SMART PROJECTS

WEB INTEGRATED MATH/SCIENCE S.M.A.R.T. PROJECTS CURRENTLY BEING DEVELOPED BY TEACHERS FROM VARIOUS RHODE ISLAND SCHOOLS:

MATH
"GEOMETRY WITH QUILTS"
By using quilts, children will use various geometric shapes to make patterns. Students will be using the nine patch for a grid which will give flexibility but confine the patterns. Students will use a grid to draft the blocks.These activities could also be integrated with a unit in social studies/American history.

Recommended for grade 5

"MONEY MAKES THE WORLD GO ROUND"
Students will use computer technology to access and present worldwide economic data. Students will become familiar with word processing, utilizing data bases, creating spreadsheets, and graphing. With this project, students will have the opportunity to use email to participate with students from many different countries in an economics-based game, The Global Grocery List. The exchange rate of the U.S. dollar will also be tracked via the Internet and results graphed. Students involved in this project may also help to create a survey concerning teenage discretionary income worldwide. Data will be organized, graphed, analyzed, compared, and results posted.

Mathematics NCTM Standards 1,2,3,4,5,7, and 10

Geography Standards 4,11,16, and 18

Recommended for grade 7

EXPLORING THE HISTORY OF MATHEMATICS
The history of mathematics is an aspect of the subject that is often overlooked in the high school classroom. It is important that students have some understanding of the evolution of mathematics as well as the people and cultures contributing to it - especially women and minorities. The purpose of this activity is use telecommunications to do some research into the history of mathematics, and to use that research to put the subject into a perspective that might be relevant to the high school student.

Recommended for grades 9 and 10.

SCIENCE
"HOW DOES THE HUMAN BODY USE ENERGY DURING VARIOUS ATHLETIC ACTIVITIES?"
Students will utilize the Internet to locate information on the top three sporting events from ten different countries around the world. They will then calculate the number of calories that an individual burns up during one hour of athletic activity. Students will create spreadsheets using data obtained, graph and compare results, and email recipes for healthy snacks to other students around the world. Students will also study muscle phsiology and the mechanism of muscle contraction. As a final project, a sports newsletter will be created and posted on a web page.

Recommended for grades 10 - 12

"ACCESSING THE CORNING OPTICAL FIBER INFORMATION CENTER USING THE INTERNET"
By using the search capabilities of a web browser (such as Netscape), students can investigate many aspects of fiber optic technology. On-line research will allow students to complete a questionaire of revealing technical data.

Recommended for grades 9 - 12

"DINOSAUR TREK"
Students will visit the Russian Paleontological Institute and various other museum sites (by way of the Internet) and study dinosaur fossils; eventually, making their own plaster fossils. Students will also research sites to obtain data about the differences and similarities of different dinosaures creating graphs and charts to organize their information. Students will then share what they have learned with other schools via email. Students may also submit dino-questions to a paleontologist by email using PaleoPals.

Recommended for grade 2 but could apply to most elementary grades.

"NEWPORT WEATHER PROJECT"
Students will be using Internet resources to learn about daily weather conditions including; temperature, precipitation, humidity, etc. Also, studies include climate characteristics and storms relative to a particular region. Data obtained will be graphed and charted to compare and contrast regions. Weather trivia questions will be submitted by students and emailed to other schools. A weather newspaper, complete with cartoons, maps, weather predictions, editorials, and articles of interest, will be created by the students using email to gather information worldwide.

Recommended for grades 3 and 4

"HURRICANES ON TRACK"
Students, working in cooperative groups, will develop a questionaire to determine weather in different parts of the United States, and how the weather in other areas determines the weather where they live. This questionaire will then be e-mailed to other students, and their replies logged on to maps. This information, along with other web data, will enable the students to track weather systems, especially tropical storms.

Recommended for grade 5

"EXPLORING THE INTERNET: ROLLER COASTER PHYSICS"
What do Newton's Laws of Motion and roller coasters have in common? Students will be able to apply specific laws of motion to the designs and workings of a roller coaster, eventually building a model roller coaster on their own. Students will search the Internet and find roller coasters in the United States, comparing and contrasting each to discover which one provides the most exciting ride and why. Such physical properties as potential and kinetic energy, friction, drag and acceleration are explored. Students are involved in many hands-on activities to study these principles and how they affect their everyday lives.

