A SMILE Teacher sent us an article to share with all – scientists have discovered a species of bacteria that can slowly digest polyethylene terephalate (PET), a common plastic that is in polyester fabrics and water bottles. It was previously believed that this material was not biodegradable and no microbes could break it down. This may be an important breakthrough in reducing pollution and cleaning up our oceans.
Our Middle School Challenge is rapidly approaching, so here is the next video from our Mechanical Engineering team. Please share with your students prior to the Challenge!
Warm Springs Elementary School took our Gel Beads activity for a spin last week after we shared it at our Winter Teacher’s Workshop. The students sure looked like they had fun and learned lots! Check it out below:
We have compiled the activities that we facilitated during the workshop as well as a few others from the Teaching Tolerance resources (http://www.tolerance.org/). We hope that you incorporate one or more of these activities into your club meetings as a way of preparing for the upcoming Challenge events!
Thanks to Assistant Professor Dr. George Waldbusser and Postdoctoral Fellow Dr. Annaliese Hettinger, from the College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences for partnering with SMILE and sharing the following activity with teachers at the workshop:
Here are the Wave Power Lesson Plan, Wave Energy Engineering powerpoint presentation, and Wave Energy Converter Diagram from the Wave Power Generators session at the workshop. Thanks to Kyle and Emily from Precollege Programs!
It All Comes Down to Glucose Lesson Plan
