Bee with the stem team in a park by SAN Haider

Science Park Series

Bee with the STEM Team in a Park Syed Ali Noor Haider

Enjoy Basic Science, Technology , Engineering and Maths in a park with B for Bee & Basic & S for Sam & Science T for Tom & Technology E for Emma & Engineering M for Mark & Maths

Bee with the STEM Team in a Park

Syed Ali Noor Haider

Eilaf Media Services Ltd

Bee with the STEM Team in a Park

By: Syed Ali Noor Haider 2014 Design & illustrations by Labeed Mirza

First Edition 2014

Design & Published by: Eilaf Media Services 113 London Road Morden Surrey SM4 5HP Tel: 020 8687 6660 Email: info@eilaf.co.uk www.eilaf.co.uk

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Sam, Tom, Emma and Mark, who may also be called the STEM team, are four friends studying in a primary school and love to play in parks after school and in the holidays. They don't like sitting in front of TV or computers all the time. They love fresh air, walk and sports which they know are good for physical and mental health of human beings. They do interesting things in parks. They have also made many friends and one of them is a bumble bee whom they simply call Bee. They love Bee because she helps them in solving many problems. They have also befriended a gardener in this park named Mr Parker. Last Saturday when the STEM team went to the park, they had a lot of fun while playing and doing many interesting things. Let's see how they enjoy doing many interesting things by themselves and as a team.

Sam and Science

Sitting in a park after playing football with her friends, Sam was amazed to see variety of people, birds, dogs, plants and flowers. She also saw builders making new pitches and nets on the other side of park. She always liked watching gardeners taking care of plants too. She was happy to see so many flowers of different colours and soft green grass as she rolled on it. She loved the sounds of birds and the tricks dogs were learning with their trainers.

Sam observed that people and animal were moving by themselves. She also knew that people and animal need food to live and grow. Sam had seen that the plants which were small when she came last week have grown a bit. Plants were growing but the swings remained the same size, they were not growing.

Sam asked Bee “Why is it that the plants grow and swings don't? “Plants grow because they are living thing and swings won't because they are nonliving”, answered Bee. She explained “Everything in this world is either living or nonliving”. Non -living things like stones, swings and bricks don't breath, don't eat and don't grow on their own”. “Living things like humans, animals and plants are born, they eat, breathe, grow and die”. Bee told Sam. Sam asked “If the plants are living things do they breathe and need food and water too”. Bee replied “Yes they do, they take food from the soil in the form of water and minerals which are changed into plant's food in their leaves in the presence of sunlight and air. “Leaves are kind of a kitchen for plants”. Bee explained “as your mum cooks vegetables and meat for you in the kitchen plants food is made in their leaves and they grow by using that food.”

Sam wanted to confirm if the plants actually eat from soil, need air to breathe and grow and die. She said to Bee. “I don't believe that plants need food and air, I need to see it myself”. Bee asked her “Let's think of a way to find out if what I am telling you is true or false”. Sam thought of a smart thing to do. She thought of observing a plant taken out from soil and see whether it will die if not able to take food. She also thought of covering one plant with a plastic bag so that air does not go in, thinking that the plant should die without breathing too. Sam asked the gardener Mr Parker to give her some of the little plants that he was picking out from the grass and she put them in a small box. She also covered a plant completely with a plastic bag so that air should not go in. She put a small sticky note on these plants saying ‘Please don't remove. Don't touch. Plants under observation’.

After five days Sam went to the park again with Bee and her friends to see what would have happened to those plants. Could you guess what would have happened? When Sam and Bee looked at the plant that was rooted out from the soil, they saw it was dead. The green leaves had turned pale and dry. They had fallen off the branches. Then she turned to the other plant that she had covered with plastic bag. She removed the plastic bag and saw that the fate of the plant which was covered by plastic bag was not different from the one uprooted from the soil. Sam had seen herself that plants die without food and air. She concluded that plants are living things.

Do you know what Sam was doing? Bee told Sam that she was doing an experiment. She said “Sam you are scientist”! Sam asked “How”? Bee explained to her a scientist wants to know more about the things they observe around them. They carry out experiments to find out if the way they were thinking about those things was correct or not.

Do you think Sam is a scientist? Scientists observe things around them. Sam observed different things in the Park. Scientists try to know more about the things around them and add to scientific knowledge. Sam wanted to know more about plants. Scientists ask questions and try to find answers. Curiosity is the word for it. She also asked questions about the plants. Scientists conduct experiments to find out answers to their questions and guesses. Whether it is true or not. Sam also conducted an experiment by taking out plant from the soil and covering other with a plastic bag.

