Big Cypress District STEM Day

• BSA Health and Medical Record (parts A &B for all Scouting events) for every participant
• Wear field uniform (Scout uniform) or activity uniform (Scout t-shirt)
• Water bottle
• Sack lunch (that doesn't need to be refrigerated)
• Notetaking materials
• Scouts in troops: Proof of prerequisites
• Scouts in crews or ships: Proof of prerequisites
• Optional: snacks

View the 1-2-3 Go! award requirements.

1-2-3 Go! Nova Award Requirements

Source. This module is designed to help you explore how math affects your life each day. Math and physics are used in almost every kind of invention, including cars, airplanes, and telescopes. Math also includes cryptography, the use of secret codes.

1. Choose A or B or C and complete ALL the requirements.

A. Watch an episode or episodes (about one hour total) of a show that involves math or physics. Then do the following:

1. Make a list of at least two questions or ideas from what you watched.
2. Discuss two of the questions or ideas with your counselor.

Some examples include—but are not limited to—shows found on PBS ("NOVA"), Discovery Channel, Science Channel, National Geographic Channel, TED Talks (online videos), and the History Channel. You may choose to watch a live performance or movie at a planetarium or science museum instead of watching a media production. You may watch online productions with your counselor's approval and under your parent's supervision.

B. Read (about one hour total) about anything that involves math or physics. Then do the following:

1. Make a list of at least two questions or ideas from what you read.
2. Discuss two of the questions or ideas with your counselor.

Books on many topics may be found at your local library. Examples of magazines include but are not limited to Odyssey, KIDS DISCOVER, National Geographic Kids, Highlights, and OWL or owlkids.com 

C. Do a combination of reading and watching (about one hour total) about anything that involves math or physics. Then do the following:

1. Make a list of at least two questions or ideas from what you read and watched.
2. Discuss two of the questions or ideas with your counselor.

2. Complete ONE adventure from the following list for your current rank or complete option A or B. (If you choose an Adventure, choose one you have not already earned.) Discuss with your counselor what kind of science, technology, engineering, and math was used in the adventure or option.

Wolf Cub Scouts: Code of the Wolf
Bear Cub Scouts: Robotics
Webelos Scouts: Game Design

Option A: Complete both of the following: (a) Conduct an opinion survey through which you collect data to answer a question and then show your results with a chart or graph. For example, what is the favorite food of the scouts in your den (chart how many like pizza, how many like cookies, etc.). (b). Conduct and keep a record of a coin toss probability experiment. Keep track of at least 25 tosses.

Option B:  Complete both of the following: (a) Interview four adults in different occupations and see how they use measurement in their job. (b) Measure how tall someone is. Have them measure you. Complete in both inches and centimeters.

3. Explore TWO options from A or B or C and complete ALL the requirements for those options. Keep your work to share with your counselor. The necessary information to make your calculations can be found in a book or on the Internet. (See the Helpful Links box for ideas.) You may work with your counselor on these calculations.

A. Choose TWO of the following places and calculate how much you would weigh there.

1. On the sun or the moon
2. On Jupiter or Pluto
3. On a planet that you choose

B. Choose ONE of the following and calculate its height:

1. A tree
2. Your house
3. A building of your choice

C. Calculate the volume of air in your bedroom. Make sure your measurements have the same units—all feet or all inches—and show your work.

Volume = Length × Width × Height

4. Secret Codes

A. Look up, then discuss with your counselor each of the following:

1. Cryptography
2. At least three ways secret codes or ciphers are made
3. How secret codes and ciphers relate to mathematics

B. Design a secret code or cipher. Then do the following:

1. Write a message in your code or cipher.
2. Share your code or cipher with your counselor.

5. Discuss with your counselor how math affects your everyday life.

Prerequisite: Requirement #2. Complete one merit badge from the following list that you have not already used toward another Nova award. After completion, discuss with your counselor how the merit badge you earned uses mathematics.

• American Business
• Drafting
• Radio
• Chess
• Entrepreneurship
• Signs, Signals, and Codes 
• Computers (discontinued in 2014)
• Orienteering
• Surveying
• Digital Technology
• Personal Management
• Weather

View the Designed to Crunch award requirements.

 

Designed to Crunch Award Requirements

Source. This module is designed to help you explore how math affects your life each day.

1. Choose A or B or C or D and complete ALL the requirements.

A. Watch about three hours total of math - related shows or documentaries that involve scientific models and modeling, physics, sports equipment design, bridge building, or cryptography. Then do the following:

(1) Make a list of at least five questions or ideas from the show(s) you watched.

