STEM
October 9-October 15, 2013

Find the latest STEM resources from Iowa Public Television.

Finding the Intersection
Grade Range: 4-8

In this video segment from Cyberchase, the CyberSquad is looking for a lost Transformatron. Matt can see it along one line, while Jackie says she can see it along a different line. Digit and Inez try to figure out how this is possible, and they discover that one point can lie on two different lines.

Inquiry-Based: Converting Fractions to Percents

Grade Range: 9-13+

Students convert fractions to percents by creating equivalent fractions and by seeing fractions as division problems.

Ratio and Proportional Reasoning: Food Labels
Grade Range: 5-8

In this blended lesson supporting literacy skills, students watch videos and complete interactive activities to learn how to use fractions to interpret food labels and make healthy eating choices. Students develop their literacy skills as they explore a mathematics focus on proportional reasoning. During this process, they read informational text, learn and practice vocabulary words, and explore content through videos and interactive activities.

Teen Fights for Toxic Waste Cleanup
Grade Range: 9-12

In this video adapted from Earth Island Institute's New Leaders Initiative, New York student Shadia Wood tells how she became an environmental activist. Wood lives near several toxic waste sites and was concerned to learn that the New York Superfund-the money set aside for cleaning such sites in her state-had gone bankrupt. Working with other students and environmental groups, Wood lobbied the New York legislature for eight years until the Superfund program was refinanced. Environmentalist Laura Haight says that this law was the most important environmental law passed in New York State in a decade.

Getting an Education
Grade Range: 6-12

This video segment, adapted from NOVA, uses reenactment footage to chronicle the education of Percy Julian, the African American chemist who pioneered the development of synthetic hormones. Julian's early educational years paralleled an educational movement that prepared African Americans for industrial jobs, the growing white supremacist movement, and the rise of the Ku Klux Klan. Julian would eventually move north, and finally to Europe to earn his Ph.D.

Erosion
Grade Range: 6-12

Do you know the difference between erosion and deposition? This video, shot at the Indian Kill Preserve just north of Schenectady, New York, explains both processes in vivid detail.

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