there, just Google engineering competitions or science competitions...

- Join the Math Team;

- Join the Science Olympiad Team;

- Join the Chess Team;

- Collaborate and produce useful physics videos, or interview professors and tour their labs to make short videos explaining their cutting-edge research for the general public as well as physics classes.


For the Writers, Artists, Musicians:
- Write children's stories to get across single STEM topics. In collaboration with Effingham High School (middle of Illinois), animate the stories to make e-books, or possibly make short movies of the stories, to create an online library of STEM resources for any teacher and student to use. These stories will be reviewed and given feedback by elementary classes in Pennsylvania and Australia, to ensure they are appropriate and make sense. See an example of Little Sue and the Rock, which tries to get across atomic and nuclear structure. Heck, why not include original music videos for elementary students!!

- Help develop science lab lessons and corresponding demonstration videos to train teachers in places like Sierra Leone, Kenya, Malawi, and Bangladesh, where labs are not normally done, in part due to no equipment or resources or money. We develop lessons using minimal materials, like rubber bands and string. This is our SEE-SAW Project.

- Create short letters, videos of experiments/demos/explanations/songs/poems for elementary classes around the world. We can look to work with schools on six continents, who have teachers who are with the Global Teacher Prize. There is a UN video contest called PLURAL+, to address issues in migration, diversity and social inclusion. 


For those who enjoy Community/Global Service:

- Help collect donations and collaborate with Malawi schools; 

- Use STEM to help solve problems in your community through the Samsung Solve for Tomorrow competition;  

- Help Doc V with his work with the National Coalition for Safe Schools (NCSS), and getting SECD skills and competencies into classrooms around the country.

- Join in the fun of the Excite Club, which is looking to develop a more comprehensive district package to help with SECD in classrooms, and its effects on academic achievement gaps in the district. Help us develop a national model for doing SECD in schools, built in part around the Learning Team concept for classrooms.

- Senior and Junior girls, be a mentor for sophomore girls and students of color in 2 Chem/Phys (see Doc V);

- Get involved in our internal peer tutoring for 2 Chem/Phys students (see Doc V);

- Join WiSTEM;

- Get involved in student government.


What am I missing????? Let me know!! BE CREATIVE!!