SMASH! DAY 3...and the Snarflemucker (not for the weak stomach!)

SMASH! Day 3
Five dinosaur eggs were discovered in a remote village in China and students were in charge of getting the precious cargo to Shanghai International Airport so that they can be shiped to the U.S. for genetic testing. However, a large river stands in their way. The task was to build a bridge out of the K'Nex Tree (an endangered tree native to China) to hold all five eggs. Here are some pics:

8th Graders working furiously to build their bridge:
Jezz and Connie testing some of their ideas:

Everyone watching with anticipation as we tested Kevin's bridge...it worked!
This group used pretty much every piece of K'Nex!
Will it hold all five?
Jean doing some last minute work to support her bridge!
The Snarflemucker...

The 8th graders have been doing research about biomes to eventually create an ecosystem for the Snarflemucker, an organism brought back from outer space. After creating a biome presentation, students are now using their research to decide which biome they think a Snarflemucker lives in. They are combining their research with their observations of the Snarflemucker to really show what they have learned! Here is a pic of the Snarflemucker:

Isn't it cute??

No Snarflemuckers or dinosaurs were harmed in this post!

Research, Research, Research!

HIS Science students are working hard on all sorts of research!

Grade 7: Students chose their projects and what 2 body systems they wanted to research and began working on Research Questions #1-3. The students are excited to get to work on their "product," but first they need to find all sorts of information.

Grade 8: Students are finishing up their research on biomes and will begin putting it into a narrated Powerpoint slideshow this week. In class, we talked about the purpose of a Powerpoint and why it's important to limit the text on each slide. We discussed the KIS method (Keep it Simple!) and talked about how each slide should be a skeleton of the information. The "meat" should be filled in by the actual presentation.

Grade 10: This is the week! Energy Bars are officially due this Friday, along with their finished website. It is really "crunch time" (no pun intended...okay, it was!) and students will be very busy this week. The school-wide taste test is next week and students will have to produce over 90 samples of their finished product. Yum!

Grade 9: Students just finished up their "Science is Sweet!" project that it due today. Students used their knowledge of atoms and moles and their research on molar mass to figure out how many carbon atoms there were in a bag of sugar. This week they will be formally tested over their knowledge in a written test. Good Luck! Study Hard!

Snarflemuckers, RAFTS, and Energy Bars...Oh My!

Why do we need a Snarflemucker?
This week the Grade 8 Science students will begin their Ecology Expedition. Students will investigate biomes, the principles of ecology and adaptation through a project involving the creation of an ecosystem in which a Snarflemucker lives. What is a Snarflemucker, you ask? Well, we will just have to wait to find out! Stay Tuned!

What is a RAFT Project?
Grade 7 Science students started their human body projects and got to make LOTS of choices as to how they want to show what they know. Students got to choose 1 of 6 RAFT choices. RAFT stands for Role, Audience, Format, Topic. Students projects can range from being a sandwich and creating a travel blog of their journey through digestion to playing the role of a doctor at a conference presenting a research paper to colleagues. Keep reading to see how their choices unfold!

In other news...here is what is going on in the other Science Classes:

Science 9: Students have been working on calculating the amount of molecules in a certain mass of an element. This week they will begin to apply this information to compounds. Instead of reading about how to do it...students will be given a bag of sugar and asked to find out how many Carbon atoms are in it! Science is so sweet!

Science 10: After creating their first energy bar prototype students reflected on their progress. Check out these student reflections: David S, Eira L, Terence L, and Vivian C. You might be asking, "what does this have to do with Biology?" Well, students have researched everything that is going into their bars. They have analyzed the best nutrition for athletes and used this research to inform their decisions about the bars. They are still working on their websites...but check out their progress in the sidebar. Keep it up, Energy Bar Scientists!

SMASH DAY! 2...and the Weekly Grind

SMASH DAY!

Last Monday was our second SMASH DAY! Students were given the task of building a paper structure that could hold a 50 g weight. The team with the tallest tower that held the weight was handsomely rewarded (yum...HiChew Candy!).

