Experimentary

https://www.experimentary.com.au/ 

Experimentary is a STEM online platform made and coordinated by Dr Rob Bell who is known from CSIRO education and various TV shows. Both teachers and students can sign up and work through a vast amount of experiments that range through all STEM disciplines in age groups from prep through to year 8. Within each experiment, there are introductions, videos, materials list and an example log book.

Dr Rob has multiple videos in each experiment helping aid the teacher in what to do and explaining the content behind the experiment. There are also multiple videos of Dr Rob presenting engaging experiments which can be done in class or even at home. Utilising these videos can help engage the students by providing alternative explanations and a ‘guest’ to the classroom. (Pamela and Timothy, 2011).

In the video for the ‘Hoopster’ experiment, Dr Rob looks at a different take on a paper plane. This can easily be bought into the classroom as a STEM lesson. Using science to talk about flight and how the Hoopster is flying, engineering and technology to describe the build and design of the Hoopster, and mathematics to introduce some variables about the Hoopster and measurements of flight. Dr Rob mentions using different materials like thicker or larger sized paper to see if something changes to the distance of the Hoopster.

By providing an online laboratory, Experimentary has made science and STEM more accessible to everyone in an active learning environment (Schwab, 2013)

 Curriculum links:  

The properties of the different states of matter can be explained in terms of the motion and arrangement of particles (VCSSU096) 

Energy appears in different forms including movement (kinetic energy), heat, light, chemical energy and potential energy; devices can change energy from one form to another (VCSSU104) 

Electric circuits can be designed for diverse purposes using different components; the operation of circuits can be explained by the concepts of voltage and current (VCSSU130) 

Multicellular organisms contain systems of organs that carry out specialised functions that enable them to survive and reproduce (VCSSU094) 

The growth and survival of living things are affected by the physical conditions of their environment (VCSSU075) 

Investigate how forces or electrical energy can control movement, sound or light in a designed product or system (VCDSTC034) 

Critique needs or opportunities for designing and explore and test a variety of materials, components, tools and equipment and the techniques needed to create designed solutions (VCDSCD028) 

Select and use materials, components, tools and equipment using safe work practices to produce designed solutions (VCDSCD030)