Another Work Day 12/4

Well, I cannot believe this is my last blog post! This semester sure did fly by! Today Kristin was unable to be in class so we added ideas to our project through email. Having conflicting schedules with partners is definitely one problem I have encountered this semester. As nice as it is to work with a group member(s) sometimes it is so hard to get together or agree on ideas. I do think this is a good lesson to take with me in life though, especially as a future teacher as I will be collaborating with other educators and principals all the time. There was not much work to be done to our powerpoint just a few creative touches and finishing up the word scramble. I think our ideas are great and our powerpoint looks well! Hopefully our grade reflects our work! Being my last blog, I just wanted to say thanks Dr. E for a good class and you and your husband are in my thoughts!

Work Day 12/2

Today Kristin and I began working on our final "Bell Ringer" assignment. We decided to do our project on how materials interact with water. We chose to aim our project for children in the first grade. We both brought our computers and began to design a powerpoint. For the actual "Bell Ringer" we decided to do a word scramble using the words, solubable, non-soluble, sink, and float. We thought this would be a good way to capture the student's attention and help them to become interested in the topic. We had a very productive work day. We nearly finished our powerpoint. We are hoping to finish the project completely next class, which will be a great relief to have it finished with all the upcoming projects and tests we both have!

Class 11/25

Again, today we started the class by reviewing the expectations for our final "Bell Ringer" assignment. Now that we are a little more familiar with the project's expectations I started to get some ideas of what my partner and I might do. I think we have an idea for some sort of word scrambler. I guess we will have to see! After this, we began a lab called "The Tuning Fork." My group had a lot of fun with this lab! We experimented by tapping the tuning fork on a wooden block and then dipping the fork into the water. This showed the vibrations in the water which was an awesome visual! We continued experimenting by touching the tuning fork to our faces and feeling the vibrations. We also used a tube like object and took turns listening to the vibrations. Perhaps the most fun we had was touching the tuning fork to a ping pong ball or listening to the fork through water with a telescope. We were surprised to hear how loud the sound was even through water! I thought this lab was great because we were able to use nearly all of our senses to understand vibrations. This lab would be great for any age, but especially younger children to understand sound and vibrations.

Class 11/20

Today Dr. E went over the specifics of our final "Bell Ringer" project. At first I was confused about this assignment so I was happy when Dr. E clarified a few things for me. I am pretty excited about having a final project versus a final written test. I am much more of a hands-on person, so having a final project will definitely be to my advantage! Plus, I feel that doing a project demonstrates our overall knowledge of the class rather than memorizing specific answers for a written test. After discussing our "Bell Ringer" project we began to review our study guide. I was glad that we discussed some of the questions on the study guide because I was having difficulty grasping the concept of electricity. After we were finished discussing the reading guide we began a lab called "Electroscope." This lab consisted of using plastic tape to hang from straws and test the gain or loss of electrons. This was demonstrated by ripping the plastic tape from a surface. When the tape was suspended on the straws and balloon we could see which pieces of tape were positive or negatively charged. Due to the small amount of class time we were unable to complete this lab during this class period. From what we did complete I thought the lab was fun and the concept of positive and negatively charged ions was easy to understand.

Class 11/18

There was no class today, instead we were assigned an online simulation about electric currents. This simulation was titled "Balloons and Static Electricity." Part of this simulation allowed me to experiment with rubbing a balloon against a sweater. While rubbing the balloon on this sweater I discovered that all of the electrons, both positive and negative, attached to the balloon. After all of the negative ions were attached to the balloon I stuck the balloon on the wall. I discovered that the balloon stuck to the wall. All of the negative ions on the wall were pushed aside because of the negative ions on the balloon. I enjoyed this simulation because it gave me a good visual of how ions repel or attract. I can definitely see myself implementing simulations such as this into my lessons.