Activities Can you recall a few things from your surroundings be it your home, school, street or park that you have observed keenly today? _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ Do you remember doing an experiment about something? For example putting different amounts of peanut butter and jam on your toast to find out how many tea spoons of each is required to make a sandwich you like the most. _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ Would you like to do a bit more scientific work? If yes then when you go to a park next time make a list of two things about which you wanted to know more. _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ Ask your parents about these things, what they are or how they work ? _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ Think of running an experiment on at least one of them. _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________

Tom and Technology Tom had been waiting near the main gate of the park for more friends to come so that they had enough children to play football match.

Today, it was his turn to bring drinks and some snacks. His bag was too heavy and he was dead bored waiting for friends. Bee went past him, first she did not notice that Tom looked bored.

She was flying over the head of Tom and could not see his face. Only when she lowered her flight and came in front of Tom's face she was able to see that he was unhappy. Bee asked “why you look bored”.

Tom replied “I am waiting for my friends but they have not turned up yet, don't know if they are going to come or not”. “Do you know what time they were supposed to come”, asked Bee. “At 3 pm”, replied Tom. “Do you know what time is it now”, asked Bee.

Tom looked at his wrist watch and replied “half past three”.

Bee asked him if he had a mobile phone. “Yes.” Said Tom. “So why don't you call them and ask about their plans”. Bee asked. Tom called his friends and found out that the bus on which they were coming has been stuck in traffic jam and they won't be able to reach before 4 pm. “See how technology can help you”. Said Bee. Tom asked “How”. Bee told Tom that your watch and mobile phones are both machines and they are technologies. She explained that anything invented and developed by using knowledge of science and mathematics and that makes your life and work easy can be called technology.

Bee explained to Tom that machines and technology can be simple or complex. Like wheel is a simple technology which helps us to carry something faster and feel less heavy. A lever which is any long piece of metal or any other strong material helps us to lift heavy things is also a simple machine. But there are complex and well developed machines like aeroplanes and mobile phones which connect you to other people and other places much faster.

Tom's bag that was full of bottles of water, juices, apples and oranges was too heavy for him. He was finding it too hard to carry. He tried to drag the bag but it required a lot of effort. Tom thought that he had seen mum carrying her shopping on a trolley which is easy to pull. There was a small cart in the park for carrying gardening stuff around. He went to Mr Parker and requested him if he could use the wheelbarrow to carry his bag near the playground. Mr Parker let him use the cart and Tom found it so easy to move his bag. Bee said to Tom “You are a technologist”. Tom asked “How”?

She said “You use technology and you can use knowledge of science, maths and observations of things around you for making things work in quicker and easier way.”

Activities Can you think of some simple and complex technologies in your home, park and streets. _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ Do you remember you used a simple technology at home like opening a tightly shut lid of box with the back of spoon, using it as a lever? _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ Can you make a list of a few things that you find difficult to work with? _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ Suggest how they could be made easier by using some of the simple things like wheels and rods. _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ Could you think of developing a very simple machine by using things such as wheels, rods or ropes. _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________

Emma and Engineering Emma was reading her book in another part of the park while waiting for her team.

Mark shouted from distance “Emma how did you reach this part of the park? I am trying to reach there but there is so much sludge here I can't cross it. That will make my shoes dirty. It seems I will have to walk down all the way to other gate to get there.” Emma looked around and thought may be if there was a small bridge here, Mark would be able to reach quickly. She started thinking what is a bridge? She thought it is a path placed on elevated surface at both ends. Meanwhile Bee also came there flying.

“Buzzzzzz, you are in deep thoughts Emma, what are you thinking about?”. “ I am thinking about making a small bridge here . I have thought of a design. Four rows of four bricks, two bricks high each , on this side and four on the other side of sludge and over that a plain piece of wood on which children can walk without getting their feet dirty”. “But I don't know from where to get the material” said Emma.

Bee told her that some building material left over from the construction was lying at the back side of the park. Emma told Mark to stay there while she brings bricks and wood. She first brought four bricks and threw them across the sludge warning Mark first to stay away and asked him to put them in straight lines two bricks high. Then she brought more bricks and passed them on to Mark while taking care that people were not around and nobody gets hurt. She also arranged bricks on her side. Then she went to bring a rectangle piece of wood with help of a friend. She put one side of wooden piece on the bricks and pushed it towards Mark who was on the other side of the sludge to put it over the bricks on his side. A bridge was ready to cross the sludge and Mark crossed over to the side where Emma was already standing.

