Family & Consumer Science - STEM Expeditions Curriculum at Kranz Junior High
Communications - STEM Expedition
In Communications, students learn the essential elements of a communications system, create a simple communications system, complete several types of drafting sketches, learn about fiber-optic transmission systems, and engineer a communications system.
Objectives:
- Learn the essential parts of a communications system.
- Define communication and graphic communication.
- Complete a communication activity.
- Learn how graphic communication is used to convey ideas.
- List the components of a graphic communications system.
- Complete sketches: orthographic, isometric, and oblique.
- Complete a time line of printing history.
- Use a printing process to print a design.
- Learn how telecommunications systems function.
- Develop a working communications system.
- Transmit a message using your communications system.
Essential Question:
- What is the best way to transmit a signal in a communications system?
Career Connections:
- Broadcast and Sound Engineering Technicians
- Computer Network Architects
- Electrical and Electronics Engineering
- Electrical and Electronics Engineers
- Line Installers and Repairers
- Technicians
- Telecommunications Equipment Installers and Repairers
Cultivating Our Future - STEM Expedition
In Cultivating Our Future, students investigate factors that affect agricultural food production in America. They explore the concept of sustainable farming, how technology has changed agriculture in the US, and modern trends related to urban farming. Students start a radish garden and make observations of the garden at different stages of growth. They also engineer and test a greenhouse that meets certain construction requirements.
Objectives:
Explore the concept of sustainable farming.
- Determine the amount of land available on Earth that is suitable for agriculture.
- Plant a glove garden.
- Compare traditional and organic farming practices.
- Describe how the cycling of Earth’s materials produces soil.
- Complete an activity to determine the amount of usable farmland on Earth.
- Explore how technology has changed agriculture in the US.
- Explore modern trends related to urban farming.
- Engineer a greenhouse that meets specific requirements.
- Conduct an experiment with your model greenhouse to determine its effectiveness.
- Explore the role Earth’s water cycle plays in irrigating farmland.
- Conduct a case study on how irrigation has affected certain areas of the world.
- Graph and analyze experimental data.
Essential Question:
What is the best way to increase the quantity and quality of America’s food supply?
Career Connections:
- Biologists
- Farmers
- Florists
- Genetic Engineers
- Ranchers
- Urban Planners
- Veterinarians
Body Blueprint - STEM Expedition
In Body Blueprint, students learn about the levels of organization in living organisms. They study the body’s systems and how they work together to keep a person alive. The engineering challenge involves building a model of a human’s lung and diaphragm system and then using this knowledge to determine design requirements for an artificial human lung.
Objectives:
Complete a personal health assessment.
- Identify and observe the levels of organization in a human body.
- Use a digital microscope to capture a photomicrograph of human cells.
- Identify cellular structures from a photomicrograph of a slide.
- Construct a model that mimics the function of the respiratory system and muscle system.
- Design for a mechanical replacement for a human organ.
Essential Question:
- How can pollution affect my health?
Career Connections:
- Firefighters
- Medical Assistants
- Medical Lab Technicians
- Nurse Anesthetists
- Occupational Health and Safety Specialists
- Respiratory Therapist
Safe Food - STEM Expedition
In Safe Food, students work as assistants to a state health official to learn how the food in the food supply is tested and how to prioritize resources for food testing. Students learn about food chemistry by completing comparison studies of the six major nutrients and also investigate the digestive processes, both mechanical and chemical, in humans and how it works to deter foodborne illness. They discover how bacteria and other contaminants can cause food poisoning and learn safe food practices. The Expedition culminates with students developing new guidelines for the state health official.
Objectives:
- Evaluate safe food practices.
- Become familiar with food safety inspection forms.
- Complete a safety inspection form on a kitchen.
- Explore chromatography as a means to identify components.
- Use chromatography to determine the components of an unknown solution.
- Model the chemical structure of a macromolecule.
- Construct a model of glucose.
- Test for the presence of fat in different food samples.
- Construct a model of the human digestive system to compare the relative length of each part.
- Experiment with the effects of acid and enzymes in different combinations on various foods.
- Evaluate kitchens using an established evaluation form.
Essential Question:
- How should the safety decisions about food and food supplies be prioritized?
Career Connections:
- Chefs
- Food Science Technicians
- Food Scientists
- Health Inspectors
- Kitchen Designers
- Sous Chefs
- Waiters/Waitresses