Class 11/13

Due to a holiday, Veteran's Day, we did not have class on Tuesday the 11th. In the beginning of class we were introduced to our final project. I was unable to be at this class because I had to take my PPST exam in Sioux Falls, but I did get notes from my group. The project was introduced as the "Bell Ringer" meaning, an attention grabber. It is, what I understood, a way that we will excite our students and make them interested in a topic. After we briefly talked about the final project, we continued the "Good Sock" lab. We continued from where we were last time with two glass bottles filled with hot water, one having a wool sock over it. The data we collected on our lab quest was similar to those around us. This let us know we were in the right direction. I am excited to learn more about our final project. I love the hands on projects we have in this class. I am definitely a more hands on person and would much rather do a presentation or project as my final rather than a final test or paper.

Class 11/6

In today's class we mainly just reviewed the study guides to prepare for our upcoming quiz. I felt it was very difficult to hear the answers people were giving in class because of their quiet voices. Because of this, I had a hard time answering some of my questions. I also felt that the discussion was a little rushed. I spent majority of my time trying to keep up or find my place or trying to hear other people's answers. After our discussion about the study guide we began an experiment called "A Good Sock." This experiment involved two glass bottles filled with hot water. We placed a wool sock over one of the bottles and used a thermometer attached to a data collector to find the temperature. We compared this temperature to that of the other bottle of water. We didn't have all the right material and were running out of time so Dr. E said we would continue this experiment in the next class.

Class 11/4

There were a few midterm projects to be presented yet today. The first group to present did a lesson plan with a mystery box talking about living and non-living things. I thought this presentation was a good idea. Another group that presented made an animal book about different animal characteristics such as, fur, feathers, and scales. I thought this lesson plan was very good for young children. After the presentations were finished Dr. E began a lecture about thermal energy. She discussed how some things heat or cool faster or slower than others. We also learned that water has a specific heat because of its density and the molecules are closer together. Dr. E followed this discussion by explaining how to calculate changes in thermal energy. Dr. E used many relateable examples in class and I thought it made the lesson and ideas much easier to understand. Such as, the example of Michigan being surrounded by lakes so it make the temperature harder to drop in that particular state. I felt like I really understood this idea and can relate it to every day scenerios.

Class 10/28: The Presentations Begin!

In class some groups began presenting their midterm projects. All the groups that presented demonstrated real teacher like qualities and creative lesson plan ideas. One group's presentation was unsuccessful. I thought this was a really good lesson to everybody in the class because, well, we are human and things WILL go wrong. As teachers especially we just have to learn from our mistakes and help our students learn from our mistakes. The group continuously tried to fix the problem and try their experiment again but never had successful results. I think it was really great that they didn't give up and kept trying. This sets a good example for students of any age. Seeing an experiment turn out differently than it was planned also put me at ease a little bit and made me a little less nervous to present my lesson plan. Even though things might go wrong, there's always a lesson learned!

Class 10/23

We started the class by revisiting the idea of velocity. Dr. E discussed airplane wings and the difference of velocity below and above the wings. She also introduced the idea that Density equals Mass over volume. If one is heavier the density increases. This was further explained while two balls were passed around the room, one was heavy and one was light. The ratio of mass to volume was the same in both balls. We also did a lab where we had to measure the pressure of a body on a piece of paper by tracing somebody in our group. We had to measure the length and width of the person's body. After this we completed the formula by dividing the inches of the body over the group member's body weight. We came up with the answer of 1.21. We shared our answers with the class and the group that had the lowest answer explained what they did to come up with that answer. The person they traced and measure only stood on one leg on the edge of their toes. This caused the most pressure because the less area used the more the pressure is elevated. After this, we discussed practical applications of the principle of density. Our group came up with the concept of water skiing because the pressure increases as the boat speeds up causing the skier to "float" on water. I thought the activities we did in class helped immensely understanding the concept of density and pressure.

