We all know how important and fun science and math can be for students when placed in a real-world context with hands-on experiences. As classroom teachers devote more of their time and energy to reading, writing and testing, they are struggling to include these real-world, hands-on experiences for their students, yet these teachers see how fun and important hands-on science and math is for their students.
The vision of the Pipeline Partnership is to support classroom teachers by providing opportunities for engaging students in innovative hands-on science experiences that bring together scientific thinking, literacy, and math skills around an in depth, hands-on science project. The UCCS Center for STEM Education offers a variety of ways for educators to provide this invaluable opportunity to their students, including workshop field trips to UCCS, and in-school training sessions for educators in our workshop topics and method of inquiry-based learning!
Current projects include topics like:
The Solar Sprint— students experiment with and build a solar powered model car. Topics covered are gear ratios, friction, aerodynamics, voltage, solar cells, and motion.
Rockets—design and build rockets using several different types of engine designs. Topics covered are the laws of motion, chemical reactions, aerodynamics, calculations for speed, acceleration, and force.
LEGO Robotics—students investigate the principles of computer programming and robot design to build a robot that accomplishes certain tasks. Topics covered are programming, algorithm design, motion, and mechanics.
Environmental Forensics - students investigate an environmental mystery and try to help save the chinchillas!
