feb 22-apr 27 2014 teacher’s guide - space center …€™s guide feb 22-apr 27 2014 ......

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TEACHER’S GUIDE

FEB 22-APR 272014

RESERVE YOUR FIELD TRIP TODAY call Group Reservations at 281-283-4755

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LETTER TO TEACHERS: IMAGINATE EDUCATION GUIDE IMAGINATE is an interactive, multi-activity exhibition that promotes innovation through collaboration and creative risk-taking. Are you and your students ready to venture into the world of innovation and accept the challenges and rewards of inquiry-based learning? This Education Guide is intended to accompany IMAGINATE, a hands-on exhibition that introduces participants to the skills and attitudes that are part of the process of innovation. It will lead teachers through the goals of the exhibit and provide more information on how innovation and inquiry-based learning can be incorporated into the classroom. In this exhibition, you and your students will experience activities where experimentation and failure are vital components of each activity; where it is safe to test ideas and build on them further; where materials are seen as both a product of innovation as well as an important component; where collaboration is encouraged and where outcomes are many. Innovation has been essential to our survival- driving the evolution of our civilization and the change in our daily quality of life. In this changing world a culture of innovation will help us meet the challenges ahead for our continued survival, both in terms of globalization and environmental changes. Whether you are doing science, art or engineering – innovative thinking can take us on the paths we have not yet explored. This guide contains the following:

An explanation of the Skills of Innovation

Inquiry sheets related to exhibits containing suggested pre-visit, during-visit and post-visit activities which focus on the skills of innovation;

Curriculum Connections to the National Science Education Standards and

the Pan Canadian Curriculum for IMAGINATE experiences;

A List of Exhibits with a brief overview of each experience.

IMAGINATE is produced and presented by the Ontario Science Centre

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SKILLS OF INNOVATION

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SKILLS OF INNOVATION There are several skills relating to innovation that can be cultivated in students to prepare them to face the world as analytical problem- solvers. Five skills of innovation are outlined below. 1. Critical Thinking “Discovery consists of seeing what everybody has seen and thinking what nobody has thought.”—Albert von Szent-Gyorgy Critical thinking is the ability to reflect upon previously held ideas and strive for ways to improve them. This can be applied to opinions and beliefs, and in the business world to products and customer service. Businesses such as Apple strive to continuously innovate, and as a result have become synonymous with music and communication technology worldwide. In our classrooms, critical thinking is key to research. Students must learn to solve problems through accessing and analyzing a wide variety of information. Determining what knowledge to embrace and assimilate and what to discard as unnecessary allows them to problem solve effectively in a fast-paced world full of easily accessible information. Inquiry-based learning promotes critical thinking because students are asked to solve a problem by first creating a plan, predicting why it will work, and analyzing and interpreting their results. Through this method, students experience the process and can communicate what they have learned and how they know it is true. 2. Creativity “The best way to have a good idea is to have a lot of ideas.” –Dr. Linus Pauling Looking at problems differently, imagining possibilities, and remaining curious about the world are all aspects of creativity. To promote creativity in students is to prepare them for a world where it is needed; products that capture the imagination are appealing in this age of mass production. A company that can creatively innovate its own products will stay appealing as time goes on. Creativity skills in the classroom are essential to problem solving as well. The ability to look at a problem in a different light can lead to satisfying solutions and an engagement with the subject material. Brainstorming is also a way to find many creative means to the same end.

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3. Collaboration "Many ideas grow better when transplanted into another mind than the one where they sprang up."—Oliver Wendell Holmes Collaboration is more than simply working in a group. Sharing ideas, combining thoughts and improving on them can occur simultaneously or after time has passed. Many previously discarded ideas can be returned to by another individual, who can view them with fresh eyes and innovate on what was already there. In the classroom, students who collaborate will naturally innovate on one another’s ideas, making everyone more successful. Brainstorming sessions and mind maps are ways for students to encourage each other to think differently, and in turn think differently themselves. 4. Risk Taking “If you’re not prepared to be wrong, you’ll never come up with anything original.” —Sir Ken Robinson The ability to be flexible and risk making mistakes is another key to innovation. If the Wright brothers had not taken risks, flight as we know it would not exist. Innovations in products also allow businesses to adapt to a world with changing needs. Everyone changes roles throughout a lifetime—especially when students transition into careers. The ability to take risks and reinvent oneself is key to productivity, whether it is participating in cooperative learning in the classroom, or working for a company. 5. Perseverance “Genius is one percent inspiration, and ninety-nine percent perspiration.” —Thomas Edison While using all of these skills, students must see things through to the end. Perseverance is another key to innovation. Thomas Edison, when interviewed by a young reporter who boldly asked him if he felt like a failure, replied, "Young man, why would I feel like a failure? And why would I ever give up? I now know definitively over 9,000 ways that an electric light bulb will not work. Success is almost in my grasp." Shortly after that, and after over 10,000 attempts, Edison invented the light bulb.