Class 10/21: Buoyancy Effects

On October 21st in class we were introduced to the topic of buoyancy by a few online simulations. I enjoy the online simulations because it makes the concept much easier to visualize and ultimately, understand. The first simulation represented a beaker with water in it. A weight was dropped into the water. When the object was suspended in the water a portion of the weight was transferred from the upper balance to the lower balance. This is explained that when the object rests on the bottom of the beaker, its weight is completely supported by the lower balance. Dr. E explained that when the weight of the water spilt out of the beaker that is what equals the buoyant force. We then experimented with another simulation that involved boats in water. This was similar to the first in explaining the concept of buoyant force. This was called Archimede's Principle Gizmo. When the cubes were added to the water some of the water spilt over the side. The cubes sank after three cubes were added. We then changed the width and height of the tray and saw why boats were able to float. This Incorporated the idea that the width of the metal makes a difference because it incorporates air and can float easier. After this we did a hands-on activity called the leaping egg. In this lab we experimented with exerting force onto a ping pong ball. We had to blow air onto the ball, which was resting on a funnel inside a beaker. We had to try and blow the ball into a beaker across from it and measure how far we could project the ball until it would not land in the other beaker. The force was directly proportional to the distance the ping pong ball traveled. I thought this activity was fun and interesting. I enjoy how Dr. E gives us ideas for our own classroom and explains that substitutions can be made with the materials we use, and how the lesson can be adjusted so it is age/grade appropriate.

Midterm Project Work Day

On Thursday the 16th we were allowed a work day to meet with our partners and go over our midterm projects. Starting out, my partner and I had no idea where we heading with our project or where to even start. Dr. E came around and helped me to get started and not feel so overwhelmed. She told me to start with the standards and find which grade level we would like to do and go from there, so that is what we did. We decided to do a sixth grade lesson plan on making a race car with a balloon. The lesson plan focuses on force, which we thought was appropriate since we were just learning about this in our own class. I think this midterm project will kind of be a challenge because my partner and I are having a hard time matching schedules and finding outside class time to meet. I'm sure in the end we will pull it together and collaborate to plan and present a good lesson!

Class October 14, 2008

In class it was announced that Thursday we will have a work day to meet with our partners and get a better grasp on our midterm project. I think it's awesome when teacher's allow in class time because with busy class/work schedules it's hard to accomodate time to meet outside of class. We then continued to discuss the reading guide for module 2. I find it helpful when Dr. E explains the concepts a little more to make sure we understand each question. She also allows time for questions. She also emphasizes questions we should know and understand for the quiz. This helps when coming time to take the quiz because we know where to find the answers. The study guide helped keep me on track with the quiz along with the book. Overall, I think the reading guides are helpful in following along with the chapters and highlighting what is important.

Simulation on Kepler's Laws

On October 9th we did not have face-to-face class but we had another online simulation. The simulation was about Kepler's laws about the motions of the planets in the solar system. Personally, I found this simulation a little hard to follow along with. I somewhat understood that it was demonstrating the orbit of the planets and sun, but I had to read in the book and online a little more to understand how Kepler's laws related to this simulation. I suppose not everything will be in black and white and it is good to have the background resources such as the internet and our book, but I feel, as a student, that the simulation was a bit confusing. The concept of Kepler's Laws are still a bit unclear to me as well.

Review for Module 2 and Midterm Project

Today in class we started out by going over some problems that people were having with the make up web seminar. After this we signed up for our groups for our midterm projects. Dr. Ezrailson explained the midterm project in a little more detail. I think the midterm project of teaching a lesson about science and safety will be fun. As we are all going to be teachers, it is important that we know how to teach effective lessons plans and include safety precautions. It is also important to incorporate team work because as future teachers we will often have to collaborate with other teachers and principals. After discussing our midterm project we reviewed our reading guide module 2 assignment. Although we discussed many different questions, I noticed the trend of our topic leading back to energy. Dr. Ezrailson, along with the whole class, discussed how everything in science is relevant to energy and how it is essentially the central of science. I found it interesting that such a complex subject could be narrowed down to one idea. Newton and Einstein were definitely ingenious!

