"Bell Ringer"

Today in class I worked with my group on deciding what bell ringer to do. After doing much research, my group found that it would be a great idea to do a bell ringer about gravity. To catch the students attention we would start off by showing them a very interesting you tube video we found that talked about a bubble and zero gravity. After the students were amazed by the you tube, we would then show them another you tube video that we think the students would really enjoy. This you tube that we showed would show the students what a classroom would be like if there were zero gravity classrooms. It is my opinion that this you tube will really catch the students attention. At one point in the you tube, some teachers are throwing another teacher back and forth to each other, it is very cool. After our students are done watching those two you tube videos, we will then have a crossword puzzle for them to work on that consists of terms that go hand in hand with gravity. We are not going to give the students any terms for answers, the students will have to try and find the answers by themselves or with the help from their science books. We thought that by not providing an answer box, the students will then have to work harder and will probably remember the material a lot better this way, rather than telling them the answer. Our bell ringer is going to be for freshman in high school because we know that freshman would probably understand gravity better that any younger grades.

"The Tuning Fork"

I thouroughly enjoyed today's class period. We first went through the reading guide and then went on to participate in a fun filled experiment. This experiment was called "The Tuning Fork" and was by far the most fun experiment that we have done all year. Our group first struck the tuning fork against the wooden block and then dipped the ends of the tuning fork into a little glass of water. It was very cool becuase as soon as the tuning fork hit the water, it created ripples in the water. We then struck the tuning fork again and then touched the ends of the tuning fork to a piece of paper and hurd a sizzle. Then we struck the tuning fork against the wooden block and placed the ends of the tuning fork against our cheecks. This was a very interesting feeling becuase it sort of tickled your cheeks in a way. We then moved onto a different exercise with the tuning fork that involved one's ears. We struck the tuning fork and then placed it up to one another's ear and heard a lot of vibrations. Then we struck the tuning fork and held it into a long tube which created an obnoxiously loud sound. It was so loud that it hurt my ears in a way and also my partners ears. The next exercise dealt with the tuning fork and water. Before presenting the tuning fork into the exercise, we did a few things with out fingers and a stethoscope. Then we moved onto the interesting part where we taped our fingers underwater and then listened with the stethoscope in the water. The sound that it produced were somewhat similar to chants that Indians would do during a ceremony or special events. The sound was also somewhat comparable to someone tapping the drums. The next exercise we did dealt with glass bottles and a mallet. The materials person in our group filled three glass bottles with water, all of different amounts. At first all of the group members closed their eyes while one person struck a bottle with the mallet and we had to tell that person if the pitch was high or low. The person then struck a different bottle and then asked us what bottle we thought had a higher pitch. We then opened our eyes and then hit the bottles with the mallet again to see for ourselves which bottle had the higher pitch. It was interesting to see that the bottle that had the most water, had the lowest pitch and the bottle with the least amount of water had the highest pitch. I really enjoyed this exercise just as I enjoyed the others. As already mentioned, this was by far my favorite lab and I know that my students would enjoy it as much as I did!

"Electroscope"

Thursday's class was eventful in a way. We first got to class and went over the reading guides for a little bit and then moved onto the experiment. The reason that I said the class was eventful was because Dr. E did numerous demonstrations with a balloon to try and help her students understand the material a little bit better. I really enjoy when Dr. E does examples in class because it helps her students to comprehend the material more thoroughly. After going through the reading guides, Dr. E allowed for us to do an interesting experiment. The materials for the experiment were: 4 plastic drinking straws, 2 plastic 35 mm film cans, modeling clay, tape, a balloon, and a wool sheet of material. This lab dealt with forces attracting each other and repelling each other. To start off the lab, we first had one person stick the modeling clay in the cans while another person read the lab out-loud. We first ripped off two pieces of tape, each about 4 cm long and then placed them on the table. We then ripped the tape off the table really hard and then placed one piece of tape on two of the straws (their were two straws in each canister but we made sure the tape was in the two different canisters, not both). We then moved the cans so that the tapes faced each other and then slowly moved the cans closer and closer together to see the two tapes repel each other. We then grabbed two more pieces of tape and pressed the sticky side of one against the smooth side of the other, leaving one end of each tape sticking out as a handle. Then we quickly ripped the tapes apart and stuck them on the remaining two straws. We then moved the canisters apart and then brought them together again slowly, to only notice that the two tapes attracted each other. We then rubbed the balloon against the wool material to build static and then brought it up to the different pieces of tape and saw how it attracted to some and repelled against others. I really enjoyed this experiment, it surprised me to see some of the outcomes that we got.

