On Saturday, February 24, we hosted our Environmental Science workshop at City Heights Library! The girls learned all about the relationship between humans and the environment, including concepts such as predator/prey relationships and food chains. In our first activity, participants created their own food chains with energy sources, producers, consumers, and decomposers. Then, we discussed symbiosis and the different types of symbiotic relationships.
For the next part of the workshop, our focus shifted towards sustainability. After covering pollution and the damage it does, participants brainstormed methods of reducing, reusing, and recycling. Once they had learned what qualifies as recyclable, the girls took common trash items and decided which ones they thought were recyclable. After a quick break for snacks, we moved onto pollution, discussing the sources, the effects, and how we’ve experienced it in real life. Finally, the participants learned about biomes and different environments. Our last activity was a survival game to show how different adaptations help organisms survive in different environments. Dice rolls determined the traits of a moth for each participant, and then we went through different environmental scenarios such as temperature changes, predators, and more to see which combinations of traits survived the longest. Look out for our python workshop on March 16th!
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On Monday, February 26th, AGSS hosted a workshop about Data Science at the Boys’ and Girls’ Club at Southwood! Designed and hosted by our Technology Curriculum Head, Tsega Kidanu, we first covered the basics of data science, including why it is so important to analyze the world around us. We then went over the different types of data, such as qualitative and quantitative data, and the different types of graphs it can be organized into.
We then demonstrated how data can be collected by surveying students to learn about everyone’s favorite sports, and turned this information into a relevant graph together. After practicing this skill, we distributed assorted candies to the students, who sorted them by the type of candy, then by color, then by size. They recorded this data and as a class, we visualized it with a bar graph - now they were thinking like real data scientists! On Monday, February 19th, AGSS hosted a workshop about Atoms and Elements at the Boys’ and Girls’ club at Southwood! At this workshop, which was designed by our Science Curriculum Head Cynthia Jia and hosted by our president Selena Akay, we went over the parts of an atom. Students were also introduced to the periodic table, its significance, and how to navigate it. To practice, we did a quick activity on how to extract information about the elements using the periodic table terminology!
We built upon the knowledge of atoms that they gained earlier by introducing the concept of molecules. Our activity for the day was creating atoms! First, they drew the atomic structure of the element of their choosing on a piece of paper, and then they modeled their drawing using pipe cleaners for electron shells, gummy bears for protons and neutrons, and marshmallows for the electrons. I’m positive that we’ll be keeping an ion these future scientists’ accomplishments!  On February 12th, UVA AGSS hosted a workshop on Non-Newtonian Fluids at the Boys and Girls Club of Southwood! Students learned about the different states and properties of matter. We then delved deep into the idea of a substance that could belong to more than one category of matter at the same time - non-newtonian fluids! We discussed real-world examples of this unique substance before moving onto our activity for the day.
The students were given supplies to make their very own non-newtonian fluid, oobleck. This fascinating substance is solid when compressed, but liquid when left alone. It’s totally unlike most materials seen in the world around us! Like real scientists, students made observations on what happened to the fluid as it was stirred or squished, and shared with the class. |
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