(2) Discuss two of the questions or ideas with your counselor. Some examples include — but are not limited to — shows found on PBS (“NOVA”), Discovery Channel, Science Channel, National Geographic Channel, TED Talks (online videos), and the History Channel. You may choose to watch a live performance or movie at a planetarium or science museum instead of watching a media production. You may watch online productions with your counselor’s approval and under your parent’s supervision.

B. Research (about three hours total) several websites (with your parent’s or guardian’s permission) that discuss and explain cryptography or the discoveries of people who worked extensively with cryptography.

Then do the following:

(1) List and record the URLs of the websites you visited and major topics covered on the websites you visited. (You may use the copy and paste function — eliminate the words — if you include your sources.)
(2) Discuss with your counselor how cryptography is used in the military and in everyday life and how a cryptographer uses mathematics.

Helpful Link “The Mathematics of Cryptology”: University of Massachusetts www.math.umass.edu/~gunnells/talks/crypt.pdf

C. Read at least three articles (about three hours total) about physics, math, modeling, or cryptography.

You may wish to read about how technology and engineering are changing sports equipment, how and why triangles are used in construction, bridge building, engineering, climate and/or weather models, how banks keep information secure, or about the stock market. Then do the following:

(1) Make a list of at least two questions or ideas from each article.
(2) Discuss two of the questions or ideas with your counselor. Examples of magazines include — but are not limited to — Odyssey, Popular Mechanics, Popular Science, Science Illustrated, Discover, Air & Space, Popular Astronomy, Astronomy, Science News, Sky & Telescope, Natural History, Robot, Servo, Nuts and Volts, and Scientific American.

D. Do a combination of reading, watching, and researching (about three hours total). Then do the following:

(1) Make a list of at least two questions or ideas from each article, website, or show.
(2) Discuss two of the questions or ideas with your counselor.

2. Choose one STEM field of interest from the following list. Complete all the requirements for a STEM exploration in that field. See STEM Explorations for the requirements. If you have already completed a Venturing STEM exploration in one of these fields, please choose a different field for this award. After completion, discuss with your counselor how the Venturing STEM exploration you completed uses mathematics.

• American Business
• Entrepreneurship
• Surveying
• Chess
• Orienteering
• Weather
• Computers (discontinued in 2014)
• Personal Management
• Drafting
• Radio

3. Choose TWO from A or B or C or D or E and complete ALL the requirements for the two you choose. (Write down your data and calculations to support your explanation to your counselor. You may use a spreadsheet. Do not use someone else’s data or calculations.)

A. Calculate your horsepower when you run up a flight of stairs.

(1) How does your horsepower compare to the power of a horse?
(2) How does your horsepower compare to the horsepower of your favorite car?

Share your calculations with your counselor, and discuss what you learned about horsepower.

B. Attend at least two track, cross country, or swim meets.

(1) For each meet, time at least three racers. (Time the same racers at each meet.)
(2) Calculate the average speed of the racers you timed. (Make sure you record your data and calculations.)
(3) Compare the average speeds of your racers to each other, to the official time, and to their times at the two meets you attended. Share your calculations with your counselor, and discuss your conclusions about the racers’ strengths and weaknesses.

C. Attend a soccer, baseball, softball, or basketball game. Then choose two players. Keep track of their efforts during the game. (Make sure you record your data and calculations.) Calculate their statistics using the following as examples:

(1) Soccer — Goals, assists, corner kicks, keeper saves, fouls, offsides
(2) Baseball or softball — Batting average, runs batted in, fielding statistics, pitching statistics
(3) Basketball — Points, baskets attempted, rebounds, steals, turnovers, and blocked shots

Share your calculations with your counselor, and discuss your conclusions about the players’ strengths and weaknesses.

D. Attend a football game or watch one on TV. (This is a fun activity to do with a parent or friend.) Keep track of the efforts of your favorite team during the game. (Make sure you record your data and calculations.) Then calculate your team’s statistics using the following as examples:

(1) Kicks/punts

(a) Kickoff — Kick return yards
(b) Punt — Number, yards
(c) Field goals — Attempted, percent completed, yards
(d) Extra points — Attempted, percent completed

(2) Offense

(a) Number of first downs
(b) Forward passes — Attempted, percent completed, total length of passes, longest pass, number and length of passes caught by each receiver, yardage gained by each receiver after catching a pass
(c) Running plays — Number, yards gained or lost for each run, longest run from scrimmage line, total yards gained or lost, and number of touchdowns

(3) Defense — Number of quarterback sacks, interceptions, turnovers, and safeties

Share your calculations with your counselor, and discuss your conclusions about your team’s strengths and weaknesses.

