Haiku Centralized Class Manager

Haiku is now in operation with a handful of MS and US teachers. We are conducting a pilot to see how it works for teachers and students. I will be using it with all my 4th year science classes. It should provide one-stop-shopping for homework and resources. It has a blog capability of sorts, but a little different. We will see. Right now students can log in using their CFS gmail address and password.
cfsnc.haikulearning.com

New Hope Creek Field Trip

Block Schedule, went to Johnston Mill site on New Hope Creek. We evaluated the health of the stream by making an inventory of the critters that we found in the creek. We categorized them by the level of their tolerance for pollution and their needs for dissolved oxygen. The creek scored well and appears to be fairly healthy.

Bird Sleuth Wikipage

We started work on our Bird Sleuth projects today by entering information onto the CFS-Birds 2013 wikispace (http://cfsbirds-2013.wikispaces.com/HOME).  Each student has a page on the wiki where they will document the progress on their bird studies. Each student will ask a question about bird behavior and then set up an experiment, a descriptive study, or a data exploration to answer that question. These projects might include looking at which birds will be attracted to feeders that are placed in different locations around a yard, or seeing if the presence of a potential threat affects feeding patterns, or how environmental changes over time may be affecting bird migration patterns. The pages will be continually updated until they are finished in November when each student will give an oral presentation the class. This week we will be narrowing down the questions that we will be investigating.

Rotting Logs - Biodegradation

We went outside today to investigate rotting logs and to try to identify the different species involved in decomposition. We mapped out the members of the ecosystem of the rotting log. We identified different types of ants, spiders, millipedes, centipedes, sowbugs, slugs, snails, toads, salamanders, fungi, beetle larvae, and termites. We connected this back to our study of ecosystems and the important role decomposers have in returning nutrients to the soil.

Energy and Matter in Food Webs/Ecosystems

We have been looking at how energy flows through an ecosystem while matter is recycled. We have drawn and labeled models of different ecosystems and emphasized how energy is used up eventually, while matter is continually recycled.
Read pp 9-12 in Decay and Renewal, Due 9-17 Tuesday.

New School Year - Ecology

We are off to a good start this year. We will be studying Ecology during the first trimester. We have been outside getting to know our local ecosystem. We have begun constructing model food webs and have been developing our science vocabulary to help understand what keeps things going in the natural world.
We have had a small amount of homework, reading from "Decay and Renewal" the small textbook of sorts that we will be using as a reference this fall. We have been looking at photosynthesis and respiration, food webs and how energy flows through an ecosystem while matter cycles through.
We played a card game that simulates the structure of food webs and the interdependence of different types of organisms and their various roles, or niches, in a temperate forest ecosystem. After playing the game, students modified the game to make it more realistic and detailed.
The reading due on Thursday, September 5 was to read pages 3-5.
The reading due on Tuesday, September 10 is to read pages 6-9, stopping half way down page 9 where the new section "Classification of Living Things" begins.

Wheels and Axles

Work continues on the electric vehicles and charging stations. New homework today: Read Wheels and Gears and do the quiz on My Big Campus for this reading. Due  Thursday, April 18.
Please sign and return the permission forms by Thursday, April 18th as well.

Documenting our EV work

We have two more weeks to finish our Electric Vehicles and Charging stations. It is important that we continue to document the work on our website EV2013. The website has lots of good information and links to useful websites on the Resources page. In particular you should look at the Sun Angle calculators to figure out the height of the sun at noon in Raleigh on April 27th. This will help with figuring out the optimal angle of the PV panel.

Simple Machines

We went over some basics about simple machines today. We defined Potential and Kinetic Energy, looked at Inclined Planes (Ramps) and an introduction to Levers. Here are the Notes and a short explanation of Ramps. Homework is to read about Levers by Thursday, April 11 and answer some questions on the My Big Campus site.

Gears

Today we reviewed gears and gear ratios. Here is a helpful website:http://www.dynamicscience.com.au/tester/solutions/hydraulicus/gears.htm
We will be moving on from our prototype cars and begin working on our final versions.

