What a Week!
It's been a whirlwind of a week, and I'd be lying if I didn't say I am beat (though much of it may be due to the cold I was fighting). But it's also been a fun week! The 7th graders have been giving presentations on their Science in the News articles (which I believe I wrote about last week) and they have been doing a pretty good job! In addition to the presentations, we are also wrapping up our earth science unit on severe weather, climate change, and human impacts on the earth. We are looking into air pollution, and this week the students made pollution detectors. It is a 3x5 index card with a hole cut into it and packing tape covering the hole. Then we hung the detectors around the inside of the school for a couple of days to see what sort of particles we could catch. In the meantime, the students also had a visit from the school district's facilities manager, Kevin Dulmes. Mr. Dulmes told the students about some of the ways that the school district tries to manage pollution (not just air, but also water, light, and noise). Afterward, he took the students up to one of the maintenance rooms, which is a rare place for students, and showed them the air filtration system. Hopefully they were paying attention because we are going to be doing a design challenge next week designing air filters! Today we took down our pollution detectors and examined them under the microscopes--the students found some very interesting particles under the microscopes. I wish I had taken pictures of some of their reactions!
The 8th-grade students have also been continuing on with their Science Genius Time presentations that started last week. There have been some great presentations! A few that come to mind are one student who wanted to make professional football games more accurate by putting sensors into the football that would send out a signal when crossing the plane of the goal line. He even made a model of a football field with a working electric circuit that lit two lights (the pylons) when he completed the circuit with a mini football that had a metal washer on the bottom. Another student researched the microchips that are put into pets and developed an app for the purpose of being able to identify lost pets (similar to the devices that veterinarians use). While the app did not work due to the necessary connection between the microchip and the device, the amount of research that went into what technology would be required for the connection to work with the phone was impressive. In addition to presentations, the students have also been exploring the connection between the Earth and the sun, explaining why we have the seasons and the different aspects of the Earth's orbit. The students needed to meet the standard of developing and using a model to describe the patterns of the Earth's seasons. This was a performance standard, so the students need to perform the use of their model for the class with either a live performance or recorded video. One group of girls got very creative with their video and made a video inspired by the Magic School Bus series. The video was VERY creative and was packed with all the information needed. UNFORTUNATELY, the girls got a little over-excited and missed the aspect of creating and using a model to go along with all the information they had. So not to completely burst their bubble, as the video was very creative, I'm going to give them the opportunity to use a simple model and show me that they can apply all that knowledge from the video with the model. But I'm going to totally hold onto the video for a teaching tool in the future!
Mindfulness thought for the week: We have more possibilities available in each moment than we realize. --Thich Nhat Hanh
The 8th-grade students have also been continuing on with their Science Genius Time presentations that started last week. There have been some great presentations! A few that come to mind are one student who wanted to make professional football games more accurate by putting sensors into the football that would send out a signal when crossing the plane of the goal line. He even made a model of a football field with a working electric circuit that lit two lights (the pylons) when he completed the circuit with a mini football that had a metal washer on the bottom. Another student researched the microchips that are put into pets and developed an app for the purpose of being able to identify lost pets (similar to the devices that veterinarians use). While the app did not work due to the necessary connection between the microchip and the device, the amount of research that went into what technology would be required for the connection to work with the phone was impressive. In addition to presentations, the students have also been exploring the connection between the Earth and the sun, explaining why we have the seasons and the different aspects of the Earth's orbit. The students needed to meet the standard of developing and using a model to describe the patterns of the Earth's seasons. This was a performance standard, so the students need to perform the use of their model for the class with either a live performance or recorded video. One group of girls got very creative with their video and made a video inspired by the Magic School Bus series. The video was VERY creative and was packed with all the information needed. UNFORTUNATELY, the girls got a little over-excited and missed the aspect of creating and using a model to go along with all the information they had. So not to completely burst their bubble, as the video was very creative, I'm going to give them the opportunity to use a simple model and show me that they can apply all that knowledge from the video with the model. But I'm going to totally hold onto the video for a teaching tool in the future!
Mindfulness thought for the week: We have more possibilities available in each moment than we realize. --Thich Nhat Hanh
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