Maddy's Science Methods I Blog

Dice Prediction What did I learn? This week we learned more about density of matter and how it affects the buoyancy of it. We started lab out by discussing our modifications for the 5th grade science lesson so that it met the objectives of the 2nd grade band as well as NGSS standards. After that we looked into whether we could predict if we though a big and small dice would sink or float. We calculated the density of the two dice and because they were smaller than 1 we could predict that they would sink. We also experimented something similarly with 2 checkers except Dr. Nordine's red checker floated while the black checker sunk. After doing our own experiments we came to the conclusion that we could get both of the checkers to sink of float, it just depended on the way you placed it in the water.  Checkers How can you apply what you learned to your future teaching? I think that this week is another great example of switching up traditional teaching and making it fun and engaging f...

Observations Table  What did you learn this week?  This week we explored how properties change when different objects are broken into pieces. We placed a bunch of different objects including an eraser, paper clips, crayons, and aluminum foil into water observing whether they sank or floated. We then placed them into over flow cups to measure the volumes of the objects and we measured the mass of the objects using a scale. We also tested whether or not the objects were magnetic and conducted electricity. It was cool to get to observe the differences in full objects and half objects but due to experience, a lot of the outcomes were predictable for us.  Are you able to relate what you learned to what you already knew?  Sink or Float Like stated above, when we were actually collecting our observations, we were able to predict if the outcomes actually happened. Due to experiences that we've had with the materials we were able to predict which would conduct electricity as ...

M&M's in Water  Are you able to relate what you learned to what you already knew?   During the stations, we were using terms to describe what we were observing. Some of the observations were things that we already knew, or things that we predicted and expected to occur from these experiments. Some of the experiments felt very familiar to me and like i've done them before, but it was definitely fun to get to participate in them again.  What did you learn this week?   This week in lab we went around to different stations observing different things that we noticed happening, how we could explain these happening to students, and came up with questions that students might have come up. It was cool to observe and take note of all the things we we observed from the different stations, connecting what we predicted and expected to happen to what actually did, and tired to make sense of it all just as our students would.  Cold Soda Station How can you apply what you l...