“Wow, you are an Engineer Emma” Bee shouted with joy. “How”, asked Emma. Well engineers design and create things based on the knowledge of science and maths to cater for the needs of people. You have made a simple bridge. When engineers create designs for complex things like big bridges , cars, aeroplanes, houses and other things they need to know and calculate many facts like how much material to use, how high a pillar of certain width could go up without falling. Engineers decide which materials and shapes can be good for a particular thing and the positions of putting and joining different parts. For instance while designing an aeroplane an engineer would try to find out from science books which of the metals are lighter and yet strong enough so that it is easy to fly a plane with light weight and it does not break up while flying on high speed.

An engineer would also look into what shape and position of wings can make planes move faster.

Engineers find out about the uses of different materials, shapes and positions of things and apply this information to make structures work without collapsing. They also do calculations first and make a small model to check if their idea is going to work. It's just like when you go to buy chocolates for your friends, you calculate first that if five of your friends are going to take two each how many you should buy. Similarly if engineers are designing a bridge for cars they calculate that how strong the pillars should be on which to construct a bridge and what materials should be used to keep the bridge strong enough to bear the weight of as many cars as there could be on the bridge at any given time.

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Activities Can you think of a few things around you which are a work of engineering. _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ Can you think of making a structure like a small cart or small house by assembling spare things in home. _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ Do you ever disassemble your old toys and try to find how they were made. _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ What kind of engineering works can you find in your home , school, train stations and airports? _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________

Mark and Maths When Mark had crossed over to the side of Emma they thought of playing football. When they went to the playground they saw few five year old children were also playing there and were not very happy with the big high goal post.

They came to Emma and asked if there was a small goal post somewhere around this park. Emma said â&#x20AC;&#x153;I don't think soâ&#x20AC;?.

Meanwhile Bee flew past her.

She heard what children were talking about.

Bee tickled Emma and asked, if there was no small goal post in the park could she think of making a simple temporary one. At least an outer frame of it .

Emma started thinking how could she make a small temporary structure which looks like a goal post even though there is no net around it. What could be done to make a small goal post? She saw that few long branches from a tree were lying on the ground and thought that those branches could serve as the poles for goal posts and one connecting the two on the top could be bar to indicate the height of the goal post. Emma asked Bee “if that was possible to use branches to make a small goal post”. Bee said “yes, you can make a basic goal post. Think and try to design something”.

Emma thought to tie up both ends of one branch with the ends of two other branches and then erect those two branches on the ground. Emma knew that if you put a tall slim thing on the ground, it will fall down. You need to have a broad base or you need a support on the sides to help it stand up. She went to the goal post and observed that the poles were going inside the ground so they were supported by the clay around them. Emma thought that it would be a nice idea to make two holes in the ground first to stick the two branches which could serve as poles. She went to the gardener Mr Parker asking for the small shovel that he had. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Hi sir! could I borrow this shovel for 10 minutes?â&#x20AC;? asked Emma.

“Why do you need it “? asked Mr Parker. Emma explained to him how she was planning to erect a frame of small goal post for young children. “Wonderful, so you are up to doing some engineering works today” Mr Parker asked. Emma replied “I don't know”. “Ok, you use this shovel to dig the ground, but be careful and don't hurt yourself ”. Mr Parker advised Emma while giving her the shovel. Emma took the shovel to make holes in the ground to stick in branches. While Emma was making holes in the ground Mark came to Emma and asked what she was doing.

Emma explained to him how she was trying to make a small goalpost.

Mark asked her how big she wanted to make it. Emma said â&#x20AC;&#x153;I don't knowâ&#x20AC;?. Mark said that before making holes you need to decide how wide you want it to be. Bee barged in with her buzzzzzzzzz and suggested that for small children it should be half as wide as the normal goalpost. Now Mark asked Emma to measure the width of the normal goalpost. Emma told him that she did not have a measuring tape. Mark said that they could do the estimate, which means not exact measurement but the nearest size. Let's find out the width of the normal goalpost in footsteps. Mark walked from one pole to another and found out that he reached from one pole to another in 16 steps. Mark asked Emma that how many steps wide should be the small goalpost. She divided 16 by 2 to get half and said 8 steps. She made two holes 8 steps apart to put branches in the ground.

