STEAM Challenges at the Y
Connect with others and challenge yourself with one of our STEAM challenges below or on our YouTube channel.
Don't forget to post a picture of your completed challenge on social media with the hashtag #gwrymcaSTEAM
Explore the Human Anatomy
Kidney Simulation
See how a coffee filter can represents our kidneys, chalk can represents toxins, and the water/food coloring represents our blood.
Model Lung
How do your lungs work? Check out this challenge to see how your diaphragm contracts for your lungs to expand and bring in air, then exhales air.
Life Size Human Body
Can you find items around your house to represent your organs and what they do? Find out in this activity!
Model Hand
Build a model hand! Explore the hand's joints and bones to build a functional hand.
Explore the Laws of Motion
Law of Gravity
A famous scientist, Isaac Newton is said to have discovered gravity when an apple fell from a tree he was sitting under. This force is what keeps us planted on the earth and what is missing in space where astronauts float. Here we can demonstrate it with a simple trick.
Crater Experiment
Isaac Newton’s second law states that an object's force is dependent on its mass and acceleration. We learned about gravity which is the same for all objects. Therefore, if we drop two objects from the same height they will have forces related to the object’s mass.
Center of Gravity
We’ve looked in previous experiments at how gravity pulls on objects and how an object's mass can change the force an object has. The center of mass/gravity can explain why some objects act a certain way.
Newton's Cradle
When equal and opposite reactions collide - two objects hitting one another - the energy is transferred from one object to the other. Let’s see what happens when we try to transfer the potential energy to kinetic energy with marbles.
Ballon Rocket
Newton’s third law describes how for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. An example of this is when you push a ball (action) it moves (reaction)! We are going to demonstrate this by making a balloon rocket.
Explore the Forces of Nature: Wind
Build Your Own Diamond Kite
Since the early days of flight, humans have been testing wing structures to create flying machines. Build your own kite and watch it fly effortlessly with a little wind.
Build Your Own Windsock
Build your own windsock to measure wind direction and speed. Many airports use these so pilots know wind conditions on the ground.
How Air Pressure Moves Wind
What makes wind move? Gases move from areas of high pressure to areas of low pressure. The greater the difference in pressure, the faster the wind moves. Explore this phenomenon using household items.
Water Balloon In A Bottle
Air interacts with all things and takes up space. Explore how air interacts with the things around it in the experiment below.
Explore the Properties of Fluids
Surface Tension On A Penny
Surface tension of water is very high. This is a property that describes the ability of the water particles to pull on the 'film' atop the water and is the reason that small insects can walk atop water. Soap, however, greatly decreases the surface tension and that's what we are going to demonstrate today.
Capillary Action
We learned about surface tension on a penny and capillary action is a fluid phenomenon that uses surface tension to move water upwards. Ever wonder how water travels from roots to the leaves of trees? Here we are going to demonstrate capillary action.
Viscosity Race
Fluids have a property called viscosity which describes how it reacts to shear forces which you can think of as a sideways force. To explain this further, we are going to play with some condiments that show us different levels of viscosity.
Oobleck
Last week described ketchup as a shear-thinning fluid but we can also experiment with shear-thickening! This fluid will be considered a suspension because it's partway between a solid and fluid.
Buoyancy
When submerged in water or a fluid, the fluid can create an upwards force of the object called buoyancy. Let's see if we can manipulate the density of water in order to make objects float!
Explore Plant Science
Oxygen in Leaves
Have you ever heard that trees are good for us because they produce oxygen? This activity gets you up close to the process!
Seed Germination
In order for a seed to become a plant, it needs to germinate. Germination is the process when a dormant seed transitions into a plant.
Sprout House
Today we are going to create an art project with grassy sprouts.
Leaf Veins
Leaves use their veins to transport nutrients and water from the steam of a plant to the leaves. Our experiment today will allow us to see this in action.
Propagation
Remember when we germinated seeds? Well, you can also grow foods from food scraps! This is called propagation.
Explore Mixtures & Solutions
Solubility
Solubility describes the ability of a substance to dissolve in another substance. Let's explore solubility with an experiment!
Super Saturated Solution - Salt Crystals
Remember the substance that dissolves is called the solute? Sometimes a solution can have too much solute which is called - over-saturated.
Immiscible Liquids
Let's see if we can create a colorful experiment knowing that two things are not soluble which is called immiscible.
Mixtures
Did you know heavy cream is a mixture? Mixtures are able to come apart, let's see if we can find out what heavy cream can make.
Chromatography
We can think about mixed colors as the colors 'dissolving' into each other. Similarly, we can try to separate this mixture out.
Explore Heat Transfer
Conduction
When heat transfers through materials by a difference in temperature this is called conduction. Let's do an experiment to see how different materials are better/worse at conduction.
Convection
Heat directly relates to density, which means that hotter air or water will travel up while colder air travels down. Let's do an experiment that demonstrates this.
Radiation
Heat directly relates to density, which means that hotter air or water will travel up while colder air travels down. Let's do an experiment that demonstrates this.
Sticky Ice
Liquids have specific freezing temperatures. Water freezes at 32F which is why you only see snow at temperatures close to this. Find out what happens when you add salt to water and ice.
Floating Candle
Heat can drive a difference in gases, like melting temperature in liquids. An example of this is air which expands in heat and contracts when cool.
Education & Tutoring Programs at the Y
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