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Even when struggling, students who see the value in perseverance will carry on with projects until the end. Sticking with a problem and seeing the potential for various solutions will drive students to innovate. INQUIRY-BASED LEARNING Inquiry-based learning is an approach to teaching where students are given open-ended tasks and encouraged to be curious and engaged in collaborative learning. As a result, students become active participants in their learning. Inquiry-based learning uses the skills of innovation to achieve these goals. To help engage students in inquiry-based learning, resources are available at the Smarter Science website: http://smarterscience.youthscience.ca/ “Smarter Science is an open-source, engaging framework for teaching and learning science in grades 1-12 and for developing the skills of inquiry, creativity and innovation in a meaningful and engaging manner.” IMAGINATE AWAITS The exhibits in the IMAGINATE exhibition are divided into five themes that relate to the skills of innovation. They are:

Dream Big/Big Dreams Expect the Unexpected Collaborate or Compete—Feel the Pressure Try, Try and Try Again Look to the World

In this guide, activities focusing on these themes are provided to serve as an introduction to developing skills of inquiry-based learning and innovation. Questions and activities can be changed and modified to adapt to the needs of your students. The variety and unexpectedness of the exhibits will provide many pathways for encouraging innovation. In addition to this, your class will have as much fun as they can IMAGINATE!

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PRE, DURING AND POST VISIT ACTIVITIES

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IMAGINATE ACTIVITIES (PRE, DURING and POST VISIT activities)

Theme: Dream Big/Big Dreams Exhibit: Paper Airplanes

Pre-visit Activities: What are the different elements that need to be considered for flight? How does an airplane get its lift? How does it remain stable? Explore these questions before heading off to IMAGINATE. During Visit Activities: Students can create a basic paper airplane, fly it and observe how far and accurately it traveled. Have students then alter different factors of their design and observe how it alters the flight of their plane. Post-visit Activities: Have students use basic materials such as paper, straws and wooden skewers to make a Styrofoam brick fly. With the proper engineering, can you even make a brick fly?

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Theme: Dream Big/Big Dreams Exhibit: So You Think You Can Fly

Pre-visit Activities: Research different animals with respect to wing structure, wing span and wing beat rate. Watch videos showing different flying animals such as a hawk, a hummingbird, and compare and contrast their wing structures, wing span, wing beat rate and why they fly. During Visit Activities: Explore the exhibit and determine what your wing span and wing beat rate would need to be to in order for you to fly. See what bird you can match and compete against a friend. Post-visit Activities: Obtain some of Leonardo DaVinci’s designs for wings and analyse if they would work and discuss how you would change these designs to improve their function. Have students create blueprints for a set of wings, build their wings from simple materials (such as toothpicks, wooden sticks, pipe cleaners, tissue paper) and then test their design. After testing, allow students an opportunity to alter their design and retest.

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Theme: Expect the Unexpected Exhibits: Materials Playground

Pre-visit Activities: Have students create a Mobius Strip from paper. A Mobius strip is a non-orientable surface. You can build one with a strip of paper - twist the strip and glue the ends together to form a ring and verify that it has only one side: it is not possible to paint it with two colours. In short a Mobius strip has only one side and one edge. Have students explore the properties of the Mobius strip by drawing a line on it. See where the line goes. Now cut the paper in half along the line you drew and then in half again. Are the results as expected? During Visit Activities: Investigate the exhibits that are part of the Materials Playground. Explore the property of Ferrofluids and explore the Nitinol garden. What did you expect was going to happen? How did your expectation compare to what you observed. Post-visit Activities: When back at class, have students bring in different items and collaborate together to see if you can repurpose those items for another use. Bring in recyclable materials such as paper towel tubes, egg cartons, yogurt containers etc. Create a challenge where you use the materials in unexpected ways. Build a chair that can really hold someone. What property of the material makes it unique for that task?

