Brenda Cervantes, the lucky winner of howtosmile.org's 16GB Wi-Fi Apple iPad, is no stranger to technology. She runs her facility's technology lab, presiding over 14 computers and teaching 40 kids ranging from 6 to 18 years old.
Kids plus computers can equal endless hours of video games; Brenda fights that equation by using the computers to find hands-on science that gets her students away from the computer for a while.
"These days," says Brenda, who also has a degree in graphics arts, "there are so many kids who hardly get to do hands-on activities." She loves how howtomsmile.org supports and extends her efforts. "The kids love it too," she says. "It's win-win."
SMILE: Tell us a little bit about yourself, where you work, and how you use howtosmile.org.
Brenda: What I can tell you is that it is a youth center for military families and that my kids just love doing computer and science projects. I mainly use howtosmile.com for the science projects that I try to provide each week.
SMILE: How did you first hear about howtosmile.org?
Brenda: A friend in the technology department knew about howtosmile.org and suggested I check it out.
SMILE: What's your favorite howtosmile activity and why?
Brenda: My kids' favorite science project was probably Rock Candy. Kids and candy: a very hyper combination, but exciting. They could not believe that they got to eat it!
My favorite, though, has to be Fireworks due to the great colors we were able to see.
SMILE: What howtosmile feature do you most appreciate?
Brenda: The feature I like best is the lists of activities I am able to make. It makes it easier to save the lists for my monthly calendars, which are always different topics.
It like, too, the easy access: I can get to howtosmile.org from any computer, so I can work from home, work, or Starbucks!
I also like the search tool. Each month I have to come up with four weekly themes for my twice-a-week science classes. Every time I'm stumped, I enter one word and I get a huge list of great ideas. One theme was rocks—we expanded the search and got the Rock Candy activity. Another month it was "animals, habitats, and survival." We've done Chinese Week and made homemade safe fireworks. We also did Edible Science and Gross Week.
One week my kids decided to learn about acids and bases. I put acid in the search bar and got Bubble Bomb and Edible Ink. I had kids talking about all the "cool explosions" they were able to make. This got spread all over their school and we had a few more kids sign up the next day for our services. My supervisor told me that there were many parents wondering why their kids were so interested in the program and we got great compliments. More kids keep staying longer to get help with homework and they ask "What's for science this week?"
I think that lots of teachers will benefit from this great website due to the community, easy-to-access resources, and the fact that it's just plain fun! Thank you so much for your time and keep up the great work—you guys truly make science a lot more fun for our kids and our jobs easier for us!