Solar Camp Friday

Friday was M for mathematics.

The culmination of Solar Camp was our treats from the solar oven.  The campers created pizzas and chocolate chip cookie jars which they cooked in the solar oven.  They used measurement and conversion skills in creating their recipes.  

Below is the recipe for the cookies in the jar.

Ingredients

1 1/8 cups flour

1 stick softened butter

1 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup Egg Beaters

1 cup chocolate chips

Place 2 Tablespoons of dough in a glass jar.  (We used Oui yogurt jars.) 

Bake in solar (or conventional) oven at 300 F for 30 minutes.  

The campers were also excited that the picture they requested from the NASA telescope of the sun arrived today.   They analyzed it using different filters on MicroObservatory.  There were three distinct sun spots in their image.  It was a wonderful way to end a shining week!

Solar Camp Thursday

Thursday was A for art.

Campers created three projects today.  The first project was a print of leaves and flowers they found on the playground on photosensitive paper.  The second project was a negative space crayon melt canvas.  Campers taped patterns on canvas.  They then shredded crayons on top.  The canvases were placed in the sun.  Unfortunately the sun was not strong enough today to melt the crayons.  

The third project was a "sun chime".  Campers threads beads and bells onto string.  There were three types of beads - opaque (white and black), clear and photosensitive.  The photosensitive beads change colors when exposed to sunlight.

Solar Camp Tuesday and Wednesday

Tuesday was T for technology and Wednesday was E for engineering.  

On Tuesday campers created a solar sill to desalinized salt water.

After watching a video on how solar panels work and playing a short game where they were the silicon atoms and electrons in the solar panels, campers created circuits using solar panels from the Snap Circuit kits. 

On Wednesday campers tested and designed solar cars.  The solar car built from hollow board worked better than the solar car built of Lego's.  The campers hypothesized that the Lego car did not work as well because Lego's are heavier, it was cloudier when the Lego car was tested, and that the Lego's did not hold the motor in place as well.

Campers were also excited to receive the first of their pictures from the NASA telescopes today.

Solar Camp Begins

Solar Camp

July 9 - July 13, 2018

Each day of the week we are exploring one letter of the acronym STEAM with the sun.

Monday started with S for Science. Tuesday will be T for Technology. Wednesday will be E for Engineering. Thursday will be A for Arts and the week will conclude on Friday with M for Mathematics.


Monday

Today campers explored the science of the sun.  Campers created a representation of the size of the sun relative to the size of the Earth out of Smarties candy.  The face of the sun is 109 times the size of the face of the Earth. 

The big circle represents the sun.  The singular Smartie in the bottom right corner represents the Earth.

They also used a smaller scaled sun and modeled the distance to the Earth with toilet paper squares. 

 A similar activity creating the entire solar system can be found at 

https://astrosociety.org/edu/family/materials/toiletpaper.pdf 

if you are looking for a family activity.

Not only is the sun big and the closest star to Earth but it is also very important to life.  It provides heat and light.  The light the sun provides includes white light and UV waves (more to come on those later this week).  The light is important for photosynthesis and solar power. Sunlight can also be used to tell the time.  Campers created sundials/equatorial dials. 

 The instructions for the equatorial dial can be found at https://www.qwerty.co.za/sundials/howto/modeleqa.html.  This model is designed for latitudes in South Africa.  Use the red lines for the best representation of our location.

How do scientists know about the sun? They look at it through telescopes.  The campers did too.  They used NASA/Harvard MicroObservatory website to look at images taken from NASA's telescopes.  The website allows users to request pictures from the telescopes.  The pictures they requested will be emailed in a few days. 

The campers also enjoyed looking at sun compared to other stars with the Star Walk app.

In the future scientists may be able to learn more about the sun if they are able to travel to it.  Campers finished the day creating telescopes and vehicles out of Legos and K'Nex that they thought could be used for sun exploration.  Before they began building we discussed what would be ideal characteristics of such a vehicle (heat resistant - thick walls, shielded windows).

Bella's Telescope

Working together on sun exploration vehicles