Robotic Hands - Science research

This is the newest research project we are working on - robotic hands.  We received a grant from the Broward Education Foundation, Teacher Adapter Grant, for the hand kits.
http://yaegerco.com/index_files/Page575.htm  This is a link to their page.  The kits take students through the research and design methods needed to create a robotic hand.  Students learn how to use basic tools, troubleshoot problems, take a design idea and manufacture the end product, make it look human or presentable, and use it to perform some basic tasks.  While we are in the earliest sections, already we have students engaged in the critical thinking process and learning as they put their skills to use to bring their product to market.  We will end with some video commercials and marketing products but the students most want to compete in the Olympic-style events to see if their version of the hand will win.  Will post finished hands after Winter Break.

Bears!

We have finished the bears!  Many thanks to Melissa and the International Bear Trust and the University of Colorado for this awesome curriculum.  We did only a few of the lessons in the pilot but plan to revisit the Bear Book in the future to continue to learn about bears.  We found out that what we thought we knew turned out to be very little!  During the course of the lessons, each student adopted his or her own bear and created these wonderful stepping stones.  One we let go to a garden home before we got the finished picture!  During the pilot, we used the iPads and lots of apps to learn more.  Google Earth and the SmartBoard were wonderful ways to locate populations of our own Florida Black Bears.  However, both proved invaluable in learning about other countries.  In trying to capture the spirit of each bear, the students realized that flat glass was not going to do justice to the eyes of each bear.  We create each eye out of 3 layers of glass, placed the pairs of glass eyes into a kiln, and fused the eyes to create realistic eyes of each bear.  The results are  stepping stone replicas that almost seem alive!  This was a terrific way for students to use their research skills and their creativity to learn about bears worldwide.