Four new Idea Sheets were introduced by the RAFT team to help reinforce deeper levels of hands-on learning.

December 15, 2015 – Resource Area for Teaching (RAFT) added four new Ideas Sheets aligned to national curriculum standards to their library of over 700 free, downloadable Idea Sheets. RAFT Idea Sheets can be

Students test out activity kits at RAFT San Jose.

Students test out activity kits at RAFT San Jose.

downloaded for free. Activity Kits, which include the Idea Sheet plus the materials needed to complete the project, can be purchased in the learning center’s retail store or online.

The new Idea Sheets include: Born from an Egg, Solar Cone Cooker, Design a Town, Story Bubbles. All four kits use a combination of recycled materials to make up the components, such as paper bags, boxes, craft tubes, and paper.

“We’re really excited about these new kits because they were designed to help expand a student’s imagination, while expressing what they know and increasing self-confidence. The Design a Town activity in particular gives students experience sharing their ideas and listening to the ideas of others with respect and deferred judgement. This process allows students to have a real hands-on experience in collaboration,” says Shalek Chappill, Master Teacher of Educational Research and Development at RAFT.

Since 1994, the belief that hands-on teaching builds and reinforces a deeper level of learning that assesses students on critical thinking, evaluation, and research, has been central to RAFT’s mission. RAFT enlisted the help of local volunteers to make the initial correlations between the existing Idea Sheets and the Common Core state standards.

The Common Core and Next Generation Science Standards Idea Sheet correlations are available to download for free via the standards grid at http://www.raftbayarea.org/idea-grid and on the individual detail page for each Idea Sheet.

The RAFT Idea Sheets can be searched using a variety of ways to pinpoint activities that are suited to specific grade level, subject area, and content standard. This search capability also allows searching by keyword, making it even easier to find Idea Sheets which match specific criteria.

About Resource Area for Teaching
RAFT believes the best way to spark the love of learning for the next generation of thinkers, innovators, problem-solvers, and creators, is through hands-on learning. A nonprofit organization since 1994, RAFT serves 11,000 educators each year who teach over 800,000 students. Find out more about RAFT and how to get involved at http://www.raft.729solutions.com.