This semester I was involved in Numeracy Club  on SUNY New Paltz’s  campus. I was in a group with two of my peers and three students. Two of the students were in second grade and one was in first grade.  Every Thursday, we would meet for about an hour or two and complete  fun Math and Science activities. Two activities really stood out to me and the students. 

On April 19th, myself and one of the students paired up to make slime. 

He loved it! We were given different recipes to work with, but we enjoyed playing around with the different elements to experiment with our own slimy outcome. My student was most interested in making the slime stretchy. When I asked him what he thought would make his slime stretch more, he predicted more glue would work. After making three different batches, he concluded that more glue, did in fact, make his slime SUPER stretchy.

 

A week later, my students and I designed bubble wands. Using an app called “Tinkercad” we were able to design a custom bubble wand. After the students created their wands, they were sent to the 3D printer, so they would be able to test their model. The results were amazing!

 

 

REFLECTION

           I learned a lot while I was enrolled in Fieldwork II. One of the most valuable lessons I learned while working in Numeracy Club is the power of Math, Science, and Technology activities. These students came running through the door, every Thursday, begging to find out what we were going to be doing that day. Their enthusiasm to learn and participate in these activities was inspiring and motivating for me, as the instructor. Therefore, I really wanted to make sure it was fun for them. This was the creative part for myself and my other group members. We tried to incorporate as much math and science into the activities. One activity where that was possible was when we created marshmallow catapults. Of course there was engineering involved because they had to construct these catapults using Popsicle sticks and rubber bands, but we also included some science and math skills. First, we tested out our prototype and if the student was not happy with their results, it was back to the drawing board testing out new hypotheses. That was the science portion; however, once everyone was confident in their catapults, the math was included. We made a target on the white board that had a point system. If the student hit the outermost ring with their marshmallow, they won 100 points, but if they hit the bull’s eye it was 500 points. The students were in charge of tallying up their points and adding them up at the end. They were all very motivated and excited while building their science and math skills. It was definitely the most beneficial lesson I learned, which I will remember in my future career. 

Click on my Journal to read about more of my Fieldwork II experiences!