Hello everyone,
Over the past two weeks, we have finished up our Nature of Science & Measurement Unit. Last week, we conducted a Bubble Inquiry. Students could test many different variables to see what would make the largest bubble with a mixture of dish soap and water. Some solutions also contained glycerin. Many tested the same brand of dish soap but different colors, different brands of the same colors, glycerin or not, temperature, or whether a wet surface is better than a dry surface. One of the largest recorded bubbles was 38.1 cm in diameter, but the largest photographed bubble was 30 cm in diameter. During this inquiry, students practiced their Metric Measurement skills and the Science and Engineering Process.
Yesterday, students reflected on these experiments, and we did a classroom discussion using a QBall, a microphone inside a soft foam ball that can be tossed around the room and allows everyone to hear each other clearly! It's a fun way to do discussions and engage more students.
Today, we started our Motion & Energy Unit. We started the unit by doing some Notice & Wonder activities involving the motion of the planets in the Solar System. By the end of our unit, the questions that were posed by students in the "Wonder" column will be answered for the most part. Some questions will be answered in the following unit when we move into Astronomy.
Over the next few weeks, we'll explore speed, velocity, acceleration, types of energy, gravity, and forces. This unit serves as a precursor to the Astronomy Unit. Today, I made students aware that moving forward, the content will become more challenging and require more focus in class. Based on the feedback I received from students, we will still use digital notebooks but guided notes instead of the strategic notes we did in the first unit. In my last blog post, I mentioned the strategic notes, but to ensure students feel comfortable with the new content, guided notes will be better suited moving forward. Students will still have the option to take strategic notes if they decide to do so.
Tomorrow, we will be doing a Motion Lab with RC cars. Next week, we'll continue in our Motion & Energy Unit with a quiz, most likely on Speed, Velocity, and acceleration by the end of the week.
As always, if there are any questions, feel free to reach out to curtis_silverwood@conestogavalley.org
Thank you,
Mr. Silverwood
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