E. How starry are your nights? Participate in a star count to find out. This may be done alone but is more fun with a group. Afterward, share and discuss your results with your counselor.

(1) Visit the website of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific at www.astrosociety.org/education/hands-on-astronomy-activities for instructions on performing a star count.
(2) Do a star count on five clear nights at the same time each night.

4. Do ALL of the following:

A. Investigate your calculator and explore the different functions.
B. Discuss the functions, abilities, and limitations of your calculator with your counselor. Talk about how these affect what you can and cannot do with a calculator. (See your counselor for some ideas to consider.)

5. Discuss with your counselor how math affects your everyday life.

Prerequisite: Requirement #2. Choose one STEM field of interest from the following list. Complete all the requirements for a STEM exploration in that field. See STEM Explorations for the requirements. If you have already completed a Venturing STEM exploration in one of these fields, choose a different field for this award. After completion, discuss with your counselor how the Venturing STEM exploration you completed uses mathematics.

• American Business
• Entrepreneurship
• Surveying
• Chess
• Orienteering
• Weather
• Computers (discontinued in 2014)
• Personal Management
• Drafting
• Radio

View all the Numbers Don't Lie award requirements.

Numbers Don't Lie Award Requirements

Source: This module is designed to help the Venturer or Sea Scout explore how math affects his or her life each day.

1. Choose A or B or C or D and complete ALL the requirements.

A. Watch about three hours total of math - related shows or documentaries that involve scientific models and modeling, physics, sports equipment design, bridge building, or cryptography. Then do the following:

(1) Make a list of at least five questions or ideas from the show(s) you watched.

(2) Discuss two of the questions or ideas with your counselor.

Some examples include — but are not limited to — shows found on PBS (“NOVA”), Discovery Channel, Science Channel, National Geographic Channel, TED Talks (online videos), and the History Channel. You may choose to watch a live performance or movie at a planetarium or science museum instead of watching a media production. You may watch online productions with your counselor’s approval and under your parent’s supervision.

B. Research (about three hours total) several websites (with your parent’s or guardian’s permission) that discuss and explain cryptography or the discoveries of people who worked extensively with cryptography.

Then do the following:

(1) List and record the URLs of the websites you visited and major topics covered on the websites you visited. (You may use the copy and paste function — eliminate the words — if you include your sources.)
(2) Discuss with your counselor how cryptography is used in the military and in everyday life and how a cryptographer uses mathematics.

Helpful Link “The Mathematics of Cryptology”: University of Massachusetts www.math.umass.edu/~gunnells/talks/crypt.pdf

C. Read at least three articles (about three hours total) about physics, math, modeling, or cryptography.

You may wish to read about how technology and engineering are changing sports equipment, how and why triangles are used in construction, bridge building, engineering, climate and/or weather models, how banks keep information secure, or about the stock market. Then do the following:

(1) Make a list of at least two questions or ideas from each article.
(2) Discuss two of the questions or ideas with your counselor. Examples of magazines include — but are not limited to — Odyssey, Popular Mechanics, Popular Science, Science Illustrated, Discover, Air & Space, Popular Astronomy, Astronomy, Science News, Sky & Telescope, Natural History, Robot, Servo, Nuts and Volts, and Scientific American.

D. Do a combination of reading, watching, and researching (about three hours total). Then do the following:

(1) Make a list of at least two questions or ideas from each article, website, or show.
(2) Discuss two of the questions or ideas with your counselor.

2. Complete ONE merit badge from the following list. (Choose one that you have not already used toward another Nova award.) After completion, discuss with your counselor how the merit badge you earned uses mathematics.

• American Business
• Drafting
• Radio
• Chess
• Entrepreneurship
• Signs, Signals, and Codes 
• Computers (discontinued in 2014)
• Orienteering
• Surveying
• Digital Technology
• Personal Management
• Weather

3. Choose TWO from A or B or C or D or E and complete ALL the requirements for the two you choose. (Write down your data and calculations to support your explanation to your counselor. You may use a spreadsheet. Do not use someone else’s data or calculations.)

A. Calculate your horsepower when you run up a flight of stairs.

“How to Calculate Your Horsepower”:

• http://onlinephys.com/labpower1.html

(1) How does your horsepower compare to the power of a horse?
(2) How does your horsepower compare to the horsepower of your favorite car?

Share your calculations with your counselor, and discuss what you learned about horsepower.

B. Attend at least two track, cross country, or swim meets.

(1) For each meet, time at least three racers. (Time the same racers at each meet.)
(2) Calculate the average speed of the racers you timed. (Make sure you record your data and calculations.)
(3) Compare the average speeds of your racers to each other, to the official time, and to their times at the two meets you attended. Share your calculations with your counselor, and discuss your conclusions about the racers’ strengths and weaknesses.

