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Downloadable PDF lesson plans you can deliver to your students
Do you wish you could add a little Spark to your home? Well, now you can by creating your very own science exhibit prototype! This guide will walk you through the ins and outs of creating an engaging, interactive, science exhibit that you and your audience will love.
PAGES: 5
TIME REQUIRED: ?
CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS
Primary School: Science Inquiry – Exploration & Investigation, Reflection & Interpretation
Grade 3 - Topic B: Building With a Variety of Materials
Topic C: Testing Materials and Designs
Grade 5 - Topic B: Mechanisms Using Electricity
Secondary School: Scientific Skills – Initiating & Planning, Communication & Teamwork; Sci-entific Attitudes – Interest in Science, Mutual Respect, Inquiry, Collaboration, Stewardship, Safety
Grade 7 - Unit D: Structures and Forces
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SCIENCE EXHIBIT (1/1/2021 12:00 AM - 12/31/2021 11:59 PM)
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If someone were watching you, they would think you were doing nothing. But, in fact, the opposite will be true — you will be observing a miraculous world up close! This program is deceptively simple. Get ready to have your mind blown open and for calm and creativity to come inside.
PAGES: 3
TIME REQUIRED: Start Small 5-10m, Build to 30min
CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS
Grade 1, Topic B: Seasonal Changes
Topic D: Senses
Topic E: Needs of Plants and Animals
Grade 2, Topic D: Hot and Cold temperature
Topic E: Small Crawling and Flying Animals
Grade 3, Topic E: Animal Life Cycles
Grade 4, Topic D: Light and Shadows
Topic E: Plant Growth and Changes
Grade 5, Topic D: Weather Watch
Grade 6, Topic C: Sky Science
Topic D: Evidence and Investigation
Topic E: Trees and Forests
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THE ART OF APPARENTLY DOING NOTHING (1/1/2021 12:00 AM - 12/31/2021 11:59 PM)
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Imagine your parents have asked you to create an “elevator pitch” for a vacation with your family, but to convince them, you have to “wow” them! Where do you want to explore most of all? What culture intrigues you? What food do you want to taste? Where would you wake up? What would you see and hear?
PAGES: 3
TIME REQUIRED: 1 hour
CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS
Grade 1, Topic A: Creating Colour
Topic B: Seasonal Changes
Grade 2, Topic D: Hot and Cold temperature
Grade 3, Topic B: Building with a Variety of Materials
Topic C: Testing Materials and Designs
Grade 4, Topic D: Light and Shadows
Topic E: Plant Growth and Changes
Grade 6, Topic E: Trees and Forests
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TRAVEL PLANS (1/1/2021 12:00 AM - 12/31/2021 11:59 PM)
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Your home is an art gallery of scientific discoveries waiting to be found. Sound unbelievable? With careful observation and creativity, you can build a science-inspired art exhibit at home. Organize an opening reception with drinks and snacks and share your discoveries with an artist talk!
PAGES: 3
TIME REQUIRED: One - Two Hours Or over many days
CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS
General outcomes:
- Participants will practice observation skills as they search for, sketch and recreate patterns
- Participants will engage in the process of inquiry as they generate questions for further research and discovery
- Participants will engage in thinking around the idea that science is all around us
- Participants will engage in reflection and writing as they prepare artist and scientist statements for their art exhibit
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ART EXHIBITION OPENING (1/1/2021 12:00 AM - 12/31/2021 11:59 PM)
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You are the mastermind behind a nefarious plot: you have taken and hidden an object! But like all criminals, you have carelessly left behind evidence for detectives to find the stolen object -- your fingerprints. Can one of your family members find the hidden object? Create a series of clues with your larger-than-life fingerprints to help someone solve the mystery of its disappearance!
PAGES: 3
TIME REQUIRED: 2 stages - 30-60min each
CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS
Grade 6, Topic D: Evidence and Investigation
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FOUND BY FINGERPRINTS (1/1/2021 12:00 AM - 12/31/2021 11:59 PM)
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The most famous buildings in the world all started as a dream. People from around the world flock to see places like the Eiffel Tower, the Great Pyramids at Giza and the terraced hilltop of Machu Picchu. What do they have in common? They were all designed to impress!
Be inspired by one of these great structures and build something at home. This is a playful way to learn about different elements in the building process, that ranges from the feelings that a building creates, to the selection and evaluation of materials, and the relationship between design and testing.
