Description
A Science Action Club kit makes it easy and fun to lead hands-on STEM in afterschool and summer programs—no experience necessary. Through games, projects, and exciting investigations, youth explore nature, contribute to authentic science research, and design creative strategies to protect the planet.
With content from a world-class science museum and research institution, the kit includes easy-to-follow activity plans, a complete set of STEM supplies, and 2-hour online, self-paced, professional development training for staff. The training provides step-by-step guidance for all 12 activities in the unit, as well as important science concepts and helpful strategies for teaching STEM in an informal learning environment.
With Bug Safari, youth will explore small creatures with big environmental impacts. On local field expeditions, youth will search for arthropods, collect specimens, and post photographs to iNaturalist—a citizen science project and online social network for nature research. Tapping into the global scientific community, youth will use real tools and technology to learn the basics of bug science and what it means to be an entomologist.
Additional Information
- Recommended grades: 5-8
- Number of students supported: 20+
- Number of activities: 12+
- Contact hours: Each activity is designed for a 60- to 90-minute club session and can be extended with the bonus resources included
- Lesson plan sample PDF: Engineer an Arthropod
- Lesson plan sample PDF: Tools of the Trade
- Standards alignment: NGSS Connections
- Recommended settings: Summer camps, afterschool programs, homeschool environments
Activity Topics
- Field Study
- Observe Like a Scientist
- Engineer an Arthropod
- Tools of the Trade
- Arthropod Apartments
- Color Your Camouflage
- Habitat Health
- Pollination Station
- Indestructible Web
- Map the Habitat
- Critter Chronicles
- Food for Thought
Learn more about this program at www.calacademy.org/sac.