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Theme: Collaborate or Compete-Feel the Pressure Exhibit: Tell Tale Heart

Pre-visit Activities: The tangram ( in Chinese literally "seven boards of skill") is a puzzle consisting of seven flat shapes, called tans, which are put together to form shapes. The objective of the puzzle is to form a specific shape (given only an outline or silhouette) using all seven pieces, which may not overlap. Challenge your students to make different tangrams. Have them work as individuals and the collaboratively. Does it make a difference in the results? During Visit Activities: First have students individually interact with the exhibit. Then have students investigate what effects adding more people to the sculpture will have and does increasing your heart rate change how the sculpture reacts? Ask the students if they can see a pattern. Post-visit Activities: A Rube Goldberg machine is machine that takes a very simple task and presents it in a complex fashion using a chain reaction of cause and efftect. The expression is named after American cartoonist and inventor Rube Goldberg .

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Divide the students into small groups, each group is to create a Rube Goldberg Machine with a minimum of 3 energy transfers. Then add the complication that all of the groups’ machines must connect to make 1 Rube Goldberg Machine. Theme: Collaborate or Compete-Feel the Pressure Exhibit: Making Faces

Pre-visit Activities: In groups of 3 or 4, have students create a picture together that is make up of various images from other sources. Bring those images together to create one final picture. During Visit Activities: Have students interact with the exhibit and pull face parts from those available to create a new face. Why do some faces look okay and others more disturbing? Post-visit Activities: Design a new animal suitable for a given environment using features from a variety of known animals. Have students discuss why they chose the characteristics they did and why they make the animal suitable for the environment you have chosen.

Have the students research chimerism in people and mythical creatures. In Greek mythology, the Chimera was a monstrous fire-breathing creature composed of multiple animals. Have the students use images of various animal parts to build

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their own chimera. How would it move, how would it eat, how would it defend itself? What environment would it best survive in?

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Theme: Collaborate or Compete-Feel the Pressure Exhibit: Sound Panels

Pre-visit Activities: Spend some time listening to various music tracks and investigate the different moods that the music elicits. Can you change the response of an observer by just altering the accompanying music to a scene from a movie. Try it out and see what happens. During Visit Activities: Have students interact with the exhibit and investigate what happens when they add various soundtracks together. Create a series of sounds that elicits happiness, anger, fear, exhaustion. Work together to pull sounds together. Are you making noise or music? How do you decide? Post-visit Activities: Bring in various sounds to your classroom from various sources, both expected and unexpected. Can you bring those different sounds together to actually create a musical piece? Try and see what happens. If there is a particular sound you are looking for, see if you can create it from the various materials.

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Theme: Try, Try and Tray Again Exhibit: Create Something New

Pre-visit Activities: Give the students 3 pieces of 8 ½ x 11” paper, 1 m of masking tape and 10 minutes in groups of 3 to build the largest possible free standing structure. Test the structures with a load or wind and have the students modify and test again. During Visit Activities: Have students use the exhibit and the materials present to build something using the materials in unexpected ways. It could be something related to the curriculum such as a bridge to cross a river, a structure to withstand wind or a boat. It could also be something familiar such as a shoe or a bird house or a flying device. Think about the properties of the materials that you used. Why did you pick one material over another? Post-visit Activities: A Rube Goldberg machine is a deliberately over-engineered or overdone machine that performs a very simple task in a very complex fashion, using cause and effect to create a chain reaction of happenings. The expression was named after American cartoonist and inventor Rube Goldberg. Back at class, create your own Rube Goldberg Machine. Divide the students into small groups, each group is to create a Rube Goldberg Machine with a minimum of 3 energy transfers and use materials found in the classroom or brought in from home. Then add the complication that all of the groups’ machines must connect to make 1 Rube Goldberg Machine.

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Theme: Try, Try and Tray Again Exhibit: Stop-Motion Animation

Pre-visit Activities: The eye and brain can retain a series of images long enough to form a single complete picture. In movies, this gives us the illusion of smooth motion. This is called Persistence of Vision.

Persistence of vision accounts for our failure to notice that a motion picture screen is dark about half the time and is truly made up of individual images all running together.

Flip cards and flip books easily illustrate this process. Have students create a flip book or flip cards to illustrate this process.

During Visit Activities: Have students create stop-motion animation videos to illustrate a process or tell a story. Try to do it with the simplest of materials available, stretching your creativity. Try to take inspiration from various science processes. Examples of such processes are the life cycle of a butterfly, mitosis, a chemical reaction, the planets orbiting the Sun. Post-visit Activities: Use a computer program such as Microsoft Movie Maker to demonstrate a process, create a lab report or an electronic portfolio to exhibit a student’s learning.

