Bully Prevention Day

http://www.stompoutbullying.org/blueshirtday.php

Scientific Method Test

The scientific method test which was to be on Friday needed to be moved to Monday. My apologies for any inconveniences this may cause.

Science meets art.

A former student shared this on his facebook. I thought it was pretty cool!
https://picasaweb.google.com/102099273027921501065/ScientificArt2011?authkey=Gv1sRgCJut7aa9yYGp4AE&feat=directlink#5595519288695724386

The symbol μm used on these pictures is a micrometre, 1/1,000,000 of a meter. The more common term that is used is "micron". Just imagine how tiny that is. Just imagine if you could take a meter stick and break it into, literally, a million pieces that are all the same size. That's very, very small

Finishing first lab

Today we wrote our conclusion to our first lab as a class. Students may need to add a couple of last sentences about why their data may be inconsistent (if they had any spikes in their graphs). Also, a number of students still needed to finish their graphs. This was specifically mentioned to my 4th period class that it needed to be completed as homework if it was not done.

Next week we will be finishing up our basic science skills unit and will have a test at the end of the week. More on that next week. Until then, students should be reviewing with their notebooks and making sure that all essential questions are answered. An updated table of contents will be posted on my website soon.

Have a great weekend!

First Lab!!!

Recently, we did a short lab to determine if the distance a rubber band is stretched affects the distance it flys. Day one was setting up and performing the experiment. Day 2 is analyzing our results, including creating a line graph of our data. Day 3 is a short discussion about the results and writing our conclusions.

My classes are slightly off timing and not all are doing these steps on the same day. Here is a presentation we are going through to help us make our graphs. We are only using slides 1-15 of this presentation.

How to Create Bar and Line Graphs

View more presentations from Jeremy Mularella

Skills Scientists Use

Yesterday's field trip to the Agricultural Building at the Cabarrus County fair was great!

We have been working on measuring length using the metric system (meters) on Friday, Monday, and today. Today we specifically worked on converting measurements from one unit to another (for example: meters (m) to centimeters(cm) or kilograms(kg) to milligrams(mg). Students took notes on p. 11 of their notebook. They were also given a "Metric Conversion Worksheet". Students will have some time to work on this in class on Thursday and Friday, but numbers 1-30 need to be complete by Monday, so they may have to work on it some outside of class.

Tomorrow we will discuss two other skills a scientist uses--observation and making inferences.

Friday will be about types of variables in a science experiment. Check back for more information on that.

Guidance Day

Today the students met one of the guidance counselors, Mrs. Lane, in class. She gave them a basic introduction about what guidance counselors do and how to meet with one, should they need to

Tomorrow, we will resume science and will finish up our flip charts about measurement and units. Then, we will look at length measurements and use rulers to become familiar with how we read and write metric units.

Scientific Method

Yesterday and today we discussed the scientific method. We watched a short video of a young surfer who wanted to find out which type of beach had the best surfing waves. He then used the scientific process to determine which of two beaches is better for surfing.

We then discussed and took notes about the scientific method in a yellow foldable which we put on p. 5 in our notebooks. I also shared a mnemonic device to help them remember the 7 stages of the scientific method.

Peter = Identify a Problem

Rabbit = Research

Hates = Form a Hypothesis

Peas = Design and Perform an experiment

And = Analyze results

Carrots, = Draw a Conclusion

Carrie = Communicate results.

Here is a link to the video we watched. This may or may not work. I haven't tried this before, so let me know how it works.

http://player.discoveryeducation.com/index.cfm?blnPreviewOnly=1&guidAssetId=bdef8d10-922e-4d82-adf5-aedb952b16cb

Homework: Students should respond to the Essential Question on p. 4: "How do scientists learn about the world around them?" This written response should include a couple of sentences about how the scientific method works, how Carsten (the young surfer) used it, or how it can apply to something they might need to learn about. In addition, students should create their own mnemonic device to help them remember the steps of the scientific method on the bottom half of the page.