Science Methods II

 Feb. 28th  We started off today's class by looking at each other's blogs for questions and comments. We reflected on the strand map and the private universe topics that we saw last week.  Notes from this discussion: - It is our job as future teachers to break down the misconceptions and replace them with fact. It is not super easy so don't have a mindset that you can do this for every class -The map has helped and inspired for the making of the NGSS -The map has a clear picture of what you are gonna learn in the future and what you are about to learn and what you learned prior - Improve my knowledge so that I don't fail my students Lab Activity: In today's class we must physically build a scale between the sun and the 4 inner planets. We must also include the moon too.  Size of plants and distance from the sun: After this activity we watched a video about the sizes of planets and starts and it was hurtful to watch.  The earth is tiny compared to the sun and the...

What are your best understandings about? 1. how the phases of the moon occur? How close the moon is in correlation to the earth. reflection of the suns light  2. What causes the seasons The rotation of the earth. Tilt of the earth 3. what causes a lunar eclipse? When the sun and the moon overlap. Shadow of the earth  Activities in class: We modeled with a globe and a ball and a lamp trying to explain the answers from above Notes from class: The sun is the center and we go around  Helio=Sun closest to the sun- January  Farthest from the earth- June Pluto is not on the same eliptic plane  equinox sun is directly above the equator The moon rotation is in sync of the rotation of earth Blue moon- 2 full moons in 1 month

February 14th Designing a playground ground! Modeling a child's fall Challenge: prevent an egg from breaking when dropped from a height of 1-meter How we designed the bowl: In order Sand, then rubber, then hay We did a test run with a playdoh container and found that our bowl seems to be too hard. We removed some rubber and added more hay and we were satisfied with that. First Trial w/ egg: We dropped the egg from 1 meter into the bowl and.. the egg survived!!! New trial with 2 meters How we redesigned our bowl: Thin layer of sand, Thin layer of rubber, and a lot of hay  First trial: we dropped the egg from 2 meters and.... THE EGG SURVIVED! (we are the only group that succeeded no biggie) *First Video is 1 meter drop, 2nd video is 2 meter drop* Notes from this lesson: If the block pushes down on the water, the water pushes up on the block The block and water activity: end result the weight stays the same.

February 8th What is friction?  Friction is a force that opposes sliding across a surface  What affects how long it takes for a swing to go back and forth? Our question: Do different types of swing materials affect how long it takes a swing to go back and forth? Hypothesis: We do not thing the material will make a difference In the end of our experiment we did find that the materials really did not make that much of a difference of the affect of the swing. Textbook: Pendulums have potential energy and kinetic energy. Potential energy is shown at the starting point of the swing. As it swings down the energy is converted into kinetic energy. When it swings back upward it is converted back into potential energy