Activities are based on works of the following:

Recommended for grades 9 - 12

"WEATHER WATCH"
Studying weather and climate in various regions via the Internet . Students will explore such sites as the University of Mich/Weather Underground Main Menu, researching weather data for various regions, organizing data with graphs. Students will also visit on-line Southern California's Earthquake Data Center to explore seismic activity. Students will create a "broadcast news report" of their findings.

Recommended for grade 7

"PLANTS: A TEACHER RESOURCE GUIDE FOR GRADES 3, 4, 5"
Students will utilize the Internet to research data on parts of plants, types of plants, and how plants grow. Students will explore photosynthesis and environmental effects on plant growth. Graphs and charts will be created to show students how to organize and analyze data. Students will develop a renewed appreciation for plants and our environment.

Recommended for grades 3 -5

"THE OFFICIAL WEATHER UNIT"
Students will find answers on the web to such weather-related questions as:

Recommended for grades 4 -5

"PARTICLES AND ACCELERATORS"
An independent study guide for studying elementary particles and accelerators. Students travel to various accelerator lab network sites to find answers to the following:

Recommended for high school physics classes.

"THE PARTICLE ADVENTURE"
Students will explore the on-line Contemporary Physics Education Projectto formulate an answer to the question: What is the world made of and what holds it together?Students will do hands-on activities to explore: finding the smallest common mass in a set of envelopes, and indirectly measuring the radius of a circle (without directly measuring with a ruler). Students will discover that they can often learn as much from what is not observed as from what is observed.

Recommended for high school physics classes.

"THE DANCE OF CHANCE"
An on-line visit from your chemistry lab to the Boston Museum of Science to explore the idea of patterns in the randomness of growth.Students will search the Internet to learn about polymer chemistry : Students will evaluate their on-line field trip.

Recommended for grades 11 - 12

"SPACE CADETS PLACE IN SPACE"
Students will exlore the universe via the Internt. Using the Web to research information about the planets, stars, and the moon, students will create math story problems to e-mail to other classes. Students will create an e-mail Ask Dr. Math or Ask Dr. Science to connect with middle schools and high schools to ask related questions and to exchange information. Groups of students will also write about space articles to submit to KIDPUB. What better way for students to learn about space exploration than to chat on-line with the astronauts using NASA's on-line program?

Recommended for grades 3 - 5

"ROCKS AND MINERALS : TOUCH THE EARTH"
Students become Internet geologists and learn to identify rocks and minerals that are indigenous to various parts of the world.They will collect data to learn how various rocks are formed. This data will then be organized using graphs and charts. Via KIDLINK, students will scan local rock samples and exchange information about their samples with a penpal from another part of the world.

Recommended for grades 6 - 8

"WATER-OUR PRECIOUS RESOURCE"
Students will gain a better understanding of the dynamics of the water cycle and investigate water as a limited resource. Via the Internet, students will research ways that they can conserve water. They will exchange ideas with other communities to see how their water conservation programs are working. They will email other communities and conservation agencies for information. Using on-line news services, students will identify what is happening globally that will now, or in the future, impact the world's water supplies. Students will test their local water to see how safe it is to drink using knowledge gained by a field trip to their local water department or a guest speaker.

Can be adapted for grades 6 - 8

"HABITATS"
Children will learn about animals and habitat conservation with the following activities:

Recommended for grades K - 4

"ENERGY EFFICIENT HOME DESIGN"
Students will evaluate the energy efficiency of a home design. Using the Internet, students will research various materials and processes used in energy efficient design and construction. Using e-mail, information will be requested from various sources. The students will subscribe to lists associated with energy efficiency in residential building. Finally, this timely and useful information gathered and evaluated by students will be made available to the community.

Recommended for grades 9 -12

"HOW DO STORMS INFLUENCE OUR LIVES?"
Students will learn about the characteristics of different storms throughout the world. They will learn to plot hurricanes and to track storms. Students will learn to compute monthly averages for:
Students will e-mail classrooms in other areas to get"first-hand" accounts of how storms or hurricanes have affected their lives. The class will also join Listservs about weather.

Recommended for grade 5


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