The last couple weeks of school were a blur. We finished up the POGIL activities and the labs and all of the sudden it was the last week of school.
As you know, the last week of school is all about promotion in the 8th grade and preparing the kids for their departure. We had yearend field trips, graduation practice, parties and movies. I had my homeroom kiddos all day and all week. So, no science was done. I like where I ended the year with my science classes. They were looking ahead to what high school science would be like and still able to be a middle schooler while they got a taste of high school. As for me, I am off to a summer filled with college classes (I am working towards my PhD) and establishing my curriculum for next year. Read the rest of this entry »
I love chemistry! We have been looking at the atomic theory in greater detail to prepare my students for high school. They will be learning about it again in 9th and then again in 11th grade. My students have completed two inquiry labs where they used a flow chart that they created from experimenting with chemical reactions and indicators to identify an unknown substance and then to identify a unknown solution’s pH. I found the labs in a book called “Inquiry-Based Experiments in Chemistry”. The labs went really well. Read the rest of this entry »
Well, chemistry is done and our state testing has also been completed. The end of our chemistry unit focused on a recap of content and acid/base chemistry. I used an online lab called GEMS Alien Juice Bar activity. My students loved it and it helped them remember things like, acids neutralize bases and vice versa, as well as, what indicators are. Read the rest of this entry »
Every year I have trouble with this activity. I have tried three different versions of the same activity to allow students to use the same process Mendeleev used to organize the periodic table. It involves organizing 27 elements by using two of their properties. The most recent version gave them the option of four different properties to choose from….This year’s version was more successful than past years because it was more structured, but nearly half of the students struggled severely with the complex nature of this classifying activity. During a couple of classes, I broke out the document camera and started organizing the elements myself as an example using the projector. It helped move along the groups that were still struggling. There were groups that simply copied me, but they understood the concept more than when they were struggling. The biggest success from this activity was the fact that most of the groups (although frustrated) did not shut down. They continued to try. I am feeling that some of the kids are not developed enough in their abstract thought to classify using two properties. The trick will be how to differentiate this activity next year. As soon as I figure out the best way to do this activity, I will laminate the cards and use them every year. Read the rest of this entry »
In section two of our chemistry unit, we are studying chemical reactions. We started the unit with notes (yuck! I hate notes). Unfortunately it was a necessary evil. I needed to give basic information that is difficult to learn in a lab, like chemical equation anatomy and so forth. Read the rest of this entry »
Chemistry, chemistry, chemistry everywhere. We dove into chemistry a couple weeks ago. So far we have done three labs. To teach states of matter, I used a lab I found online at the INQUIRY IN MOTION Web site. It is a free Web site through Clemson University (you have to register, but the lesson plans are free).
The lab I used had my students use their own senses to come up with definitions for three of the states of matter. It worked out well and the kids seemed to enjoy it. Next we moved on to state changes. We used milk jugs and hot water to show molecular movement. I have been saving milk jugs all year for this lab and some of the students brought jugs in as well. It was a great way to show reuse of the milk jugs after their primary use. I was not as thrilled with this lab, since my students still have a hard time visualizing what was happening to the molecules of water. I ended up supplementing the lab with animations and drawings. Read the rest of this entry »
Winter break was nice, but I worked way too much. I had to go into my classroom every 3-4 days to feed all of the critters. We have finches, three 20-gallon tanks full of fish (tequila sunrise, mollies and goldfish), red wigglers, daphnia and planarian. I think that’s it, oh wait we also have isopods and mealworms. I also needed to come in to keep an eye on the hydroponics system to make sure it didn’t leak all over the place. I planted some household plants in the hydroponics system that were propagated. They are doing well, actually really well, and I finally have some lettuce flourishing in the hydroponics system. I was not letting the lettuce grow big enough before I transplanted them into the clay pebbles. I have been able to harvest some cilantro as well. As a class, we will try to transplant lettuce again in about a month. Hopefully we will be able to finish our genetically modified food experiments that we had started back in November. Read the rest of this entry »
Well, it’s just before winter break and we are only halfway through our physics unit. I had wanted to be finished with physics by now so that we could move on to chemistry in January, but no can do. The unit is easily taking twice as long as I expected, but it is ok since my students are learning a lot about physical laws. Most of the unit uses pipe insulation, marbles and measuring devices such as meter sticks and stopwatches. My students use these materials to develop experiments to answer questions about motion. The unit is taking longer because it only allows one day per question and my students have needed two days per question. Normally the first day is planning the experiment, while the second day is implementing the plan, gathering results and forming conclusions. I usually have my students post their conclusions online on our message board. After posting their results, they compare their results to other groups and respond to another group’s posting. Ultimately, each student forms an answer to the original question and writes it in their journal. In looking at my students’ quiz scores, it seems to be working. They average about 75% mastery, which for this population is a huge improvement from my first two years teaching this same subject. Read the rest of this entry »
Well, the lettuce sprouts have died, for the most part. I did not have enough fish in the tank to supply water and nutrients to the sprouts. So, I have added 5 more fish and plan to double their feeding schedule. I have a new round of sprouts that are nearly ready to plant. I am going to grow them a bit bigger this time before I transplant them into the hydroponics system. As soon as we get some plants that are growing well, we can begin collecting data for students’ experiments. Read the rest of this entry »
Problematic peanut plants, batman. We are having some issues with rodents consuming our plants. We had to pull most of the plants inside. There are a few plants that need to be outside because it is part of that group’s experimental design, but most are inside now. The plants that are outside are surrounded by chicken wire. I am hopeful that the little rodents cannot get to the plants. Because of this setback, we have to extend some of our experiments a few more weeks. Read the rest of this entry »