Bee came to have a look and said â&#x20AC;&#x153;both the branches should be of equal size if you want to keep the bar at the top straightâ&#x20AC;?. Emma and Mark put both branches side by side and found out one of them was slightly bigger than the other. They took the branches to Mr Parker and asked him to cut the longer branch to the size of smaller one. Mr Parker cut down the extra length of longer branch. Then Emma put one branch in the hole and covered a part of the branch inside the hole with clay that had come out of ground by digging the hole. She did the same with other branch.

Now after putting two branches as poles which were as high as she was, Emma wanted to put the third branch on the top of those two branches to make the bar of goal post. When she tried to put the branch it was shorter. Mark suggested her to go and pick another branch, which should be at least 9 steps long so that it could be fixed to upper corners of branches which were eight steps apart from each other and some extra edges on both ends would be better. Emma went to pick another branch and picked up a 9 steps long branch to put on to the poles and tie up the edges of this branch to two branches which were erected as poles. Emma put that branch over the branches which were serving as poles and tied the edges with bandages from the team's first aid box.

Mark wanted to make sure that the upper bar was straight. He asked Emma “Have you observed that on the goal post the poles are always straight and the bar on the top across the two poles is also straight.” He told Emma that if one vertical straight line or bar is joined by straight horizontal line or bar the point where they join is called a right angle. He further explained that an angle is the tilt when you join more than one line. Mark showed Emma that in a goal post the poles are straight vertical objects and bar is straight horizontal object the point where bar joins the pole is an angle. Which in the case of a goal post is a right angle. “Mark you are a mathematician” said Bee as she heard Mark explaining to Emma. “How”? asked Mark. “Because a Mathematician tries to calculate everything with the help of numbers so that if you get your calculations right you can do things just right in the first go”, said Bee.

If Emma had calculated that the length of the third branch she was going to use as bar was same as the distance between the two branches she had inserted as poles, which was eight steps, she would have been saved from the trouble of putting a shorter branch first.

When the frame of the smaller goal post was erected, Mark asked younger children to make two teams of an equal number of players. There were only seven younger kids. Mark asked kids to count themselves and see if they could be split into two groups of equal numbers. Kids counted themselves and found that they can form one team of three and another of four. Mark asked them to think of a solution. A little kid named Matt replied “we bring one more person to team of three to make it equal to four or take out one person from team of four to make it equal to three”. “See how Maths works”, said Mark. He explained to the kids that they were doing addition and subtraction while forming the teams. Mark offered himself to be part of the team of three and they started playing as teams of four players each. Emma started recording the scores. Bee flew by buzzing “ Don't you think every child has a capability to become a scientist, a technologist , an engineer and a mathematician”.

Activities Can you remember calculating about something before actually doing it during the last week? For instance measuring paper by scale before cutting it for your art project. _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ Can you make a list of things where you used mathematics yesterday, like while preparing your school bag taking out books that you did not need and putting the ones you need. Did you count how many you took out and how many you added in? _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ Would you like to practice maths in your daily life? If yes Start adding up the prices of everything your mum buys when you next go with her to the supermarket and check your answer when she pays at the till. Start looking at the shapes and angles in the structures of swings and items of sports when you visit the park next time.

Why do you think all these kids have the letter 'M' common in their names. Because M stands for Mathematics which helps in science, technology and engineering.

In the books to follow you will see STEM team growing up learning more concepts of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.

Author Syed Ali Noor Haider is an A level student at Ashcroft Technology Academy, East Putney London. He is studying Maths, Physics, Chemistry and Engineering and doing extended research project on the future of aircraft technology. He also publishes his science blog on www.youthmag.net â&#x20AC;&#x153; In my child hood I always found Maths and Sciences as boring subjects and something not the part of our real lives. When I reached year 8 one of my teachers explained to me that how Maths and Sciences were very much part of our everyday life and we could be far more comfortable if we use them as something of benefit to all of us. I realized that all the children are scientists, engineers and mathematicians and could excel in these fields if they start feeling that these are not boring subjects to be studied only in class rooms and laboratories, they are rather all around usâ&#x20AC;?. Syed Ali Noor Haider Email: science@youthmag.net Illustrations by Labeed Mirza Labeed is a year eight student at Glenthorne High School. He has keen interest in drawing, animation and photography.