Parent Teacher Magazine Cabarrus County Schools November 2013 | Page 5

Schools to Participate in National 4-H Science Day Experiment

Millions of young people became scientists for the day during the sixth
annual 4-H National Youth Science Day on Oct. 9th. Cabarrus County Schools
participating were Patriots STEM Elementary School, JN Fries STEM Magnet
School, and all 19 CCS Kids: Plus afterschool sites.
This year’s theme was 4-H Maps & Apps, which explores how geography
and geographic information systems (GIS) help people make smart decisions
that improve lives, respect our natural resources and make a positive impact
in our world.
By participating in this experiment, students were exposed to GIS.
Science projects such as the 4-H Maps & Apps help students experience
first-hand how this incredible technology can be used to solve real-world
problems. It can help them discover new interests and career options, plus
give them a taste of how geography impacts human life and our communities
– today and in the future.
Students became community designers and created a GIS map that
represented their own unique vision of a park that makes their community a
better place to live. They worked in teams to design a community park on a 30
x 30-inch grid or by using the online computer-based Maps & Apps program.
Their challenge: Our community has just acquired a vacant lot about
8 acres in size with a small hill. The community planner wants to repurpose

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the lot into a park that everyone can enjoy. She wants
to involve citizens in the planning process and has
invited community members to submit their vision of a
park they feel would do a great job meeting local needs.
Groups will work in teams to design their park. Each
team will then present their community park to the class.
The class will then decide which design will work best in
their community.
Part two of the experiment was called Let’s Talk Trash where students
explored how GIS layers can be used to assess a messy situation by looking
at trash data plotted out on a map and propose cost-effective solutions.
Patriots STEM school will be making this a real-life activity with the Charlotte
Motor Speedway as the backdrop. Since the experiment was conducted during
race week, where large amounts of trash were collected, the students plotted
on a graph the locations where large amounts of trash were found at the
Speedway. Then they decided the best place to add trash/recycle receptacles
to alleviate some of the trash issues that were left after the race.
For additional information, please visit the 4-H Science Day
Experiment at: www.4-h.org/nysd.

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Parent Teacher Magazine • November/December 2013 • 3