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Exhibit: Stories of Innovators

Pre-visit Activities: Discuss the themes of innovation with the students and ask them to come up with what they feel are the important skills and attitudes that lead to innovation. Have students research an innovator. What pathway led the to their success – was it dreaming big, collaborating with others, competing with rivals, seeing the unexpected or with plain perseverance? During Visit Activities: Have students study the innovators featured in the exhibit focussing on the skills and attitudes that the individuals shared and how the innovators demonstrated the themes of innovation. Post-visit Activities: Discuss with the students the individuals that were featured in the exhibit. Compare and contrast the skills and attitudes that the individuals shared, how they demonstrated the themes of innovation and what failures they had. Also discuss what other individuals could be included in the exhibit and what “mistakes” have lead to innovation in our society. Look at the skills and see if they are skills that are exclusive to science or are these skills seen in other disciplines?

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Theme: Look to the World Exhibit: Innovation Around the World

Pre-visit Activities: Review basic human needs such as food, clean drinking water, shelter, energy and health with the students. Examine how access to those basic needs differs all over the world. Who has the most access? Who has the least access? Have students research the Life Straw and the Q Drum, just two examples of inventions leading to safer drinking water for many. During Visit Activities: Have students interact with the exhibit learning about some of the devices that have been created around the world to allow humans to obtain their basic needs. Learn about “poop power” and how cooking fuel can now be generated from manure. How has bamboo helped give people access to medical care in remote regions of the world? Post-visit Activities: Back in class, create your own world challenge to solve. For instance, have students design a modified emergency vehicle to meet a specific need such as a bumpy road or accessing a remote area. Build an emergency shelter that can withstand water and wind and is large enough for one person to sit up or lie down.

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CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS

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CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS The following list of education standards has been drawn from the National Science Education Standards http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=4962

The IMAGINATE exhibition focuses on the skills of innovation. The overall teaching standards identified below support the development of these same skills.

Teaching Standard A

Teachers of science plan an inquiry-based science program for their students. In doing this, teachers

o Develop a framework of yearlong and short-term goals for students. o Select science content and adapt and design curricula to meet the

interests, knowledge, understanding, abilities, and experiences of students.

o Select teaching and assessment strategies that support the development of student understanding and nurture a community of science learners.

o Work together as colleagues within and across disciplines and grade levels.

Some key points as identified in this teaching standard

Inquiry into authentic questions generated from student experiences is the central strategy for teaching science.

Teachers focus inquiry predominantly on real phenomena, in classrooms, outdoors, or in laboratory settings, where students are given investigations or guided toward fashioning investigations that are demanding but within their capabilities.

Science often is a collaborative endeavor, and all science depends on the ultimate sharing and debating of ideas.

When carefully guided by teachers to ensure full participation by all, interactions among individuals and groups in the classroom can be vital in deepening the understanding of scientific concepts and the nature of scientific endeavors

Effective planning includes sensitivity to student views that might conflict with current scientific knowledge and strategies that help to support alternative ways of making sense of the world while developing the scientific explanations.

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Teaching Standard B

Teachers of science guide and facilitate learning. In doing this, teachers

o Focus and support inquiries while interacting with students. o Orchestrate discourse among students about scientific ideas. o Challenge students to accept and share responsibility for their own

learning. o Recognize and respond to student diversity and encourage all students to

participate fully in science learning. o Encourage and model the skills of scientific inquiry, as well as the

curiosity, openness to new ideas and data, and skepticism that characterize science.


Teachers must struggle with the tension between guiding students toward a set of predetermined goals and allowing students to set and meet their own goals.

Student inquiry in the science classroom encompasses a range of activities. Some activities provide a basis for observation, data collection, reflection, and analysis of firsthand events and phenomena. Other activities encourage the critical analysis of secondary sources—including media, books, and journals in a library.

In successful science classrooms, teachers and students collaborate in the pursuit of ideas, and students quite often initiate new activities related to an inquiry.

Students formulate questions and devise ways to answer them, they collect data and decide how to represent it, they organize data to generate knowledge, and they test the reliability of the knowledge they have generated.

As they proceed, students explain and justify their work to themselves and to one another, learn to cope with problems such as the limitations of equipment, and react to challenges posed by the teacher and by classmates.

An important stage of inquiry and of student science learning is the oral and written discourse that focuses the attention of students on how they know what they know and how their knowledge connects to larger ideas, other domains, and the world beyond the classroom.