Drivetrain

We have been working on our cars and most of the teams have been able to make their cars run at least down the hallway. We are gathering data and deciding what works and what does not. Students are now documenting their work on the class website EV2013: https://sites.google.com/a/cfsnc.org/ev2013/ Each team has their own page. They are organized by class period.
Homework due on Thursday, March 28th. Read about Drivetrains. This is from the STEP curriculum and can be accessed through the STEP page or on the resources page of the EV2013 website.

Car Building - Round 1

We used cannibalized parts from last years cars and attempted to make some quick and dirty prototype cars to get a sense of how they work. We were a little short on time and materials, but most everyone came close to getting something that will run. We should have all of them moving by tomorrow.

Sustainable Transportation Education Project (STEP)

We are starting a new project that will carry us through the spring trimester. We will be participating in a program from NCSU called STEP (Sustainable Transportation Education Project). We will work in teams of 3-4 to design, build, and test 1/10 scale electric cars with rechargable batteries and Solar charging stations. We will compete with other middle schools from around the state on April 27th. Part of the project involves building and testing virtual cars and charging stations on the website: www.whiteboxlearning.com. Each team has a student id to enter the site and build their car. The site has really good resources for learning about the science behind the designs.
There is also curriculum available at the STEP website: http://step.gridc.net/. It can be found under Member Resources, PEV Design Rally Curriculum. The RV information is for the high school program that uses Radio Controlled Vehicles.

Shifting to My Big Campus

It has been a month since the last posting on the blog. I have been moving over to the My Big Campus site to   keep things up to date. Since most of the 4th years are doing their Ultimate Writing Classes on My Big Campus, it seemed to make sense to get everyone working on the same format. All of the 4th years now have a username and password to access My Big Campus.

Chemical Bonding

Today was an introduction to the three main types of chemical bonds: Metallic, Ionic, and Covalent. We looked at 5 videos and interactive programs on the website Teacher's Domain to get an understanding of how these different types of bonds work.

You can see some of what we did at www.teachersdomain.org Search for ionic bonding, covalent bonding, and types of chemical bonding.

 Here is a link to the summary notes that we used: Chemical Bonding Notes.

Tomorrow is the last day to turn in Science Notebooks.

Science Poster Project Launch

Today I went over a Rubric for The Science Poster Project along with the due dates for the various parts of the project.
Here are those due dates: 

Question and Basic Outline of Project: Thursday, Feb 14

Materials, Procedure, Variables outlined: Tuesday, Feb 19

Data collected and Experiment completed: Wednesday, Feb 27

Poster Finished: Tuesday, March 5

Science Day: March 8

We revisited our Periodic Tables and learned more about how to use them in drawing atomic models. We used the clues from Mysteries of the Periodic Table Revealed to help us diagram different types of atoms. We practiced drawing atoms showing the numbers of protons, neutrons, and electrons and where they are located in the atom, including how many electrons are in each shell. Atomic Models.

Last Week of the Term

Last Friday we did our Dry Ice Investigations and gathered all of our data. Monday we rewrote our investigations in our science notebooks as final copies. These included stating our guiding question, our hypothesis, our methods and materials, listed our independent, dependent, and control variables, showed our data tables, and wrote a summary of what happened and what we learned from it, including what went well and what did not. Monday we also started thinking about the experiments that we will do for the Science Day Posters. 

Dry Ice Introduction

Today we compared water ice with dry ice. We focused on making careful observations. We then added energy in the form of hot water and made further observations. We will continue these investigations this week.

Heat Energy and Visiting Teacher

1st and 2nd periods went over the transfer of heat energy and how it relates to the kinetic energy of molecules. We discussed models for describing how temperature relates to the motion of molecules. Here is a link to the questionnaire that we used. Energy and Matter Questionnaire. Third period we had a visit from the Head Teacher Candidate, Kip Kuhn. He did an activity that looked at chemical versus physical change.

Phase Changes

Today we looked at phase changes and states of matter. We reviewed condensation, evaporation, sublimation, freezing and melting. We did a demonstration with a soda can, water, and a hot plate. As the water vapor condensed in the can it created a lower pressure inside the can and the atmospheric pressure crushed the can. Here are links to two videos demonstrating the same process.
Can crush video and train car implosion video.

