Imagining the Invisible

By Tom Young

Subject: Physics
Grade Level: 9-12
Standards:  MA STE & ELA (Common Core)

You are in residency as diagnostic radiologists. When you meet one of your first patients, you find that they are extremely hesitant to undergo any type of medical imaging. Even after telling the patient that you cannot treat them without first taking images, they tell you that they do not know enough about the technology to go on with treatment.

Choose one of the following patients:

●      Charlie – a 5 year old child who fell off of a playset and is complaining to his mother about pain in his forearm, which is very swollen and not very straight.

●      Megan – a 17 year old who got hit playing lacrosse and can no longer stand on her right knee. She has injured her MCL before.

●      Sarania – a woman who is 4 months pregnant presents with consistent abdominal pain.

●      Ronin – a 74 year old man who you strongly suspect to have hyperthyroidism

Determine which type of Medical Imaging Technology is appropriate to diagnose the patient that you chose. Then, you must explain to the patient how the technology works, how safe it is, and why it is necessary to proceed with treatment of their condition.

STE & ELA Standards

HS-PS4-5. Communicate technical information about how some technological devices use the principles of wave behavior and wave interactions with matter to transmit and capture information and energy.*

Practice: Obtaining, Evaluating, and Communicating Information

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.WHST.9-10.2.A

Introduce a topic and organize ideas, concepts, and information to make important connections and distinctions; include formatting (e.g., headings), graphics (e.g., figures, tables), and multimedia when useful to aid comprehension.  

Just Following Instructions

By Tiffany Davis

Subject: Math, Art, DLCS
Grade Level: 2
Standards: MA STE, DLCS, Art, Math & ELA (Common Core)

Can you program a robot to create a Sol LeWitt-inspired geometric wall drawing?

American artist Sol LeWitt is best known for his instructional wall drawings. A proponent of minimalist, conceptual art, LeWitt famously hired other people to create installations using his written directions. The mathematical nature of LeWitt’s directions, which reference lines, shapes, angles, and patterns make LeWitt’s work a great starting point for STEAM learning.

The title of this project, “Just Following Instructions,” refers to more than LeWitt’s method for creating art. Students not only write mathematically-based instructions for making a drawing, much like LeWitt’s, but also translate those instructions into code that a robot can follow.

STE, Math, ELA & Visual Arts Standards

Grade 2.Geometry A. Reason with shapes and their attributes.

K-2.CT.d.3: Individually or collaboratively, create a simple program using visual instructions or tools that do not require a textual programming language (e.g., “unplugged” programming activities, a block-based programming language).

2.K-2-ETS1-3. Analyze data from tests of two objects designed to solve the same design problem to compare the strengths and weaknesses of how each object performs.

Visual Arts 2.2, 2.4, 2.5, 2.6

ELA, Grade 2 Speaking and Listening Standards [SL] & Language Standards [L]

  • Comprehension and Collaboration
  • Presentation of Knowledge and Ideas
  • Vocabulary Acquisition and Use