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The teacher also creates opportunities for students to take responsibility for their own learning, individually and as members of groups, by supporting student ideas and questions and by encouraging students to pursue them.

Teaching Standard C

Teachers of science engage in ongoing assessment of their teaching and of student learning.


Guide students to understand the purposes for their own learning and to formulate self-assessment strategies.

Help students understand the expectations for their work, as well as giving them experience in applying standards of scientific practice to their own and others' scientific efforts.

Help students develop skills in self-reflection by building a learning environment where students review each other's work, offer suggestions, and challenge mistakes in investigative processes, faulty reasoning, or poorly supported conclusions.

Teaching Standard D

Teachers of science design and manage learning environments that provide students with the time, space, and resources needed for learning science. In doing this, teachers

o Structure the time available so that students are able to engage in extended investigations.

o Create a setting for student work that is flexible and supportive of science inquiry.

o Ensure a safe working environment. o Make the available science tools, materials, media, and technological

resources accessible to students. o Identify and use resources outside the school. o Engage students in designing the learning environment.

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Time, space, and materials are critical components of an effective science learning environment that promotes sustained inquiry and understanding.

Creating an adequate environment for science teaching is a shared responsibility.

Teaching Standard E

Teachers of science develop communities of science learners that reflect the intellectual rigor of scientific inquiry and the attitudes and social values conducive to science learning. In doing this, teachers

o Demonstrate and display respect for the diverse ideas, skills, and experiences of all students.

o Enable students to have a significant voice in decisions about the content and context of their work and require students to take responsibility for the learning of all members of the community.

o Nurture collaboration among students. o Structure and facilitate ongoing formal and informal discussion based

on a shared understanding of rules of scientific discourse. o Model and emphasize the skills, attitudes, and values of scientific

inquiry.


Respect for the ideas, activities, and thinking of all students is demonstrated by what teachers say and do, as well as by the flexibility with which they respond to student interests, ideas, strengths, and needs.

Working collaboratively with others not only enhances the understanding of science, it also fosters the practice of many of the skills, attitudes, and values that characterize science.

Certain attitudes, such as wonder, curiosity, and respect toward nature are vital parts of the science learning community.

Communities of learners do not emerge spontaneously; they require careful support from skillful teachers.

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CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS The following list of general learning outcomes for students in kindergarten to grade 12 have been drawn from the Pan-Canadian Protocol for Collaboration on School Curriculum. (http://publications.cmec.ca/science/framework/Pages/english/CMEC%20Eng.html) The IMAGINATE exhibition focuses on the skills of innovation. The learning outcomes identified below support the development of these same skills.

PAN CANADIAN

General learning outcomes K to 12

STSE/Knowledge By the end of grade 3 It is expected that students will... 101 demonstrate and describe ways of using materials and tools to help answer science questions and to solve practical problems 102 describe how science and technology affect their lives and those of people and other living things in their community By the end of grade 6 It is expected that students will... 105 demonstrate that science and technology develop over time 106 describe ways that science and technology work together in investigating questions and problems and in meeting specific needs 107 describe applications of science and technology that have developed in response to human and environmental needs

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By the end of grade 9 It is expected that students will... 110 describe the development of science and technology over time STSE/Skills By the end of grade 3 It is expected that students will... 201 observe and explore materials and events in their immediate environment and record the results 203 work with others and share and communicate ideas about their explorations By the end of grade 6 It is expected that students will... 207 work collaboratively to carry out science- related activities and communicate ideas, procedures, and results By the end of grade 9 It is expected that students will... 211 work collaboratively on problems and use appropriate language and formats to communicate ideas, procedures, and results By the end of grade 12 It is expected that students will... 215 work as a member of a team in addressing problems, and apply the skills and conventions of science in communicating information and ideas and in assessing results

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STSE/Attitudes K to 3 It is expected that students will be encouraged to... 400 recognize the role and contribution of science in their understanding of the world 401 show interest in and curiosity about objects and events within their immediate environment 402 willingly observe, question, and explore 405 be open-minded in their explorations 406 work with others in exploring and investigating 4 to 6 It is expected that students will be encouraged to... 409 appreciate the role and contribution of science and technology in their understanding of the world 411 recognize that women and men of any cultural background can contribute equally to science 412 show interest and curiosity about objects and events within different environments 413 willingly observe, question, explore, and investigate 414 show interest in the activities of individuals working in scientific and technological fields

