GEMS
Great Explorations in Math and Science
Central Michigan University ● EHS 464 ● (989)774-1710 ● Web: gems.cmich.edu ● Email: gems@cmich.edu
GEMS FALL 2014 WORKSHOPS
Build It! Festival
Friday, September 19, 2014 ● (Grades K-6)
This GEMS festival session includes a wide assortment of
classroom learning-station activities that emphasize construction,
geometric challenges, and spatial visualization. Activities involve
students in free exploration of materials and lay the foundation
for mathematical challenges.
Acid Rain
Friday, October 3, 2014 ● (Grades 6-8)
In this stimulating unit, students learn about acids, bases, and the
pH scale; make “fake lakes” and determine how their pH changes
after an acid rainstorm; present a play on the effects of acid rain
on aquatic life; determine the effects of various dilutions of acid
on seed germination; and hold a town meeting to discuss possible
solutions to the problem of acid rain.
Science &
Literacy
Environmental
Detectives
Chemical
Reactions
EHS 117
1:00-4:00 pm
Cost: $5.00
Guide Cost
(optional): $18.40
Friday, October 10, 2014 ● (Grades P-2)
In this stimulating unit, students learn about acids, bases, and the
pH scale; make “fake lakes” and determine how their pH changes
after an acid rainstorm; present a play on the effects of acid rain
on aquatic life; determine the effects of various dilutions of acid
on seed germination; and hold a town meeting to discuss possible
solutions to the problem of acid rain.
Friday, October 24, 2014 ● (Grades K-3)
Frog
Math
EHS 129
12:30-4:00 pm
Cost: $5.00
Guide Cost
(optional): $22.40
In an artful interweaving of mathematics and literature, this lively series
jumps off from one of the well-known Frog and Toad are Friends
stories, "The Lost Button." The story leads to free exploration of
buttons, then sorting and classifying and a game of Guess the Sort.
Students design their own buttons and use a graphing grid to organize
data.
Friday, November 21, 2014 ● (Grades 5-8)
In this case, the "crime" is a mysterious environmental calamity—
a fish die-off that began five years ago. Students investigate the
many potential causes of the fish dying, including chlorine
pollution, acid rain, erosion and sediment pollution, predatorprey relationships, phosphate pollution and algal blooms.
Friday, December 5, 2014 ● (Grades 3-6)
An ordinary ziplock bag becomes a safe and spectacular laboratory as
students mix chemicals that bubble, change color, get hot, and produce
gas, heat, and odor. Chemical Reactions explores chemical change,
demonstrates endothermic and exothermic reactions, and develops
skills in observation, experimentation, and inference.
EHS 129
1:00-4:00 pm
Cost: $5.00
EHS 129
1:00-4:00 pm
Cost: $5.00
Guide Cost
(optional): $17.30
EHS 129
1:00-4:00 pm
Cost: $5.00
Guide Cost
(optional): $26.90
EHS 129
1:00-4:00 pm
Cost: $5.00
Guide Cost
(optional): $13.60