Paper Airplanes and Cannons

In class on October 2nd we learned a few new things. We began class by going over some things on D2L since many of us are still new to the program. Dr. E discussed how we can check our grades. She also reminded us where to find our discussion questions and the due dates for past and future assignments. I found this helpful being reminded about how to find these things and when things are due. After we finished the D2L discussion, we proceeded to discuss Newton and Kepler's laws. This was relevant to our paper airplane discussion as it had to do with gravity and motion. Dr. E presented a projectile motion simulation to better explain the theories and help us to see examples of this. On the computer she presented a cannon that displayed horizontal and vertical motions. She experimented by changing the cannons mass and angle. We predicted what angle it should be at to land the furthest. Someone guessed a 45 degree angle which ended up being the exact angle. Gravity proved to have a great impact on how and where the cannon landed. After we discussed the laws and experimented with the projectile motion simulation we made airplanes by following the instructions we picked up along with supplies. When our airplanes were complete one person in the group timed and the other recorded while we flew the planes to see who had the longest hang time. An observation my group made was that the lightest plane, or the one with the least mass, was the plane that stayed in the air the longest. We all folded our planes the same so I am not sure how they had different amounts of mass but we all had drastically different hang times with our airplanes. I think this experiment would have been a better learning experiment had we followed up and explained what we were doing and our results.

Roshashana Online Assignment

On Tuesday, September 30th we did not have face-to-face class again but we were assigned an online simulation assignment. The assignment required us to experiment with hanging different weights on three different sized springs. As I hung different sized weights on the springs I noticed different reactions to how fast the springs bounced back. Another aspect of the simulation was being able to change the planet that the experiment was taking place. This showed the different reaction times if the weights and springs were on a certain planet. When I placed a weight on the spring on the moon the reaction time was very slow because there is no gravity as compared to the planet Earth.This experiment also allowed us to try the springs reactions to different times. When I tried moving the spring to 1/4 time the springs reaction time was much slower. There was also a graph that depicted the energy taking place. When the weight was added to the spring, the graph moves up and down with the spring to show the kinetic and potential energy. The potential energy is the highest when the weight is on the spring but it has not been dropped, and the kinetic energy is the highest in the middle of the fall. This was a good assignment to introduce learning about energy and force. Having not known much about either of these aspects of science I felt this assignment really helped to discover the meanings on my own and really understand. I think this simulation allowed, to a point, creativity and discovery.

NSTA Web Seminar

On the 25th of September we did not have face-to-face class but we were required instead to attend a web seminar about astronomy. I was sceptical about this web seminar when I first heard about it for a couple reasons. First of all, I had never attended a web seminar so I didn't know what to expect and thought it might be confusing. Secondly, I was not very knowledgeable of the subject astronomy so I didn't think it would be of interest to me. Putting my scepticism aside, I attended the web seminar and actually found it to be interesting. I learned a few things about the elements of stars and how starts explode. I think having this web seminar was a very good way to tie technology into learning. There are so many technological tools available that can enhance a student's learning experience, eluminate being one of them. I thought the instructors for the seminar were very helpful at answering questions and involving the students in discussions. I also thought it was neat to see how where everybody was from and hear advice from different teachers. The only problem I encountered was that the program "froze" on my computer towards the end of the seminar. Technology is wonderful when it works but definitely frustrating when it does not! Overall, I was impressed with the seminar and think this approach to teaching is interesting and helpful. I ended up with a much better outlook on astronomy and web seminars than I had going in.