Investigation Sharing

Today we shared the results of our investigations. Each student told us their guiding question, their procedure, and the results of their investigations. These are to be written up in their lab notebooks. Next week we will begin our dry ice explorations, they will develop new experiments, and share these as well. This will lead up to our individual experiments that will culminate with a poster for Science Day. These will be due on Monday, March 4th. Science Day will be on Friday, March 8th. New Homework assigned today. Read "Matter and Energy," Answer questions 2, 4, 6 on the last page. Due Tuesday, Feb 5th.

Gobstoppers Part Two

Today we ran our investigations of gobstoppers. People tried out different ideas for the investigations that they designed. They tried different liquids as solvents: vinegar, alcohol, baking soda solution, hand sanitizer, soda, seltzer, and juice. Some of them tried different temperatures of water and some tried using paper chromatography to separate the colors in the food dyes. They took notes, made observations, took pictures, drew pictures, and timed the changes that took place. Tomorrow they will present their results.

Dissolving Gobstoppers

We did a short investigation today with Gobstopper candies and water. We put the candies in water and observed how they dissolved over time. We measured the water temperature and timed how long it took the candies to dissolve. We made careful observations and then used our vocabulary words to explain the results. Dissolving, Solute, Solvent, Density, Miscible, and Immiscible. Homework was collected. Tomorrow we will work on developing new questions to be answered by an investigation.

Atomic Structure

MLKjr Day was Monday. Tuesday and Wednesday we finished up our periodic tables and families/groups of elements. We started digging into the subatomic particles and their properties. Protons, neutrons, and electrons. Here are some notes with definitions: Periodic Table Notes. We got a new reading, "Atomic Structure," we highlighted key terms, added some more information and got new homework. Read the packet, answer 3 questions:3, 4, 5 on page 76, Due Monday, January 28th.

Density

Tuesday and Wednesday were block schedule days. 1st and 3rd periods met on Tues and 2nd period met on Weds. We did a penny density lab investigation. Pennies made before 1982 were 95% copper and 5% zinc. After 1982 they began making them with 97.5% zinc and 2.5% copper as a way to save money. The newer pennies are less dense than the older pennies. We used the water displacement method to measure their volume and electronic balances to measure their mass. With this data we were able to calculate their densities. We compared our results and discussed precision versus accuracy and how many significant figures we would use. Thursday we started class with a short chemistry vocabulary review quiz, then started coloring in our periodic tables to show the different families of elements (Alkali metals, Alkaline Earth Metals, Halogens, etc.) Friday we had a shortened class schedule because of the snow and spent our time reviewing how to solve density problems. Density Practice.

Salt Volcanoes

At the end of last week we read over a chapter about Chemistry with lots of good vocabulary. They highlighted key terms and saved it in their notes. Here is a link to the reading: What is Matter?

We did a simple investigation with oil, water, food coloring and salt today. It got us to think about key terms like density, solubility, solutions, solvents, solutes, heterogeneous and homogeneous mixtures, adhesion, and immiscibility. The emphasis was on observations and explanations. New homework. Read handout on properties of matter and answer questions.

New Homework: Read Chapter, Properties of Matter pages 53-60, and answer questions 1,4,6 page 56 and questions 1,3,6 page 60. Due Friday, January 18th.
Short Quiz on Vocabulary on Thursday, January 17th.

Chemisty

Making the transition back from the winter break. Yesterday and today we started our Chemistry unit. Tuesday we set up an observation that involved measuring how many drops of water we can fit onto a penny. Students had to write up their procedure, create a data table, collect their data, and attempt to explain our results. We went over some vocabulary to help strengthen our explanations. We introduced the words adhesion and cohesion. Water Chemistry notes.
Wednesday we did some chemistry in a bag, mixing water and vinegar with baking soda and calcium chloride (ice melt). We added some Phenol Red and took careful observations. I provided a lab recording sheet for them to use in their notebooks. Mystery bags.