Project Title: Power of Play
Mission:
How can we manage and reduce our stress through play?
Culminating / Take Action Project
Create a prototype toy or game that applies the concepts of forces and motion and helps us reduce our stress.Â
What Kids Learn
In this project, students will learn about the power of play and how it can be a helpful tool in managing stress. Whether running late to school, preparing for a big test, or trying something new – we all have things in our lives that cause us stress. This is why it is important to practice impact awareness to help us identify when we are feeling stressed and how to take action and manage our stress levels. Students will explore the problem of stress, how stress can be both helpful and unhelpful and how play can be one powerful way to manage our stress.Â
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Students will then explore the concepts of forces and motion, unbalanced and balanced forces and magnetism. They will explain how many stress toys apply these scientific concepts and also learn that play can be one way to help us manage our stress. Students will create and design a toy/game that focuses on relieving stress.
Overview
Life Habit Focus: Impact Awareness
Subject: Physical Science, ELA
Grade: 3-5
Topic: Balanced and unbalanced forces, patterns in motion, magnets and electromagnets.
Project preview
Project Materials
Project Module
Student Notebook
Teacher's Guide
Materials List
Virtual Field Trips
One of our goals is to help kids connect what they are learning in our projects to the real world beyond the classroom. To do that, we’ve partnered with experts to help students learn from and virtually visit with experts from around the world. The “Power of Play” project partners with:
Rollercoaster Designer
Jeff Havlik
In this module, students meet Jeff Havlik. He has designed roller coasters all over the world including at Universal Studios in Florida. Jeff teaches students how he uses forces and motion to help design a thrilling rollercoaster experience. Based on what kids learn, they then get to design their own rollercoaster experience.
Designer Taylor Moreland
In their Take Action Project, students meet prototype designer Taylor Moreland. Taylor teaches kids how to get started and key strategies in creating a first strong prototype. Students in this project will then apply those strategies in creating their first toy/game prototype focused on reducing stress.
Aligned Standards
Common Core Reading (CCSS):
- Informational/Nonfiction Standards R.I. 1-10 for grades 3-5
- Reading Literacy Standard L 5 & 6 for grades 3-5
- Writing Standards W. 1,4,5 for grades 3-5
- Listening and Speaking Standards SL. 1-6 for grades 3-5
NGSS Standards:
Performance Expectations (PE):
- 3-PS2-1. Plan and conduct an investigation to provide evidence of the effects of balanced and unbalanced forces on the motion of an object.
- 3-PS2-2. Make observations and/or measurements of an object’s motion to provide evidence that a pattern can be used to predict future motion.
- 3-PS2-3. Ask questions to determine cause and effect relationships of electric or magnetic interactions between two objects not in contact with each other.
- 3-PS2-4. Define a simple design problem that can be solved by applying scientific ideas about magnets.
Science and Engineering Practices (SEP):
- Planning and Carrying Out Investigations
- Asking Questions and Defining Problems
Disciplinary Core Ideas (DCI):
- PS2.A: Each force acts on one particular object and has both strength and a direction. An object at rest typically has multiple forces acting on it, but they add to give zero net force on the object. Forces that do not sum to zero can cause changes in the object’s speed or direction of motion.
- PS2.B: Objects in contact exert forces on each other.
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