PAGES: 3
TIME REQUIRED: 30min to an hour
But we know people who have taken days and weeks to build cityscapes (if you have a free room).
CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS
Kindergarten: Environment and Community Awareness
Grade 1: Topic C: Building Things
Grade 3: Topic B: Building with a Variety of Materials
Topic C: Testing Materials and Designs
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JUNIOR ARCHITECTS (1/1/2021 12:00 AM - 12/31/2021 11:59 PM)
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Almost every living thing on earth has a place it calls home. Somewhere close to food and water. Somewhere not too hot or too cold. Somewhere safe. Many birds build their own homes, just like people do. Their nests need to be strong enough to survive outside and big enough to hold a small family of nestlings.
Birds are amazing natural engineers. Are your students? Create your best nest and put it to the test!
PAGES: 3
TIME REQUIRED: One - Two hours
But once your students develop some basic techniques, you may want to try again with different materials. Birds often spend weeks repairing and refining their nests.
CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS
Kindergarten: Early Literacy, Early Numeracy, Environment & Community Awareness, Creative Expression
Grade 1: Topic C: Building Things
Topic E: Needs of Animals and Plants
Grade 2: Topic E: Needs of Animals and Plants
Grade 3: Topic B: Building with a Variety of Materials
Topic C: Testing Materials and Designs
Topic E: Animal Life Cycles
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THE BEST NEST (1/1/2021 12:00 AM - 12/31/2021 11:59 PM)
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While spending time at home or at school you might come across some mysterious objects. Your family has already strongly said “Don’t break anything! Be careful! Don’t take it apart!” What do you do? Come up with a plan to discover an object’s secrets.
PAGES: 3
TIME REQUIRED: 30min, 1 hour or a day
CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS
Grade 4, Topic B: Wheels and Levers
General outcomes:
- Participants will practice observation skills as they sketch objects
- Participants will engage in the pro-cess of inquiry as they generate questions for further research and discovery
- Participants will begin to explore the idea that science is all around
- Participants will engage in reflection and writing as they progress through the activity
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HIDDEN SECRETS OF HOUSEHOLD OBJECTS (1/1/2021 12:00 AM - 12/31/2021 11:59 PM)
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It’s 500 years in the future. Calgary is developing the area where your house stood many years ago. During their construction, they unearth a time capsule! Inside, through the objects you left behind, they find out who you were and what life was like in 2020. Most importantly, they are excited by the DESIGN of the time capsule: a true piece of art! Take a time machine into the future and design what the time capsule looked like and collect the treasures inside.
PAGES: 2
TIME REQUIRED: One hour or more
CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS
Grade 1 - Topic C: Building Things
Grade 3 - Topic B: Building with a Variety of Materials
Topic C: Testing Materials and Designs
Grade 4 - Social Studies: The Stories, Histories and people of Alberta
Grade 5 - Social Studies: Histories and Stories of Ways of Life in Canada
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MAKE A TIME CAPSULE (1/1/2021 12:00 AM - 12/31/2021 11:59 PM)
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Belgian artist Vincent Bal has found a passion for what he calls “shadowology” – that is, studying the shadows of objects and finding their hidden personalities. This activity is a quick and fun way to learn about opaque, translucent and transparent objects and how light interacts with these objects to create shadows.
PAGES: 3
TIME REQUIRED: 1 Hour
CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS
Grade 1, Topic B: Seasonal Changes
Grade 2, Topic D: Hot and Cold temperature
Grade 3, Topic C: Testing Materials & Designs
Grade 4, Topic D: Light and Shadows
Grade 6, Topic C: Sky Science
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SHADOWOLOGY (1/1/2021 12:00 AM - 12/31/2021 11:59 PM)
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An alien species has crash landed on Earth! Help them become accustomed to their tempo-rary home by creating a special flowchart that identifies key features of a creature or object to separate them into different categories. This is known as a dichotomous key. You will help the aliens to identify some common terrestrial objects using this key. Learn how real biologists use these tools to identify living things and discover new species!
