howtosmile blog

Getting kids to move while they're learning science can help them visualize and "experience" processes like cell division, energy transfer, circulation and planetary motion. Kinesthetic STEM learning becomes not only hands-on, but feet-on and body-on as learners' own movements simulate cells or body systems, atoms or machines. Celebrate the 5th anniversary of Let's Move! in February 2015 with Howtosmile.org explorations that use physical activity to model scientific processes and principles.

How do you connect learners of all ages with birds that they only see high up in trees, or flying far overhead? One way is letting learners measure their own armspread against a migratory bird's wingspan. To do this, you can download a free pattern for a 14-foot wide wingspan banner, created by Georgia's Department of Natural Resources. 

No day goes by without engineering touching our lives. How does engineering help when we play sports or music, ride in an elevator, check the weather forecast, drive over a bridge, vote in an election, and go through a typical day? Find out with engineering activities from Howtosmile.org during Engineers Week, February 22-28. 

The advent of 3-D printing is transforming how astronauts work in space. Recently, astronauts on the International Space Station created a tool known as a ratchet wrench, by printing it on the space station's own 3-D printer. A design file sent electronically from NASA on Earth to the ISS instructed the printer to create the wrench from 104 successive layers of plastic. 

Time capsules can cover a calendar year like 2014, or capture a special day like Earth Day. In 2015, Earth Day 45 will take place on Wednesday, April 22. From now until then, you can collect items to create an Earth Day time capsule, with the Howtosmile.org activity Create Your Own Time Capsule.

This holiday season, you can take Howtosmile.org with you wherever you are—on a trip to see family and friends, at winter break camp, on the museum or science center floor, even on "stay-cation." The Howtosmile.org mobile app gives you immediate access to Howtosmile.org activities any time or anywhere.

Want to try some SMILE math fun with a holiday flair?

Turn on your cell phone and the screen lights up for you to see. Flip a switch and a room turns from dark to bright. Decorate your home with winter holiday candles and lights, or watch fireworks light up the sky on July 4th...Light and light-based technologies affect every day and nearly every part of our lives. Often we take light for granted, but in 2015 the world will be paying a lot more attention during the International Year of Light and Light-Based Technologies.

How can engineering meet the future’s toughest challenges? Create a 1-2 minute video to answer this question, and enter the Engineering For You 2 Video Contest. Grand prize for the most inspiring video is $25,000. Entry deadline is March 2, 2015.

What's your favorite sport? Tennis? Running? Ice hockey? Whatever it is, engineering probably has a lot to do with playing, scoring or training for that sport. Whether it's tennis nanotech, high-speed cameras for photo-finish races, or the best-flex hockey stick materials, show what you know about the sports/engineering connection by entering the 2015 EngineerGirl Essay Contest.

Blockbuster sci-fi movies like Interstellar and Gravity and bestselling novels like The Martian raise many questions about space travel and human survival on other worlds. What happens to time during long space voyages? How will astronauts handle emergencies with limited supplies and equipment? Where might humans find another Earthlike planet to colonize? How would they survive there? At Howtosmile.org, learners think like scientists and engineers to explore such challenges through both hands-on and online activities.