Solar Oven Challenge!

School:: Laurel Oak Elementary
Subject:: Stem
Teacher:: Sheila Blaisdell
Students Impacted:: 150
Grade:: 3
Date:: September 7, 2015

Investor

Thank you to the following investor for funding this grant.

State Farm Insurance - $107.16

Impact to My Classroom

# of Students Impacted: 160

The main goal of this project was to give every third grade student at LOE the opportunity to have the STEM building experience of building a solar oven and entering it into a competition where they would be challenged to explain their structure as well as what they have learned about solar energy as well as many other topics we studies including heat, light, reflection, refraction, condensation, temperature, etc. This experience gave all of the teachers on the third grade team at LOE the opportunity to allow our students to take ownership and pride in their own creations, add a real world experience to their learning, and make their knowledge go much deeper than with a typical lesson plan. We learned that the students can rise to the challenge when given the opportunity to explore and think “outside of the box” as they were able to with this experience. It was AMAZING!! See a video of the event including commentary from the CCPS Science and STEM departments: https://youtu.be/MXhXGYV2xeU

Parent letter about event

Original Grant Overview

Goal

Students will use knowledge gained from classroom instruction about solar energy (light and heat) to build a solar oven with a small group to compete in a third grade solar oven competition.

What will be done with my students

Students in each third grade class (8 classes total) will be divided into small groups and given only a cardboard box and some basic classroom materials to build a solar oven. Students will be allowed to bring items from home to add to their oven as well. Ovens will be constructed at school in class using knowledge gained from classroom lessons and activities taught during the science unit. Student groups will design and build the ovens independently. The ovens will all be entered in "cook-off" competition. The competition will take place on the hard court at our school. We will ask school leaders, parents and community members to join us as judges in the competition. Students will compete in such categories as: hottest oven, most creatively built oven, best oven design, and best food (there will be a variety of food items students can choose to cook). Judges will be assigned to specific categories and judge the group ovens. Students will also have the opportunity to build an oven at home and submit it into the competition for best individual oven. After the cook-off, the judges scores will be tallied and oven groups and individuals will be awarded medals for their winning ovens in a grade-level wide awards ceremony.

Benefits to my students

Students will be able to actively participate in the building of a solar oven to support our learning of energy and the Sun in the third grade science curriculum. This STEM experience will allow students to apply the knowledge gained from classroom activities in a true experience to show mastery of the standards learned.

Budget Narrative

50 medals needed to allow for all students in winning oven groups to earn a medal including group and individual ovens. All students will also earn a participant ribbon. Other items will be used to identify judges and the category they are judging. All printing and labeling will be done through school budget. We will be asking local companies for donation of cardboard boxes.

Items

#	Item	Cost
1	Science Participant Ribbons	$28.00
2	SCIENCE GOLD ALUMA-LITE MEDAL SET (10 pack)	$5.95
3	SCIENCE GOLD ALUMA-LITE MEDAL SET	$5.95
4	SCIENCE GOLD ALUMA-LITE MEDAL SET	$5.95
5	SCIENCE GOLD ALUMA-LITE MEDAL SET	$5.95
6	SCIENCE GOLD ALUMA-LITE MEDAL SET	$5.95
7	shipping for medals and ribbons	$4.95
8	Judge lanyards	$8.98
9	Judge badges	$18.99
10	Assorted colored paper for judging rubrics	$16.49
11	cardboard boxes	$0.00
	Total:	$107.16

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