PAGES: 3
TIME REQUIRED: A couple of hours
CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS
Grade 3, Topic A: Rocks & Minerals
Grade 3, Topic E: Animal Life Cycles
Grade 4, Topic E: Plant Growth & Changes
Grade 5, Topic E: Wetland Ecosystems
Grade 6, Topic E: Trees & Forests
Grade 7, Unit A: Interactions & Ecosystems;
Unit E: Planet Earth
Grade 8, Unit E: Freshwater & Saltwater Systems
Grade 9, Unit A: Biological Diversity;
Unit C: Environmental Chemistry
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A GUIDE BOOK FOR ALIENS (1/1/2021 12:00 AM - 12/31/2021 11:59 PM)
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A Rube Goldberg machine is an example of a hacked mechanical device that is “over engineered” to perform a simple task in a very complicated way. The game of Mousetrap is a great example, and so are the now-famous OK Go music videos. The absurdity of these contraptions – not to mention the beauty of their simplicity – is a very amusing way to learn about different concepts of physics, including forces, momentum and the conservation of energy.
PAGES: 3
TIME REQUIRED: One - Two Hours Or over many days
CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS
Grade 3 -
Topic B: Building with a Variety of Materials
Topic C: Testing Materials and Designs
Grade 4 -
Topic B: Wheels and Levers
Topic C: Building Devices & Vehicles that Move
Grade 7 - Unit D: Structures and Forces
Grade 8 - Unit D: Mechanical Systems
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BIZZARO MACHINES (1/1/2021 12:00 AM - 12/31/2021 11:59 PM)
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Cartography is the study and practice of making maps. For this activity, you’ll plan and create a scavenger hunt in your local neighbourhood creating a homemade map.
PAGES: 3
TIME REQUIRED: 2+ Hours
CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS
Primary School Mathematics: Shape & Space – Measurement
Social Studies: Skills & Processes – Geographic Thinking
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IMPOSSIBLE, WITHOUT A MAP! (1/1/2021 12:00 AM - 12/31/2021 11:59 PM)
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Everyone loves the thrill of trying to navigate through a maze or obstacle course. How might you create your own challenge for a paper airplane? Gather your family team and learn about flight, aerodynamics, and building with a variety of different materials in a fun and active way. If at first you don’t succeed – fly, fly again.
PAGES: 3
TIME REQUIRED: One - Two Hours
CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS
Grade 3 - Topic B: Building with a Variety of Materials
Topic C: Testing Materials and Designs
Grade 6 - Unit A: Air and Aerodynamics - Flight
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PAPER AIRPLANE OBSTACLE COURSE (1/1/2021 12:00 AM - 12/31/2021 11:59 PM)
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After billions of years of evolution, nature has demonstrated that animals, plants, and microorganisms can engineer brilliant solutions to problems presented by their abiotic environments. When human engineers look to nature for solutions, they practice biomimicry or biomimetic engineering. Shark skin denticles have been shown to reduce drag and turbulence and they’ve inspired the development of hydro- and aerodynamic coatings!You can put nature’s lessons into practice through biomimicry by creating an outfit for an animal-themed superhero of your own design.
PAGES: 4
TIME REQUIRED: 1 Day
CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS
Grade 1, Topic C: Building Things
Topic E: Needs of Animals & Plants
Grade 2, Topic E: Small Crawling & Flying Animals
Grade 3 , Topic B: Building with a Variety of Materials
Topic C: Testing Materials and Designs
Grade 4, Topic E: Plant Growth & Changes
Grade 5, Topic E: Wetland Ecosystems
Grade 6, Topic E: Trees & Forests
Grade 7, Unit D: Structures and Forces
Grade 8, Unit B: Cells and Systems
Unit E: Freshwater and Saltwater Systems
Grade 9, Unit A: Biological Diversity
Unit C: Environmental Chemistry
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SHARK SKIN + SWIM SUITS (1/1/2021 12:00 AM - 12/31/2021 11:59 PM)
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Your students are science centre assistant curators, helping to install a temporary exhibit about bones and the animals of the world. You’ve run into a big problem– the skull’s labels are missing! Using a human skull as your guide, help your fellow curators find information about 5 skulls so the guests will know what skull belongs to each animal species. The Spark Dectective Agency is on the case!
PAGES: 5
TIME REQUIRED: 30 min to 2 hours
CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS
Grade 1, Topic D: Senses
Topic E: The Needs of Plants and Animals
Grade 3, Topic C: Testing Materials & Designs
Topic D: Hearing and Sound
Grade 6, Topic D: Evidence and Investigation
Grade 8, Topic B: Cells and systems
Topic D: Mechanical Systems
Grade 9, Topic A: Biological Diversity
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SKULL-DEVELOPMENT (1/1/2021 12:00 AM - 12/31/2021 11:59 PM)
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