Thursday, October 22, 2009

6^th Grade

7^th Grade

8^th Grade

Daily Launch

Read over and highlight Lab Report Format 09-10  and Pointers for Writing a Good Conclusion handouts.

Open journal to your Water Bottle Rocket hypothesis.

Take out Puzzle of Earth’s Crust PACKET. On page 73, read/highlight A Revolutionary Idea. Then complete “Note Zone” (in the margin on page 72) and then carefully answer the questions on page 74.

Daily Mission

Introduce the purpose and the parts of a lab report (see handout). Explain the format and what is expected on the final submission. Students should plan to have necessary documents with them to begin working on lab report next Monday and Wednesday in the computer lab.

Evaluate data from our popcorn lab and talk about some of the inferences that can be drawn based on the popping time and # of duds.

1^st Period: Start on Journal Entry: Haphazard Hypotheses

2^nd Period: Students selected their jobs for our rocket lab and established where they would be positioned and with whom they would work. Students then went out to the field and used the trundle wheel to measure out their observation locations. At end of class, students watched video clip on the development of the V2 rocket.

3^rd Period: Journal Entry: Hit or Miss Hypotheses (7th). Discuss the issues with the three hypotheses presented for today’s journal prompt and have students re-write the original statement using the two methods we have learned in class.

Both Classes: Briefly review the evidence used to support Wegener’s theory: alignment of landforms and geologic structures, distribution of fossils, and evidence of climate change (using both fossil evidence and glacial striations).

4^th: Continued with notes on heat transfer with focus on radiation and the types and uses of electromagnetic waves.

5^th: Practice calculating temperature conversions. Differentiate between temperature and thermal energy by comparing the temperature and thermal energy of a beaker of boiling water to the Atlantic Ocean.

Handouts

Lab Report Format 09-10, Pointers for Writing a Good Conclusion, Journal Entry: Haphazard Hypotheses

Journal Entry: Hit or Miss Hypotheses (7th)

Puzzle of the Earth’s Crust PACKET (should be in your absent folder),

Homework

Do your best to write a conclusion for your Popcorn Lab. This will be a rough draft, but it should be a complete draft so that we can work on it and improve it.

No homework.

Complete page 75 in Puzzle of Earth’s Crust PACKET

Friday, October 23, 2009

6^th Grade

7^th Grade

8^th Grade

Daily Launch

Check all students folders (mailbox folders) for work. Pass back papers and calculate grades. Pass out science journals.

2^nd Period: Get supplies and prepare for today’s launch.

3^rd Period: Read/highlight Where does “Outer Space” Begin?

4^th Period: Read/highlight Theories and Laws Cornell HO from page 1 through ¾ way down page 2 (back of first page). Make margin notes and be prepared to answer this question: What is the difference between a hypothesis, a theory, and a law?

5^th Period: Create box notes page for today’s video, Earth, the Biography: Oceans.

Daily Mission

Students will analyze and edit their Popcorn Lab conclusions as we go through the requirements for a lab conclusion one by one.

Journal Entry: Calculating Percent Difference

Introduce mathematical concepts of percent change, percent difference, and absolute value. Students will learn how to calculate percent difference, which involves working out a multi-step formula that includes absolute value bars. Students will then determine the percent difference between the pop time for white corn versus the pop time for the original yellow corn.

2^nd Period:

Water Bottle Rocket Lab. Students will conduct 10 trials testing empty and completely full water bottle rockets while using the altitude trackers to determine maximum height at apogee.

4th Period: Discuss the differences between hypotheses, theories, and laws. Discuss the analogy used in Theories and Laws Cornell HO to differentiate between theories and laws.

Students will then continue with investigation of radiation (Heat Transfer Notes). Students will jigsaw while reading about the different types of electromagnetic radiation and their uses.  Prentice Hall Physical Science Textbook pages 538-546.

3^rd Period:

PEBBLE POWER REWARD DAY!

Special Topic: Students will watch video clips highlighting the Project Excelsior   and Colonel Joseph Kittinger’s still-standing world record free fall from 102,800 ft above the Earth’s surface. They will also view, read and discuss some of the features and facts about Earth’s atmosphere, atmospheres of other planets, and be introduced to the debate about where the atmosphere really ends and outer space begins.

5^th Period:

PEBBLE POWER REWARD DAY!

Students will watch Earth, the Biography: Oceans hosted by Ian Stewart. Students will take box notes on notebook paper. Topics covered in this fantastic documentary include theories on the origins of the oceans, how ocean waves are generated and grow into swells, why waves break at the shore, tidal bores and the moon’s influence on tides, plate tectonics and the opening and closing of ocean basins, how ocean evaporation generates evaporite minerals like salt and gypsum, the global ocean conveyor belt, ocean currents and their influence on regional climate.

Handouts

Lab Report Format 09-10, Pointers for Writing a Good Conclusion, Journal Entry: Calculating Percent Difference

Naked Earth: Atmosphere

Earth, the Biography: Atmosphere

Where Does the Atmosphere End and Space Begin? (packet), Where does “Outer Space” Begin?(article), Where Does Space Begin? (NASA Video Clip)

Theories and Laws Cornell HO

Earth, the Biography: Oceans

Homework

Put science journal in front pocket of binder. Bring binder, journal, and ALL Popcorn Lab stuff to Computer Lab 206 on Monday.

2^nd: Meet in classroom on Monday.

3^rd: Complete at least half of all questions on “Where does the Atmosphere End” WS.

All: Meet in Computer Lab 206 on Monday.

4^th: Read the rest of Theories and Laws HO.

5^th: EITHER write a summary of today’s video OR illustrate one of your favorite scenes or something you learned in today’s video.