Math and Making in the Garden project finds success in afterschool program
The Math and Making in the Garden project aims to develop the promising relationship between TERC staff and Family Connections Centers (FCC) through the adaptation of math and making activities with a focus on the outdoors in the FCC Homework Club, a K-5 afterschool program. Elise Levin-Güracar and the project team are using MPACT materials and adapting them to a new context: afterschool and outdoor learning with students in grades 4-5. They train the teachers, observe the afterschool program implementation/support implementation, collect student artifacts (pictures of things they make, worksheets), conduct teacher interviews, and implement a student and family survey.
The project was recently featured in the FCC newsletter, and was written by Camila Martinez-Granata.
Big Ideas, Tiny Hands: STEM Magic in Homework Club
Last year, FCC’s daily afterschool program, Homework Club (HWC), received an exciting grant from TERC, a national nonprofit that advances STEM education. The award included a flashy new 3D printer FCC now own and hands-on training for our education team to develop brand-new STEM curricula. HWC teachers and our partners at TERC — Elise (a Portola neighbor!) and Teresa — led kids in dreaming up 3D objects, from bookmarks to things with wheels. They started with sketches and brainstorming, interviewed classmates to help capture their ideas, and then 3D printed their creations.
Children have loved these projects that help develop their spatial reasoning skills and learn iterative design.
“I think talking with other kids about my ideas is really interesting. I like getting to know them better while working on this. And it feels like you put a lot of effort into the thing that you’re making.” — Isabella, 5th grader
After mastering 3D printing, students tackled an entirely new challenge: building life-sized Soma Cube puzzles. Starting with miniature pieces created from 1-inch linking cubes, students honed their spatial reasoning skills and mental visualization. Then, working in teams, they scaled up their designs to create 3-foot-tall geometric puzzles using cardboard boxes. The thrill of discovering over 200 (!!) possible configurations brought out their collaborative and creative best.
“Working with FCC on the project has been the highlight of my 2024! Seeing the students and facilitators jump into the projects and the interest in 3D printing and hands-on making has been incredible. The students are so creative and collaborative. I’m so excited to continue working with FCC!” — Elise, TERC
Please contact Elise with any questions or thoughts! Elise_levin-guracar@terc.edu.