Teacher Resources

Introducing ExploraVision / Motivating Your Team / ExploraVision Ambassador Program
Classroom tips: Elementary / Middle and Junior High / High School

Classroom Tips - Elementary School

Think your students are too young to enter a science and technology contest? Think again!

Elementary students may need additional help in a few areas, but they have everything else needed to enter ExploraVision — imagination and creativity.

Why does ExploraVision make sense for elementary students?

• It pulls together many of the science skills and concepts taught at your grade level, plus provides an opportunity for both individual and collaborative work.
• Lower elementary school children are learning to observe, compare and contrast, and connect actions with results. They also frequently ask "why?" ExploraVision helps answer these questions and reinforces process skills.
• Plus, elementary-level teams have an excellent chance of winning — there are far fewer entries in the K–3 category than in any other category.

K–3 KIDS CAN DO IT

In 1996, a team of third graders, led by Diana Celle at Holmes Elementary School in San Diego, came up with the winning idea of a "Refrigerator with a Brain." The refrigerator included a computer that kept track of food freshness dates, inventory and other information.

A second-place entry, prepared by first graders, "The Star That Puts Out Fires," foresaw a Christmas star decoration that also acted as an automatic smoke detector/fire extinguisher.

"The Five Second Drinking Fountain" — another second-place entry prepared by first graders, put a built-in timer on school drinking fountains to regulate how long one student could use the fountain before giving the next student in line a turn.

How did these teams do it? The students did not become certified experts in refrigeration or smoke detection or automation. But they did identify a problem, think about solutions and learn everything they could about their subject.

Points to remember:

• Students at this level can absorb and use information primarily as it relates to observable objects and events. They may need some help from you to learn how to think abstractly in order to answer "how?" and "what if...?" questions.
• Your students may need you or the mentor to help them research and type their entry, but it can and should be in their own words.
• ExploraVision asks students to envision technologies 20 years into the future. To a six-year-old, that's the equivalent of three lifetimes. Sometimes two years in the future may seem an eternity. When helping your students think abstractly, you may have to assist them in projecting beyond the immediate future.
• At the upper elementary level, students begin to think more abstractly, but will still need some help in visualizing solutions to hypothetical questions. They will have more understanding about the use of tools to solve problems, even if they do not yet entirely understand the science behind their design.

4–6th GRADERS CAN DO IT

The first-place winning team from The Vancouver Talmud Torah Elementary School in Vancouver, British Columbia imagined a "S.M.Art" pen that allowed users to draw and paint objects in any color. The device would use a miniature scanner, a pen with interchangeable tips and light-sensitive ink made from the pulp of a plant. Team members did not have to understand all about ink extraction and scanner technology to come up with a design that incorporated those technologies.

Organizing an Elementary School ExploraVision Team

Click here for general tips on helping students of all levels.

1. Develop a Team of 2–4 students

Some coaches choose a single student team — other coaches have offered the opportunity to everyone or used the competition as a class project. You can also use this as a project for students who may need more challenging work, or create teams made up of both high and low achievers.

• Enlist parental commitments. Few elementary students can take on the responsibility of a contest alone and, naturally, the teams will need transportation, places to meet outside school and other regular support.
• Find a mentor — often a parent — who can help provide both expertise and general assistance. Since lower elementary students will need quite a bit of help, a mentor can be indispensable if you do not have much extra time, and if you are sponsoring several teams. The mentor can also help find community members with related expertise to serve as resources.

2. Brainstorm to Select a Topic

• Lower elementary students best connect with technologies we use every day. Have them think about why these technologies were invented and identify the problems they solve. Why do we have clocks? Cars? What if Edison had not invented the electric light bulb?
• Next, identify other problems and their technological solutions. List everything the students can think of.
• Review each item on the list to see if and how the technology could be improved.
• Choose one technology and think about innovation. What would people want a refrigerator to do in the future? Or holiday decorations? Or a pen? Again, list all ideas, no matter how outrageous.
• Finally, have the students take a second look at the list of ideas and choose the best ones.

3. Research the Technology

Technical literature written at the elementary level may be hard to find. A local professional or university professor may be able to help explain the basics of a technology to your students. Depending on your students' abilities, you may be able to work with them to find materials, make notes and collect their information. Or you may have to research the topic and share what you find with the team.

4. Complete the Entry

The team should then agree on a title and start the Web page graphics. If you are using ExploraVision as a class project, you might have the students present their projects to one another or to another class. Be sure to submit every ExploraVision project in your class, so that all students will receive a recognition gift and certificate of participation.

Don't let the team's hard work go to waste because their entry gets disqualified. Make sure that the students actually complete their entries and mail them on time. Go through the checklist with the team members to ensure rules and directions have been followed to the letter.

Content Standard E: Science and Technology

As a result of activities in grades K–4, all students should develop:

• Abilities of technological design
1. Identify a simple problem
2. Propose a solution
3. Implement proposed solution
4. Evaluate a product or design
5. Communicate a problem, design and solution
• Understandings about science and technology

From the National Science Education Standards National Research Council, 1996

"The winning topic is right in front of you. Each of our award-winning entries came from a third-grade world. I asked team members to compile a list of what annoyed them. This year's suggestions were typical: bees, sunburn, bullies on the playground, melted ice cream, homework..."
— Sid Burgreen

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