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417 demonstrate perseverance and a desire to understand 418 work collaboratively while exploring and investigating 7 to 9 It is expected that students will be encouraged to... 422 appreciate the role and contribution of science and technology in our understanding of the world 423 appreciate that the applications of science and technology can have advantages and disadvantages 424 appreciate and respect that science has evolved from different views held by women and men from a variety of societies and cultural backgrounds 425 show a continuing curiosity and interest in a broad scope of science-related fields and issues 430 persist in seeking answers to difficult questions and solutions to difficult problems 431 work collaboratively in carrying out investigations as well as in generating and evaluating ideas 10 to 12 It is expected that students will be encouraged to... 436 value the role and contribution of science and technology in our understanding of phenomena that are directly observable and those that are not 437 appreciate that the applications of science and technology can raise ethical dilemmas

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438 value the contributions to scientific and technological development made by women and men from many societies and cultural backgrounds 439 show a continuing and more informed curiosity and interest in science and science-related issues 445 work collaboratively in planning and carrying out investigations, as well as in generating and evaluating ideas http://publications.cmec.ca/science/framework/Pages/english/CMEC%20Eng.html

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THEMES AND EXHIBIT LIST

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THEMES and EXHIBIT LIST FOR IMAGINATE DREAM BIG / BIG DREAMS Innovation is often a response to intense motivation – a big dream or extreme passion that one must pursue. This exhibition and its choice of exhibits highlight examples of how ideas grow and how intense motivation can be a driving force for innovation. EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED Science is a process of questioning. Unexpected answers are not always recognized for their value. Observation is one important skill that allows people to look beyond the obvious. Fresh eyes can allow what is considered an error or wrong results in one field to become a major breakthrough in another. The choice of exhibits gives participants a chance to examine the properties of various materials and see how those properties lead to innovative products and technologies. They are also encouraged to take risks and to experiment, where there is no such thing as a wrong answer. COLLABORATE OR COMPETE – FEEL THE PRESSURE Colleagues or competitors can spur us to achieve more than we would alone. We are also forced to think more

clearly and deeply when we have to explain something to others. This experience cluster invites participants to interact with others, communicate their ideas and then grow them with the contributions of fellow participants. TRY, TRY AND TRY AGAIN To be innovative, you need opportunities to create, test, re-test and even start over. In this series of experiences, patience and observation allows participants to investigate materials and their properties, tell stories piece by piece, tweak, observe and tweak again and learn that nothing beats experience and perseverance when it comes to creating something. LOOK TO THE WORLD We rely on innovative processes and the making of innovative products to survive in our various environments. As we live in different parts of the world, we meet different challenges daily. But our common drives for food, shelter and water throughout the world show the diversity in innovation and how what we see and experience on a daily basis influences our drive to innovate.

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EXHIBIT LIST DREAM BIG/BIG DREAMS

Paper Airplanes Who is innovative and how does it happen? Flight has always been a concept that has intrigued people, ignited passions and entertained. And sometimes that which is simple while inspiring curiosity is one of the best entry points to start to think about being innovative. Pre-conceived barriers are taken down and you can start to say “I can do that”. Make an ordinary paper airplane become an extraordinary experience. Test out different airplane designs. Which ones flies further, more accurately? Alter the design to increase speed, lift and distance. In this experience you can build, test, observe and retool as many times as you need to perfect your design.

Tumbling Dice What sparks curiosity? What makes you to want to ask more? What is our fascination with flying? Sometimes things spark innate curiosity because they are unexpected, loud or just fun. In this case, all three of these are rolled into one exhibit with participants spending lots of time watching what appears to be a very simple phenomenon. Here participants will be facing a number of vertical tubes in which they can place an object and watch it fly up the tube. The airflow in these tubes is controllable and so when placing the objects in the tubes, they will be challenged to control its ascent or descent, as well as the objects ability to react. Not only can they control the airflow but they will be able to control the object that goes in thinking about material and shape with which to test the concept of aerodynamics.

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So You Think You Can Fly How many of us growing up thought that we could fly? When was the first time that you asked, “Why can’t I do that?” The desire to transcend the physical body that keeps us on the ground has been one that has a long history. It is a history filled with people dreaming big and then dreaming bigger the next time. And those dreams continue to this day. As a child did you ever just want to flap your arms and fly? How fast does the bird have to flap their wings to get lift off? Can you sustain this rate? How long would your wings need to be to fly your body weight? How would you need to position your arms to get the maximum lift from them? In this experience, put on a pair of wings and a sensor will record the flaps per second. What are the other components that are important to achieve flight?

