MAP CORNER

The St. Louis American’s Newspaper in Education program is exclusively sponsored by:

AnnieEasley

The St. Louis American is proud to partner with Normandy School District, the St. Louis Public School District and the Saint Louis Science Center to provide this classroom tool for STEM education for students in 3rd, 4th and 5th grades, with content based on Missouri Learning Standards.

Recently Mrs. Henderson’s class did an experiment about magnifying glasses and microscopes. They learned how to make a Water Magnifier usingcardboard, clear plastic and just a few drops of water.

Materials Needed: pizza box, scissors, aluminum foil, tape, and plastic wrap.

Directions: 1. Use the scissors to cut a large square

from the top of the pizza box, leaving a 2 inch border. This is your oven lid.2. Open the lid and line the bottom

layer of the box with aluminum foil. The foil will attract the sunlight and will provide your

cooking surface. 3. Use tape to apply the plastic wrap over the hole in the

top of the pizza box. This will keep your food covered and will allow you to watch it cook.

4. Place a food item, such as a hot dog, on the aluminum foil and close the top lid. Place your solar oven in a sunny spot and observe it as it cooks.

Questions: What did you observe in this experiment? How long did it take for your hot dog to cook?

Extension: Use the internet to find other examples of solar ovens or recipes designed for solar ovens.

Learning Target: I can follow step by step directions to create a project. I can apply rules of safety when conducting an experiment.

Red

Blue

Purple

Black

Orange

GreenYellow

Annie Easley believed in conserving energy and finding renewable energy resources. After graduating as Valedictorian from her class and studying at Xavier University, was hired as a “human computer” in 1955. Easley developed a computer code used in solar and wind energy projects that helped to save energy. A computer code is a set of numbers or symbols that represent instructions for the computer to follow to complete a task. When Annie was hired, she

was just one of four African Americans who worked at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) out of the agency’s 2,500 employees. A female African American computer programmer was a rarity at that time, and some people considered her to be a pioneer. A pioneer is a person or group that is the first to do something. In an interview, Annie stated humbly, “I’m out here to do a job and I know I had the ability to do it. That’s what my focus was, on getting a job done. I was not intentionally trying to be a pioneer.”During her 34-year career, Easley continued her education, making sure she kept current with changes in math and science, earning a mathematics degree from Cleveland State University. In the 1970s, she studied the economic advantages of coal and steam in power plants. She also studied the life expectancy of the storage batteries used in electric vehicles and helped write many papers describing nuclear rocket engine systems. Easley even got to take part in the Centaur launch system. The Centaur was a booster rocket, which gives space shuttles the “boost” during lift off. Annie Easley was an important person whose studies in math and science are still in use today.

Discuss: Describe Annie Easley’s contributions to math and science. She stated she was not trying to be a pioneer. What is a pioneer?

Extension: Easley was interested in renewable energy sources. What is the difference between renewable and nonrenewable sources? Can you give an example of each?

Learning Target: I can read nonfiction text to draw conclusions and make connections.

Background Information: Have you ever got in your car on a summer day and wondered why it was so hot? The answer is solar energy, which is energy from the sun. In this experiment, you will use materials to create a solar oven that uses solar power to cook food.

According to the American Solar Energy Society, enough sunlight falls on the earth’s surface each minute to meet the world’s energy demand for an entire year by providing solar energy.

Activity One: Use the newspaper to find a person who is a pioneer, a person or group who is the first to do something. List two reasons to support why this person could be considered a pioneer. Create a Venn diagram to compare and contrast this individual to Annie Easley.

Activity Two: Use the newspaper to find examples of renewable and nonrenewable energy sources. You may use pictures, words, etc. Cut and paste five examples and label them as renewable or nonrenewable.

Learning Target: I can use non fiction text to find details to support my answer; I can compare and contrast.

Build a Solar Oven

INVENTORS & INVENTIONS

Directions: Use your math skills to “crack the code” and find the answer. Plants are a big fan of solar power. They use sunlight to synthesize (combine to form) food from carbon dioxide and water. What is this process called? ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____

(8x2) (32/4) (3x5) (6x3)+2 (30/2) (24-5) (75/3) (7x2) (5x4) (10-2) (25/5) (43-24) (3x3) (8x2)+3

Learning Target: I can multiply or divide to solve a problem.

MATH CONNECTION

SCIENCE EXPERIMENT

DID YOU KNOW?

Solar Powered Plants?Solar power, which comes from the sun, is a renewable energy source. Many people are seeking ways to use solar power in their homes to conserve (save) energy. But did you know that plants use solar power, too? Scientists have long debated if plants receive food from the soil, water, or if they create their own food source. What they discovered is that plants use the sun’s energy to split the water’s hydrogen from oxygen. The hydrogen combines

with carbon dioxide in the air to create glucose to feed the plant, while releasing the oxygen back into the air. To find out the special name for this process, check out the math puzzle!

Discuss: Why do plants need sunlight? How do plants benefit people?

Learning Target: I can use nonfiction text to find details to support my inferences.

SolarEnergy Oxygen

Water

CarbonDioxide

LIFE SCIENCE

Crack the Code

What Hits the Earth Every Minute?

Mrs. Henderson’s 3rd Grade Class Columbia Elementary School

stlamerican.com

CLASSOOM SPOTLIGHT

Venn DiagramA diagram using circles

to represent sets, with the position and overlap of

the circles indicating the relationships between the

sets. Named after John Venn (1834-1923), a British logician.

September 3-9, 2012