Teacher Resources
Introducing ExploraVision | Motivating Your Team | ExploraVision Ambassador ProgramClassroom tips: Elementary | Middle and Junior High | High School
Classroom Tips — Elementary School
Think your students are too young to enter a science and technology contest? Think again!
Elementary students may need additional help in a few areas, but they have everything else needed to enter ExploraVision — imagination and creativity.
K – 3 KIDS CAN DO IT
In 1996, a team of third graders, led by Diana Celle at Holmes Elementary School in San Diego, came up with the winning idea of a "Refrigerator with a Brain." The refrigerator included a computer that kept track of food freshness dates, inventory and other information.
A second-place entry, prepared by first graders, "The Star That Puts Out Fires," foresaw a Christmas star decoration that also acted as an automatic smoke detector/fire extinguisher.
Points to remember:
- Students at this level can absorb and use information primarily as it relates to observable objects and events. They may need some help from you to learn how to think abstractly in order to answer "how?" and "what if...?" questions.
- Your students may need you or the mentor to help them research and type their entry, but it can and should be in their own words.
- ExploraVision asks students to envision technologies 20 years into the future. To a six-year-old, that's the equivalent of three lifetimes. Sometimes two years in the future may seem an eternity. When helping your students think abstractly, you may have to assist them in projecting beyond the immediate future.
- At the upper elementary level, students begin to think more abstractly, but will still need some help in visualizing solutions to hypothetical questions. They will have more understanding about the use of tools to solve problems, even if they do not yet entirely understand the science behind their designs.
4 – 6th GRADERS CAN DO IT
The first-place winning team from The Vancouver Talmud Torah Elementary School in Vancouver, British Columbia imagined a "S.M.Art" pen that allowed users to draw and paint objects in any color. The device would use a miniature scanner, a pen with interchangeable tips and light-sensitive ink made from the pulp of a plant. Team members did not have to understand all about ink extraction and scanner technology to come up with a design that incorporated those technologies.
Organizing an Elementary School ExploraVision Team
Click here for general tips on helping students of all levels.
1. Develop a Team of 2 – 4 studentsSome coaches choose a single student team — other coaches have offered the opportunity to everyone or used the competition as a class project. Be sure to enlist parental commitments. Few elementary students can take on the responsibility of a contest alone and, naturally, the teams will need transportation, places to meet outside school and other regular support.
2. Brainstorm to Select a TopicLower elementary students best connect with technologies we use every day. Have them think about why these technologies were invented and identify the problems they solve. Why do we have clocks? Cars? What if Edison had not invented the electric light bulb?
3. Research the TechnologyTechnical literature written at the elementary level may be hard to find. A local professional or university professor may be able to help explain the basics of a technology to your students. Depending on your students' abilities, you may be able to work with them to find materials, make notes and collect their information.
4. Complete the EntryThe team should then agree on a title and start the Web page graphics. If you are using ExploraVision as a class project, you might have the students present their projects to one another or to another class. Be sure to submit every ExploraVision project in your class, so that all students will receive a recognition gift and certificate of participation.
Content Standard E: Science and Technology
As a result of activities, students should develop:
- Abilities of technological design
- Identify a simple problem
- Propose a solution
- Implement proposed solution
- Evaluate a product or design
- Communicate a problem, design and solution
- Understandings about science and technology
From the National Science Education Standards National Research Council, 1996