EXHIBIT LIST EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED

Materials Playground Have you ever looked at something ordinary and thought of a way to make it extraordinary? How many great ideas failed to be great ideas just because they were missing a key piece

of information? The key is to see what everyone else has seen but think what nobody else has thought. Participants can test out various properties of materials in this materials testing playground. Exploring the properties of materials can lead to innovative thinking and behaviour. Some of those materials come from nature and in this collection of materials participants will be exposed to animal and plant materials that have inspired the creation of something new.

Ferrofluid Experiences What happens when a new set of eyes looks at the same material? There are many amazing stories where one person’s dead end may become a major breakthrough in an unrelated field. NASA’s development of Ferrofluid is one such story. What can you do with tiny magnetic particles in a fluid? This experience will give participants a chance to explore a remarkable and intriguing material that moves in response to

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magnets as well as audio cues. By looking at the various uses of this material, one sees how this fluid developed by NASA became a component of the music industry. What would you use this fluid for?

Interactive Projections Are we able to predict all reactions? What is it that will engage people to test and retest, try and retry? In this experience, walking across a surface can trigger a reaction in the floor upon which you are walking. What are the various reactions? Can you discover the various trigger points? Careful observation and fun testing and re-testing combine in this playful experience.

EXHIBIT LIST COLLABORATE OR COMPETE – FEEL THE PRESSURE

Tell Tale Heart Experiences can change when they are shared with others. Participants here are invited to place their hand on one of several sensors that read the nerve impulses that represent their heartbeat. In turn, their collective impulses will affect the behaviour of a large sculpture in front of them - sounds, lights etc. This inspirational iconic exhibit will have participants working together, sharing a common experience and pushing each other to join in.

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Making Faces Do you always have to be working directly with someone for it to be called collaboration? Are these unknown contributors of facial features still considered collaborators? One face, many different contributors. In this collaborative experience, the contribution of many is very important as each participant will get to add facial parts, from an available collection, to their own face making up a new final and bizarre image.

Sound Panels Colleagues or competitors can spark us to achieve more than we could on our own. Our interaction with peers can influence us to go in directions that otherwise we might have ignored. This has an impact on our ability to be innovative. In this large room with music and lights, participants will create a musical masterpiece involving rhythm, light, pattern and emotion. This experience naturally encourages collaboration as participants will spontaneously react to one another creating a cacophony of sounds. Is it just noise or will it be ‘music’?

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EXHIBIT LIST TRY, TRY and TRY AGAIN Gear Tree /Kinetic Sculptures Innovation requires creating and testing; it requires experimenting and sometimes immersing yourself in the experience. Where do you get your inspiration? How many different ways can you build on a single idea? In this experience, participants will create their own kinetic sculpture. By using some innovative mechanisms and various materials, the challenge is to program a sculpture to move. Closer examination of gears and how they move objects at different speeds and in different directions will allow participants to see how simple inventions can lead to innovative outcomes.

Create Something New Test, tweak and try again. What is it that attracts someone to spend an hour working on something? This dynamic area will give participants the opportunity to create a traditional item using non-traditional materials. As they create new material combinations to meet various challenges, they will discover the possibilities that materials present and how various designs can sometimes solve the same challenge.

Stop-Motion Animation Sometimes innovation takes patience and small changes along the way. In this experience, participants will communicate ideas, stories and emotions by creating stop motion animation videos. Challenge yourself by using unexpected materials and accepting novel suggestions along the way. The process of stop-motion animation is one that requires careful thought, planning and many small changes. But where does inspiration come from – is it an event, a memory

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or just a material that you find along the way?

Friction Zone Many good innovations come from understanding the properties of the materials. That takes keen observation and repeat experimentation. By experimenting with the surface properties of a range of materials, participants will discover which combinations yield the fastest or slowest run. These are important considerations if you are a skier, snowboarder, curler or just like walking. They will also discover how rigorous testing and observation lead to discovery and further investigation.

EXHIBIT LIST LOOK TO THE WORLD

What’s the world have to offer? We all are faced with the same basic need to survive. We all require food, water and shelter and are influenced by the environment that surrounds us. Whether we are in the frigid Arctic or the wet rainforest, we rely on innovative processes and the creation of innovative products to survive. Around the world, we find examples of innovative thought and products, highlighting the diversity of how we reason and what motivates us. Here participants will find a series of low-tech, grassroots innovations that were driven by the basic human needs of food, water, shelter, energy and health. How were these innovations influenced by the materials abundant in that area of the world? How does staring at a material over a long term basis become an influencing factor in the creation of something new?