Graphing Your Motion

While doing the lab "Graphing Your Motion" about velocity and acceleration, we ran into a few difficulties. The lab quests that we were using had not been properly charged so we were unable to get the correct readings. The technical difficulties we encountered on our first attempt with this lab were important to realize that a backup plan should always be made. Often people encounter problems with technology so I thought it was a very important lesson as a future teacher. After our setback the first day we felt a little discouraged attempting the lab a second time, but everything turned out smoothly. Our lab quest was properly charged for our second attempt which made the lab a lot easier to understand and follow. During the lab we had to set up a motion sensor which was connected to the lab quest we were using. One of our group members walked slowly away from the motion sensor along the tape we set on the floor one meter apart for four meters. One of the other members dealt with the lab quest and saved the graphs while one was reading the directions aloud and the other was recording the information. It was interesting to see how the change in rate, speed, and velocity changed the look of the graph. When our group member walked slowly backwards away from the sensor, the graph had many evenly spaced up and down moving lines. As we experimented with a faster pace walk the further apart the lines were on the graph. After this we tried to see if one of the group members could match the graph by walking the same speed as before. We found this difficult to get the speed and motion exactly the same as before. I found this lab to be interesting once we finally got past the technological difficulties. I think doing this future in the experiment as a teacher, I would provide more time to experiment with the technology and get used to using it before I assigned questions.

The Science of a Kiss: Measurement, Mass, and Energy

The second lab we did in class was called, “The Science of a Kiss: Measurement, Mass and Energy.” The materials used for this lab were Hershey’s Kisses, a meter stick, scale, and a calculator. The class had to estimate how many Hershey’s Kisses were in a long jar and how many were in a smaller, but rounder jar. Our group guessed that the jars both held the same amount of Hershey Kisses. Then we used a meter stick to measure the mass of one Hershey’s Kiss. We had to drop the Hershey’s Kiss from a height of 0.1 meter, 0.5 meter, and 1 meter. After this we used the measurements and velocity to find the kinetic energy and potential energy. When we were done calculating these formulas it was announced that the small round jar actually contained more Hershey Kisses. I thought that this activity was a little bit confusing. I had trouble really understanding what the measurements meant and why I was using them for this activity. The directions were a little bit vague. Had I understood more and had better direction I think this would be a good activity for students to understand mass and measurement.

Snowflakes

The "snowflakes" lab was the first lab we performed in class. I thought it was a great way to warm up to the class and introduce the fun activities that can be tied into science. To start this lab we needed someone in the group to gather the materials which included, colored paper, scissors, a ruler, and instructions. The instructions directed us step by step to fold the paper into certain squares. After this we could cut in different shapes and sizes to make our own unique designs. This allowed us to be creative and unique, which I find is very important especially with young children. When we were finished cutting we opened up our cut paper to find a very neat snowflake. Mine ended up having a star in the middle with cool shapes of triangles and circles around it. This activity was a fun change from lectures and notes. This would be a great activity to teach future students about patterns and would be fun to look at actual patterns in nature.

The "Moving Man" Critical Reflection

The “Moving Man”

While playing with the “moving man” there were a few observations I noticed about the correlation between velocity, acceleration, and position. The Velocity increased on the chart as I moved the man closer to his home. This associated with the speed and how fast the man was going per second. If I moved him faster the line would increase. Depending on how quickly I moved the man would depend on how high the line was on the chart. As I proceeded, I moved the man in a backwards motion which caused the graph line to drop quickly. If the man was not moving at all, the line would become straight. The acceleration had a very similar pattern to the velocity. The only difference was that the lines in the acceleration graph would move more easily with motion of the man. For instance, if I barely moved the man a half of a meter the acceleration would exaggerate the movement a little more than the velocity graph. The position graph moved in the same direction as the velocity and acceleration graphs, but in a much less drastic and more gradual way. The man’s final destination was his house which was indicated at the top of the chart in the position graph. When I moved the man to his house the line on the position graph reached the top. After I was finished moving the man I could play back how I moved the man and it was interesting to see how fast and slowly he was moving and how the graph's depicted his movement.

I think this was an interesting educational activity. This is definitely a good way to introduce a topic or subject and to get the student’s minds curious about science. It is a good activity to create questions and allow a student to possibly come up with their own formula or way of determining velocity.