By Priscilla Robinson
Snowflakes! They arrive in flurries, storms and blizzards, not to mention “Winter Bomb Cyclones!” I’ve always thought the science behind snowflakes is amazing.
A snowflake begins when a tiny dust or pollen particle comes into contact with water vapor high up in Earth’s atmosphere. The water vapor coats the tiny particle and then freezes into a tiny crystal of ice. This tiny crystal will be the “seed” from which a snowflake will grow. The process is called crystallization.
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Chemistry, College level, Earth Science, Elementary level, Middle School level | Tagged: Chemistry, crystals, DIY, Educational Innovations, fun experiments, hands-on activity, parent friendly, phenomenon based learning, phenomenon-based science, science, scientifically accurate snowflakes, snow, snow and ice polymer, snowflakes, variables | 
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Posted by Donna Giachetti
Looking for a free STEM resource to share with your students? Here’s our selection. Some websites offer ready-to-go lessons… others share exciting interviews with young people involved in STEM fields. All of them are worth a visit!
If you find a worthy site that we haven’t mentioned here, please let us know in the comments section below.
Leave a Comment » | College level, Elementary level, experiments, High School level, Middle School level, STEM | Tagged: Educational Innovations, fun experiments, hands-on activity, homeschool, PBL, phenomenon based learning, science fair project, STEM | Permalink
Posted by Donna Giachetti
You already know that STEM learning is everywhere these days. The term “STEM” had its origins in the 1990s at the National Science Foundation. Since then, it has become a buzzword for all sorts of events, policies, or programs involving one (or several) of the acronym’s disciplines—namely, Science, Technology, Engineering, or Math.
STEM has been in the news ever since. Below we’ve collected an assortment of articles looking at some of the challenges, successes, plans, and controversies related to this important skill set.
Leave a Comment » | College level, Elementary level, High School level, Middle School level, STEM | Tagged: Educational Innovations, homeschool, parent friendly, PBL, phenomenon based learning, phenomenon-based science, science, STEM | Permalink
Posted by Donna Giachetti
Do we really need to teach STEM skills to our students? Absolutely! Science, technology, engineering and math are all around us. It’s crucial to help our students recognize how these areas impact their daily lives. Aside from the benefit of being science-literate, they’ll also develop a broader idea of the world around them.
Videos do an amazing job of explaining complex ideas. We hope you’ll enjoy and share these videos. And if you find other worthy STEM videos, please let us know in the comments section below!
Leave a Comment » | College level, Elementary level, High School level, Middle School level, STEM | Tagged: Educational Innovations, hands-on science, homeschool, parent friendly, phenomenon based learning, phenomenon-based science, STEM | Permalink
Posted by Donna Giachetti
STEM education (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) is a curriculum driven by problem solving, exploration, and discovery while incorporating technology and engineering into the teaching of science and mathematics.
Educational Innovations carries a number of products like astronomy and space science tools that fit perfectly into the STEM classroom. These materials promote exploratory learning, and require students to actively engage themselves to discover the solution to the situation or problem at hand.
If you have a favorite STEM experiment or product, please let us know in the comments section below!
1 Comment | Elementary level, High School level, Middle School level, STEM | Tagged: awesome science experiment, DIY, Educational Innovations, electricity, energy, experiments, force and motion, fun experiments, hands-on activity, hands-on science, homeschool, kinetic energy, light, newton, Newton's First Law, Newton's Second Law, Newton's Third Law, parent friendly, phenomenon based learning, phenomenon-based science, Physics, physics demonstration apparatus, science, STEM | Permalink
Posted by Donna Giachetti