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Challenge Area (OPTIONAL) We rely on innovative processes and the creation of innovative products to survive in our environments. How would you design an ambulance to traverse rugged terrain? What could you use to navigate the islands of the South Pacific if you didn’t have a compass? What are the different ways to raise water from one level to another? Forget your modern tools! This is a space where many of these stories and other challenges can be posed with visitors participating in rapid idea generation with the end result to find and build solutions.

Question of the Day One of the ways to gather information is to ask people’s opinions. It is those very opinions that can sometimes influence the direction that an idea takes. Participants will be challenged by this large, unusual and quirky display. It is meant to remind participants to the exhibition that they have an opinion about things and their opinion matters. Often the direction that our creativity takes us is based on the opinion and feedback of others.

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Stories of Innovators – Big Dreams People are influenced by many things along the pathway to innovation. These stories will show participants how curiosity, wonder and dreaming big can spark ones imagination also. They will also see that there are different pathways that people take that make them innovative and these pathways are not exclusive to ‘others’. All of us can develop the skills of observation, questioning, divergent thinking that make us more innovative thinkers. By telling the stories of innovators, participants will see that they too can develop certain skills that lead to being more creative and therefore better innovators. Can you ask a good question? How good are your powers of observation? Do you recognize when different variables are at play? They will also see how these are not just important in the areas of science and technology but for many disciplines and aspects of life. Stories of Innovators – Peer Pressure and Collaboration People are influenced by many things on the pathway to innovation. One of those influences comes in the form or colleagues or competitors who push us to achieve more than we could on our own. The impact that associates and competitors have on our work can be varied. Sometimes those influences can be negative and sometimes they can be positive. Would Edison and Bell have been as driven and accomplished

if they didn’t have the pressures they likely felt from each others achievements? What about Paul Ekman? For over forty years, he has commited his research to studing the facial expressions of people , determining that facial expressions of emotion are universal across human cultures and therefore biological in origin. How did the work of anthropologist and other psychologists spark his drive and his passion. Stories of Innovators – Innovation by Accident People are influenced by many things on the pathway to innovation. But a common hindrance to moving forward is the fear of making a mistake. But are mistakes always failures? Not if they cause you to look at things from a different point of view. Science is a process and many discoveries happen by mistake. Who is innovative? What does it take? Do they have special skills that we do not? Participants will see that they too can develop certain skills that lead to being more creative and therefore better innovators. When is it worth taking a risk to try something different? Do you recognize when different variables are at play? With these stories, they will see that to be innovative you have to make mistakes but also be willing to learn from the mistakes and look at things differently.

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Stories of Innovators – Never Give Up People are influenced by many things on the pathway to innovation. Some will spend their entire careers working on something with many small steps being achieved along the way. That perseverance and tenacity is often critical for reaching that breakthrough. Innovation does take a lot of trying something out, testing, trying again and then re-testing. Sometimes it involves breaking stuff, testing the limits of something or testing many different iterations of the same idea. To be innovative you have to try and keep trying, you have to be willing to make mistakes but also be willing to learn from the mistakes and look at things differently the next time. And it can take time. EVOLUTION OF INNOVATION

Speech Synthesis Voice synthesis and modification created unique experiences for early Science Centre visitors. Years later, many remember the impact this innovative technology had on their lives. Sound synthesis is more accessible now than it has ever been. Many products that we use today have a long history of innovative behaviour. Looking at their history offers a glimpse into the various pathways that people follow. From computer-generated noise to people being able to mix their own sounds on their home computers, the evolution of this

technology represents many of the themes in this exhibition. Sound synthesis was very cutting edge 40 years ago bringing together a series of computer generated noises to form a single word. This exhibit follows the evolution of voice synthesis and voice modification, the two technologies employed in the many early technologies that focused on the synthesis of sound.

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3D Evolution Many products that we use today have a long history of innovative behaviour. Looking at their history offers a glimpse into the various pathways that people follow. The evolution of 3D is one such technology that has been filled with examples of innovative behaviour representing many of the themes in this exhibition. This exhibit will showcase how 3D technology has evolved from stereoscopes to 3D glasses, lenticular images and now 3D screens that can be viewed without glasses. The steps in this innovation will be explored – what allowed the steps to occur?

feb 22-apr 27 2014 teacher’s guide - space center …€™s guide feb 22-apr 27 2014 ......

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