Mr. C's Science Classes Blog

Half-day today! 8th graders got to “play” with dry ice, and Freshmen saw a video that demonstrates energy transfer in a unique and entertaining way.

This week 8th graders heated ice until boiling and graphed the temperature changes. The let them see how temperature plateaus at 0 and 100 degrees, which are the points where the ice becomes liquid and the liquid becomes gas.

Freshmen worked on the Roller Coaster Simulation Lab. If they haven’t finished, they will have to on their own free time. The report is due next Tuesday.

Have a great break! Happy Thanksgiving!

RC Simulator lab 09

In 8th grade we did a recap of chemical vs. physical changes and the definitions of atom, element, compound, and molecule.

Freshmen started their pre-lab for tomorrow’s roller coaster simulation lab. This one is more fun than the force simulation, and I’ll have to be sure to keep them on task due to the temptation to play with the simulator!

For those who didn’t finish the prelab, here’s the file:

RC Simulator Pre-lab

8th grade finished their reading assignment today. Tomorrow we will get some practice applying what we know about phase changes in a worksheet/assessment. We’ll soon learn about heating curves with water. More on that later.

Freshmen finished (or came close) their concept map/poetry posters. Once most student got past the starting block with the concept map, they did very nice work. It’s nice to see the students’ creativity on display with the poetry as well. This is DUE FRIDAY, 11/20!

Here is the Freshman assignment:

Energy Concept-Poem

I had to get away early for dentist visits the past two days, so I’m writing the blog entries today.

8th grade is beginning phases of matter. We introduced the topic Monday, and Tuesday they were given a short reading assignment and did Cornell Notes as they read. Over the upcoming days, we will see what happens to water, and next Monday and Tuesday we will do Inquiry 7.1, which is the cooling curve for stearic acid. This lab will require a formal lab report, so it’s a big one. I’ll post more on this later.

Freshmen continue to study potential vs. kinetic energy. We’ll be doing a roller coaster simulation lab Friday and Monday. In the meantime, they are working on a more creative assignment: A poster with an energy concept map on one side, and poetry on the other. The concept map is a way to help students see the relationships between concepts, but in their own way. The poetry gets students to think in “big picture” terms, and lets creative students who may be less analytical see science in a different way.

I will post the files in the next post.

Today in 8th grade we talked about physical and chemical changes as a followup to last week’s lab (6.1) in which students heated various substances and observed the changes.

Freshmen started a new unit – Energy – today. So they took some notes about Work, Power, and kinetic and potential energy. They also had a SQuARES reading assignmentm which is due Thursday. They don’t need to do this at home tonight – in fact I prefer they work on this one in class so I can help. Whatever they don’t finish Tuesday will be homework for Thursday.

SQuARES Assignment:

SQuARES Chapter 6 Sections 6.1 to 6.5 (p. 84-88)
At end of chapter do:
Review Questions:2-10
Exercise 4

ATOM (optional alternate assignment):
Same reading, different questions:
Review Questions 2, 3, 4, 6, 8
Exercises 1, 2, 4, 5, 8

Here is the promised key for the Freshman Science mechanics test review. Enjoy:

Mechanics District Assessment Review Sheet KEY

I’ve been told the previous link is broken, so here’s a good one:

Newton’s 2nd Law Exercises

Since Monday, 8th grade has gone over and graded their written quizzes from last week, and taken a pre-assessment about heat and matter and phases of matter. Today we introduced a lab, 6.1, in which students will heat various substances in test tubes to observe the results. We want them to see what kinds of changes matter can undergo when heated.

Freshmen are reviewing for Friday’s test, which is a district-wide assessment. Today they got a review worksheet and we will go over it tomorrow in class. I will post the key here after school tomorrow. I’m not copying a key, so I can save some paper. In my experience, most students just throw the key into the recycling after a glance.

Files: Mechanics District Assessment Review Sheet

Today was kind of an odd day, because we didn’t have opening questions. That’s because 8th graders had a journal quiz for which we needed the whole period. Freshmen continued the forces simulation lab and we needed to get to the computer lab ASAP. Tomorrow 8th grade will do the lab practical portion of the density quiz, in which they will, on their own, measure the density of an irregularly-shaped object. Freshmen will wrap up the forces simulation, and begin doing diagnostic assessments online. These will help me design instruction for the last part of the mechanics unit.