Published by KermMartian 9 years, 1 month ago (2015-03-02T02:55:43+00:00) | Discuss this article

Since October, I have been working on porting TI Education's STEM Behind Hollywood activities for the TI-Nspire to the TI-84 Plus C Silver Edition. At last, all five activities have been ported, concluding with Science Friction! at the beginning of February. Using the Hybrid BASIC functions in Doors CSE 8, these five exciting activities bring the pedagogical lessons and interactive simulations of the TI-Nspire to the trusty TI-84 Plus C Silver Edition and hopefully soon the TI-84 Plus CE graphing calculators.

To celebrate this milestone, I've put together a video introducing the STEM Behind Hollywood activities for the TI-84 Plus C Silver Edition. It describes the overall goal of the activities, to make STEM education fun and to use the TI-84 Plus C Silver Edition as a versatile STEM education tool. In addition, it introduces each of the five current activities in the STEM Behind Hollywood series:

• Zombie Apocalypse Part 1: Students will learn about virulence, the spread of disease, and the structure and function of the brain while investigating a zombie apocalypse.
• Zombie Apocalypse Part 2: Students learn about virology, prions, titrations, acids and bases, and pH while trying to cure victims of a virulent "zombie virus". This activity follows a team of scientists battling the zombie outbreak from Zombie Apocalypse Part 1 as they try to understand the nature of the infection and design a cure.
• Earth Impact!: In Earth Impact!, students learn about gravitational force while they work to keep an asteroid from striking the Earth. An interactive simulation lets students explore the effects of mass, velocity, and angle on an asteroid's path as they discover Newton's law of universal gravitation.
• Body of Evidence: A decomposing body is found in a field, and your students need to play the role of a forensic anthropologist identifying the victim. Students will learn about forensic techniques, the stages of decomposition, and the STEM jobs involved in identifying bodies as they help solve this case.
• Science Friction!: Students will learn about static and kinetic friction and Newton's second and third laws of motion in this superhero-centric activity. They play the role of the henchperson to a villainous civil engineer trying to sabotage a new bridge. They must spray a concrete roadway with oil, water, or ice to stop the hero from saving the bridge, using their knowledge of friction to figure out the best substance to use.

We're excited to hear from teachers who use these activities along with their included student and teacher handouts in the classroom. We also hope that our skilled programmers and affiliates will help us design some original STEM Behind Hollywood activities to add to our series.

Download:
Zombie Apocalypse Part 1 for the TI-84 Plus C Silver Edition
Zombie Apocalypse Part 2 for the TI-84 Plus C Silver Edition
Earth Impact! for the TI-84 Plus C Silver Edition
Body of Evidence for the TI-84 Plus C Silver Edition
Science Friction for the TI-84 Plus C Silver Edition





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