Program Description
A World In Motion® (AWIM) is a series of K-12, inquiry-based STEM curricula that are used in the classroom over the course of three to eight weeks. The materials are written to national math and science education standards to facilitate the program's use in the classroom. AWIM is unique because it incorporates volunteer opportunities for STEM professionals in the classroom at various points in the activity. AWIM materials are also available for each grade from 4th through 10th grade, creating a cumulative experience for students.
In each activity, students are presented with a challenge from a fictitious toy company to design a new toy that meets specific functional criteria. For example, the JetToy Challenge is a three-week project for 5th grade students to make balloon-powered toy cars that meet specific criteria like: travels far, carries weight or goes the fastest. Jet propulsion, friction, air resistance, testing and variables are the core scientific concepts students explore. Each kit comes with a teacher manual that includes all lesson plans, quizzes and worksheets. The kits contain reusable materials to serve a class of 36 students.
Usage of Funds
Describe how the money being requested will be used to accomplish the goals and/or objectives of the proposed project. What makes this a cost-effective or efficient project?
Communities Served
Describe to the funder, briefly, the demographics of the students in your classroom, such as gender, race, social and economic status and how classroom experiences like this help to engage and educate more effectively with underserved groups.
Benefits to Students
AWIM is more than just a set of classroom materials and an instruction manual. AWIM was written using the framework of the Engineering Design Experience (EDE). EDE is an applied learning process that takes the student through the following process:
Set Goals: Students are introduced to a challenge scenario. They review a toy company's letter, discuss what is requested of them, and share ideas on how to go about solving the problem. Students begin to work in teams and start recording work in design logs.
Build Knowledge: Many activities are included in this phase as students develop the knowledge and skills they will need to design their own vehicles. The first thing students do is build a model and figure out how it works. In the next several activities, teams vary factors on the model, record observations, and discuss results with the rest of the class. They move from simple explorations and opinions to controlled experiments and performance predictions based on graphs or tables of results.
Design: Student teams design their own toy to meet the requirements stated in the toy company's letter. They determine the values of variables, plan construction, and predict performance based on knowledge from previous activities.
Build and Test: Student teams build and test their design to see how well it meets the performance criteria.
Present: Student teams make presentations of their work to an audience.
AWIM is popular because it is effective. Education research studies indicate that the use of hands-on, inquiry-based curriculum like AWIM diminishes achievement gaps among students. In addition, students with identified learning disabilities learn and comprehend more science concepts when instructed through hands-on curriculum than when taught through the traditional textbook and lecture method. In the Detroit Public Schools, school administrators have independently benchmarked student achievement through the Michigan Educational Assessment Program (MEAP) that analyzes student achievement for students who have participated in AWIM versus those who have not. Their analysis has concluded that students who participated in AWIM comprehend and transfer knowledge at a statistically significant higher level than both their fellow District non-AWIM classrooms and the state average.
The AWIM curricula make the concepts applicable and understandable for students-they can see these sorts of applied engineering problems in the everyday things around them. This knowledge is more readily applied in other problem-solving situations, which is not the case in most textbook learning, which compartmentalizes information and fails to make the link for students to apply the knowledge in a different situation. , Young people want to be engaged; they are naturally curious and eager to explore. AWIM appeals to these characteristics of young learners, works to spark their interest, and encourages them to further their STEM studies.
Describe your goals for student achievement
Why is what you are proposing make for a rationale, effective choice to use with your students? What quantitative and qualitative outcomes are you looking to achieve with your students? How will this project make that happen?
How will you measure student achievement? How will you know you have met your goals?
Review and think about what your goals are for the students. Develop a set of metrics that will help you evaluate those goals, whether they are attitude changes, grade improvement, etc. Keep in mind, you may have to provide a written report to the group funding your project so your outcomes should be reportable in written form.
Describe the activities in which you and your students will engage in to reach your goals
Elementary (3-6)
Skimmer
Students construct paper sailboats and test the effect of different sail shapes, sizes, and construction methods to meet specific performance criteria. Friction, forces, the effect of surface area and design are some of the physical phenomena students encounter in this challenge.
JetToy
Students make balloon-powered toy cars that meet specific performance criteria like; travels far, carries weight, or goes fast. Jet propulsion, friction, air resistance and design are the core scientific concepts students explore in this challenge.
Electricity & Electronics - Elementary
The Electricity & Electronics - Elementary activities provide teachers with activities that focus on principles of electronics by providing teachers with hands-on experiments involving static electricity, batteries and capacitors.
Middle School (7-8)
Fuel Cells
Using a PEM Fuel Cell as the primary power source, student teams design, build, and test prototype vehicles, which they must then present to an audience. The AWIM Fuel Cells Challenge requires students to explore physical science concepts such as force, friction and energy transformations as well as environmental concepts such as green design, and incorporates mathematics concepts as student teams collect, analyze and display data.
Motorized Toy Car
Students develop new designs for electric gear driven toys. The students are involved in writing proposals, drawing sketches, and working with models to develop a plan to meet a specific set of design requirements. Force and friction, simple machines, levers and gears, torque and design are the core scientific concepts covered in this challenge.
Glider
Students explore the relationship between force and motion and the effects of weight and lift on a glider. Students learn the relationships between data analysis and variable manipulations, and the importance of understanding consumer demands. The glider activity culminates in a book-signing event where each design team presents its prototype and the class presents its manuscripts to Mobility Press "representatives" and members of the local community.
Electricity & Electronics
Middle School activities provide teachers with activities that guide student teams through experiments involving series & parallel circuits, magnetism and an introduction to electronics.
High School (9-10)
Electricity & Electronics
High School activities guide student teams through in-depth experiments involving transistors & semiconductors, analog integrated circuits, and digital integrated circuits.
