iSprowt

Tag: hands-on learning

  • iSprowt Announces Solution for Parents and Teachers Looking to Bring Back Hands-On Learning

    hands on learning

    iSprowt, a company known for making STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) education fun through their interactive home science experiments, is bringing hands-on science learning back into the hands of thousands of children in a new and innovative way.

    With stay-at-home-orders in effect for much of the country’s school systems, it has never been more difficult for teachers to provide hands-on learning experiences. Fortunately, iSprowt has developed a solution.

    iSprowt Founder and serial entrepreneur Juliana Lutzi Sherwood developed iSprowt STEM kits to provide children with a way to bring STEM education to life through fun and engaging science experiments. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic forcing more children to learn from home, Sherwood decided to develop online assemblies to help schools bring hands-on learning to their students.

    Sherwood explains saying, “COVID has had a huge impact on our children and their education. As a mom and as an entrepreneur, I wanted to do something to help all our children. Leveraging iSprowt’s hands-on science kits, which align with national science standards, I created virtual assemblies that include multiple experiments. We are donating our time and resources to create and hold these assemblies with only a small charge of $2 for the students’ materials.”

    With an email to Juliana at service@iSprowt.com schools will get two incredible interactive experiments, a 14-page activity book plus their school-wide assembly. The iSprowt team delivers kits directly to the school who then distributes to all participating students.

    Take a look at the interactive experiments!

    With COVID-19 continuing to force students to learn from home, iSprowt has made it easier than ever to ensure a hands-on learning experience.

    “We are very excited to be partnering with iSprowt on assemblies and look forward to other iSprowt programs that bring hands-on learning to our students as well,” said Dr. Hillyer, Principal of Alta Vista Elementary School in Redondo Beach, CA.

    The iSprowt team shares the excitement of principals like Dr. Hilyer. iSprowt will continue to deliver hands-on STEM programs to enrich the learning experiences of as many students as possible.

  • Virtual Science Assemblies From iSprowt

    iSprowt is Bringing Science to Virtual Classrooms

    Schools Across the Country Will Have Access to Science Experiments

     

    virtual science assembly

    We’re excited to announce that we are working with schools and PTAs across the country to bring live, iSprowt virtual science assemblies to over 5,000 elementary students. Each student receives a kit that includes 2 hands-on, extremely fun, STEM experiments and a 16-page booklet filled with activities. 

     

     

     

    Benefits of Virtual Science Assemblies

     

    One of the great things about our Virtual Science Assemblies is that there is no cost to families. iSprowt subsidizes the cost of these assemblies to make them highly affordable to all schools (the cost is just $2 per student!). The PTA buys the kits for students and distributes them.

    Another benefit to these assemblies is the way they engage the students. We strongly believe the best way for children to learn is by doing. Our Virtual Science Assemblies bring science to life in your home with easy, mess-free experiments that are highly visual and engaging.

    Lastly, there’s no issue with privacy, or missing out if you can’t attend the live assembly. iSprowt uses your school or PTA’s virtual classroom technology such as Zoom, Teams, WebEx, etc.  This ensures the student’s privacy is protected.  Schools are encouraged to record and redistribute the virtual assembly so that any student who cannot join live, can still fully participate.  

    science assembly

    Examples of the Hands-On Experiments

     

    In our Wacky Weather Assembly, students will be laughing and learning as they build, create, and observe.

    • Experiment #1: Tornado-in-a-bottle: Students will whirl and twirl to create their own mini tornado in a bottle.  They will be mesmerized as the water picks up debris in its powerful spiraling spin. Here’s an example of the tornado-in-a-bottle experiment.
    • Experiment #2: Chemistry and engineering experiment: “Do You Want to Build a Snowman?”  Students get a packet of safe, highly absorbent powder.  They add 1 cup of water and the powder expands over 700%.  Students can now build with the powder to create shapes such as a snowman, igloo, animal, dinosaur, letters, etc.   Over the next 7 days, the water slowly evaporates from the powder and the shape changes.  This allows the students to continue learning while they observe as evaporation slowly changes their original design.
    • 16-page Educational Activity Booklet: All of the directions, science, and fun activities such as a short story, word search, maze, Find-It picture, and Silly Story (similar to a Mad Libs) to keep the students engaged, laughing, and learning. 

    Want a virtual assembly at your school? Contact us and we’ll send you info to pass on to your PTA and principal! Let’s work together to inspire kids and keep them excited about learning. Thank you!

     

  • Learning by Doing

    3rd-century BC philosopher and teacher, Xun Kuang is known for the quote: “not hearing is not as good as hearing, hearing is not as good as seeing, seeing is not as good as knowing, knowing is not as good as acting; true learning continues until it is put into action,” which comes from Xunzi, an ancient Chinese collection of philosophical writings. Whittled down, this quote is often attributed to both Confucius and Benjamin Franklin, respectively, as “I see and I forget. I hear and I remember. I do and I understand” and “tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn.”

     

    Regardless of the origin of the words, what the three quotes emphasize is, for centuries, and even for millennia, philosophers have observed the most effective form of learning is by doing.

     

    A University of Chicago-led study found that “hands-on experiences may benefit students more than previously realized, particularly in the world of virtual laboratories and online learning. This may be especially true for the initial stages of learning and in areas of science education that lend themselves to physical experiences.” Professor Sian Beilock, co-author of the study, stated, “those students who physically experience difficult science concepts learn them better, perform better in class and on quizzes the next day, and the effect seems to play out weeks later, as well.”

     

    During these challenging times, many students are away from their classrooms and parents are doing their best to work with teachers to continue to move forward with learning concepts through the end of the academic year. Thanks to a plethora of virtual learning programs available, our students are continuing to learn by hearing and seeing but are missing opportunities to learn by doing.

     

    iSprowt puts learning by doing into practice. Students are led through hands-on experiments with easy-to-follow instructions and the materials for the experiments are either included in the iSprowt kit or can be found in most homes. Every month, students receive a new kit with new hands-on experiments and materials. A child who receives our awesome educational gifts for kids during their very first month of kindergarten will complete a minimum of 216 hands-on science experiments by the time they begin 6th grade! We specialize in bringing scientific concepts to life. What could be more hands-on than that?

     

    Due to COVID-19 related school closures we now offer the option to give educational gifts for kids through our Donate the Gift of STEM program. If you’d like to donate, visit the page here.