Lunar Events

Talk about great timing! So, if you weren't aware, there was a lunar eclipse on Sunday night, and you'll never guess what I had planned to teach this week! That's right...chemistry! Just kidding :-) This week the 8th-grade students were learning about the lunar phases and solar/lunar eclipses. On Monday we learned about what the different phases are and how they happen, and Tuesday was spent learning about eclipses. On Wednesday we reviewed what we had learned, and then I introduced a short project the students would be creating. Our science standard states that the students should "Develop and use a model of the Earth-sun-moon system to describe the cyclic patterns of the lunar phases and eclipses," so the students were given the task of problem-solving with a flashlight and golf ball in order to create a model of the phases of the moon and eclipses. They needed to snap pictures of the lit golf ball from different perspectives to get the necessary phases and eclipses. I was able to see a few of the groups' pictures, and they turned out pretty well!
With the start of the second semester, we also started up our next round of Science Genius Time! Now that the students had experience with one, we upped the ante a bit with the requirements. Hopefully, they will have learned from their first time around as to what the project entails so that they can produce some amazing presentations! Based on the projects I saw from the first semester, I think I will be in for a treat! Several of the students had ideas right away, while others had the feeling of, "I've already done this once and I don't know what else I want to do!" I'm sure we will get there. One thing I'm really trying to stress is how their end result can be a benefit to others. The project should result in more than just a research project--they should plan out something they can create that can meet the needs of a target audience. I think that the upgrades I made to the project rubric should help out with this. Time will tell, along with some consistent conferencing!
Mindfulness thought for the week: Our choices are what lead us either toward or away from our goals.

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