Students were give 5 pieces of A4 paper, 1 meter of scotch tape, and scissors. Grade 8 students quickly realized that the instructions did not technically say they couldn't used the scissors in the design. Sneaky Students!

We cleared that up for Grade 9! The winning students overall were Jezz and Savanna...who had an 83 cm tower! Good Job!

The Weekly Grind:

Science 7: We are finishing up our "How do we describe matter?" Expedition this week. The students have worked hard to learn all about matter...and now they will put their skills to work. Each student will get a "mystery liquid" and have to identify the liquid based on its characteristic properties.

Science 8: We are finishing up our "Can Matter Disappear?" Expedition. Students have investigated the effect of physical and chemical changes on the mass of the substances. On Wednesday students will take a lab test where they will show what they have learned through this expedition.

Science 9: We are elbow deep in electron configuration! This week students are looking at orbital shapes and using these shapes to explain why certain energy levels can hold certain numbers of electrons.

Science 10: Energy Bar projects are in progress. We are starting to decide on ingredients...and by the end of this week all the groups will have made their first energy bar prototype. Students are currently struggling to figure out how to get the bar to stick together. Good Luck!

Daaaaaaang

One of my students, Jacob, just popped open the door and said
"Question! When a space shuttle docks onto the International Space Station...does it bring its orbit closer to Earth...because of the mass change?"

Whew. I have to chew on that for a while. Here is what I am thinking....the difference in mass is so minute in comparison with the scale of the orbit of the station that it doesn't really affect the orbit distance. Kind of like the idea that technically I have a gravitational pull on the Earth, but since my mass is so much smaller than the Earth's it doesn't really matter. Hmmm....

Then the conversation turned to whether or not satellites naturally fall to the Earth. My first thought was, yes, they do. However, upon further reflection...and some searching...I realized that it has a lot to do with centripetal acceleration. A satellite reaches an optimum speed and the centripetal force outward balances the pull of Earth's gravity. Kind of like when something is swung on the end of a string. If its not fast enough it won't move in a circle and all is lost.

I guess when you breed critical thinking...your morning gets completely turned upside down in one question.

Jacob....want to comment?

Layered Liquids

In Science 8 and Science 9 we have been learning about density. We looked at the properties of different liquids to see why they might stay separated into layers.

Grace took this pic of the density column as her group investigated why it layered.

(Thanks, Grace!)

Students dropped different objects in the column to see if they sank or floated. Some objects were suspended between layers!

Check out the Science 9 Blogs for student explanations about why some objects sank and some objects stayed suspended. Remember, this was the very beginning of our investigation into density...so our thoughts are still developing. :)

SMASH DAY!

A former colleague of mine, Rosalie Whitney, gave me a great idea for incorporating problem-solving, communication, listening, and critical thinking (all the great science skills!) into science classes at the middle school level. Her version was called 5 F's (First Friday's Fanatical Findout Feat).

The HIS version is SMASH! Smith's Marvelously Awesome Science Hoopla.

The Mission:
Look at a "mystery structure" and communicate it to team members so that they can build the exact same structure without actually ever seeing it.

The Mystery Structure:
The Work:

Jean studying the mystery structure to try to describe it to her team.

Jez, Connie, and Tim working hard to understand the instructions.
Artie waiting patiently while his communicator gets instructions (I made him take a pic with me!)
Kevin and Jordan getting animated in their description
Lydia working to find the right colored block...only a few minutes left!
Kevin separating some pieces that were put together in the wrong order.
Duke using his hands to show the order of the blocks.

8th grade students really focusing on the mystery structure!Finally, the 9th grade students in action...watch them work!

The Weekly Grind

Grade 7 Science:

Students will start working on a Webquest that requires them to solve a Hsinchu mystery! Students will begin learning about mass and volume on their quest to identify mystery liquids that have been found around Hsinchu.

Grade 8 & 9 Science:

Students are working to define matter and decide if air is considered matter. Then, we will start working on how to find mass and volume...since those are the most basic properties to describe matter.

Grade 10 Science:
How do we know if something is alive or not? What characteristics do all living things have in common?

These are a few of the questions that students will need to answer during their Alien Trial debate. Stay tuned...it could get interesting!