C. Attend a soccer, baseball, softball, or basketball game. Then choose two players. Keep track of their efforts during the game. (Make sure you record your data and calculations.) Calculate their statistics using the following as examples:

(1) Soccer — Goals, assists, corner kicks, keeper saves, fouls, offsides
(2) Baseball or softball — Batting average, runs batted in, fielding statistics, pitching statistics
(3) Basketball — Points, baskets attempted, rebounds, steals, turnovers, and blocked shots

Share your calculations with your counselor, and discuss your conclusions about the players’ strengths and weaknesses.

D. Attend a football game or watch one on TV. (This is a fun activity to do with a parent or friend.) Keep track of the efforts of your favorite team during the game. (Make sure you record your data and calculations.) Then calculate your team’s statistics using the following as examples:

(1) Kicks/punts

(a) Kickoff — Kick return yards
(b) Punt — Number, yards
(c) Field goals — Attempted, percent completed, yards
(d) Extra points — Attempted, percent completed

(2) Offense

(a) Number of first downs
(b) Forward passes — Attempted, percent completed, total length of passes, longest pass, number and length of passes caught by each receiver, yardage gained by each receiver after catching a pass
(c) Running plays — Number, yards gained or lost for each run, longest run from scrimmage line, total yards gained or lost, and number of touchdowns

(3) Defense — Number of quarterback sacks, interceptions, turnovers, and safeties Share your calculations with your counselor, and discuss your conclusions about your team’s strengths and weaknesses.

E. How starry are your nights? Participate in a star count to find out. This may be done alone but is more fun with a group. Afterward, share and discuss your results with your counselor.

(1) Visit the website of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific at www.astrosociety.org/education/hands-on-astronomy-activities for instructions on performing a star count.
(2) Do a star count on five clear nights at the same time each night.
(3)  Report your results on NASA’s Student Observation Network website (with your parent’s or guardian’s permission) and see how your data compares to others. There are several websites for participating in star counts, but NASA’s website seems the most general and straightforward to use. (The others require specific nights for observations.) This website has nice step-by-step instructions for the star count and it provides a calculation sheet that simplifies the star count data (www.nasa.gov/pdf/145989main_StarCountDataSheet_v4a.pdf).

4. Do ALL of the following:

A. Investigate your calculator and explore the different functions.
B. Discuss the functions, abilities, and limitations of your calculator with your counselor. Talk about how these affect what you can and cannot do with a calculator. (See your counselor for some ideas to consider.)

5. Discuss with your counselor how math affects your everyday life.

The Boy Scouts of America's NOVA Awards program incorporates learning with cool activities and exposure to science, technology, engineering and mathematics for Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts, and Venturers. The hope is that the requirements and activities for earning these awards stimulate interest in STEM-related fields and shows how science, technology, engineering and mathematics apply to everyday living and the world around them. Counselors and mentors help bring this engaging, contemporary, and fun program to life for youth members. There are awards for Cub Scouts, Webelos, Scouts BSA and Venturers. These awards are designed to encourage participation and to increase interest in STEM by making it relevant and fun. 

• Cub Scout: Science Everywhere, Down and Dirty, Nova WILD!, Out of This World, Uncovering the Past, Tech Talk, Cub Scouts Can Code, Swing!, 1-2-3 Go!, and Cub Scout Supernova, Webelos Supernova
• Scouts BSA: Shoot!, Let It Grow!, Start Your Engines, Whoosh!, and Designed to Crunch, and Supernova Award
• Venturer: Launch!, Power Up, Hang On!, Numbers Don't Lie, and Supernova Award

For their first Nova award, Scouts earn the distinctive Nova award patch. After that, a Scout can earn additional Nova awards, each one recognized with a separate pi (π) pin-on device that attaches to the patch. Nova awards may be repeated provided the activities and adventures/merit badges are different.

The Supernova awards have more rigorous requirements than the Nova awards. The requirements and activities are designed to motivate youth and recognize more in-depth, advanced achievement in STEM-related activities. For earning the Supernova award, Scouts receive a medal and certificate.

The Supernova Award program includes earning certain adventures for Cub Scouts and Webelos and merit badges for Scouts BSA, plus completing additional, more rigorous STEM related requirements. The Venturing requirements are based on more independent achievement and teaching activities. The Supernova Award is designed to encourage and recognize more in-depth achievement in STEM. The Supernova Awards are medals on neck ribbons.

Learn More

Learn more about STEM and how to become a Nova counselor or Supernova mentor.