Website

On Tuesday, we did not have class so instead Dr. E allowed for us to look at a couple different websites that she thought we would enjoy. Both of the websites that I looked at were very interesting but I liked the Electricity and Magnets Simulations website better than the Electric Circuit Construction Kit. I thought the Electricity and Magnets website was so interesting because there were a lot of creative games that an individual could play that allowed them to learn while playing. I think my favorite game was the hockey one, it was so intriguing. I actually found it very difficult for me to stop playing it because it was so much fun. I think this was really good for us to go on these websites because it allowed for us to experience a different way of learning. I think that other students would really enjoy this too because it is more interactive rather than sitting in class and listening to a lecture. This is a great way to learn and it is my belief that more teachers should try techniques like this in their classroom. If more teachers displayed websites for their students to use then I think more students would see learning as fun rather than something they are forced to do!

Cotten and Wool Socks

Today's class period was focused on the "A Good Sock" experiment. Last Tuesday when some of the groups tried to perform their experiment, they could not get it to work so we spent the whole class period on the experiments today. Our groups experiment once again would not work so we had to work with another group. We assigned roles for each of the individuals in the group and made sure everyone did his or her share. I really enjoyed this experiment because the results were not what I expected them to be. In the experiment, we took four plastic bottles and filled them up hot water. We left one plastic bottle uncovered, one plastic bottle covered in a wool sock, one bottle covered in a cotton sock, and the last bottle covered in a wet cotton sock. After we put the socks on the bottles, we took the temperature of the water bottles and left the probes in the bottles for twenty minutes and then checked the temperature again to see if there was a change. It was interesting to find out that each plastic bottles' temperature decreased besides the bottle that had a wet cotton sock covering it. I was astonished by this because I hypothesized that wool sock would have a temperature increase and not a wet cotton sock. I believe that this experiment was very interesting and I think numerous kids would be stunned by the results that they find!

"A Good Sock"

Thursday's class period was spent discussing the reading guide. Dr. E announced in class on Tuesday that we would be taking a quiz on Thursday so Dr. E wanted to go over the reading guide in order to help us with the quiz. We spent the first half of the class period discussing the reading guide and then the other half of the class period experimenting. I am not sure how the other groups did with their experiment, but my groups experiment did not work. Our groups logger pro first died on us, so we lost our data and had to go get a new one, and then one of our probes would not work and by the time we went to find a new probe, class was over. Dr. E said that on Thursday, our next class period, that she would make sure that each groups experiment worked so we could see the results we should be getting. Even though it was frustrating for our group because nothing was working, it was also a nice reminder that you need to be patient as a teacher because every experiment is not going to work like planned!

Heat and Temperature

Today in class we finished up the last two group projects and then began discussing the material that will be on the next quiz. Dr. E composed a lovely power point to help her students learn about: temperature, thermal energy, heat, and specific heat. Temperature is related to average kinetic energy of the particles of a substance. The SI unit for temperature is Kelvin which is also known as the absolute temperature scale. The next thing the class discussed was thermal energy, the total of all kinetic and potential energy of all particles in a substance. While discussing thermal energy, Dr. E decided to get the class more involved by asking an interesting question- which has more thermal energy, a swimming pool at 50 degrees Celsius or hot coffee at 100 degrees Celsius? As first some individuals thought that it would be the coffee because of its greater temperature, but in all actuality it would be a swimming pool because it is larger and therefore has more particles. The class then conversed over heat, the flow of thermal energy from one object to another. Dr. E then explained how heat always flows from warmer to less warm objects. To stay on the topic of heat, Dr. E then brought up a different type of heat that I had never heard of, specific heat. Specific heat is a comparison scale that tells that some things heat up and cool down faster than others. To help some individuals understand this definition more clearer, Dr. E explained how sand heats up very fast in the day and then cools down also very fast at night. After her explanation, Dr. E then decided to ask the class a few questions to get them more involved. The first question she presented the class with was, why does water have such a high specific heat? After several inputs from my classmates, the class figured out that water has such a high specific heat because particles are closer together, water molecules form strong bonds with each other and therefore it takes more heat energy to break them. Dr. E then ended the class with this last question, how do we calculate changes in thermal energy? No one in the class really had a response so Dr. E explained to us that heat energy is equal to mass times the change in temperature times the specific heat. This class period was obviously very informational but it was also interesting at the same time. Even though I already knew most of the material discussed in class today, it is always nice for a little refresher!

Continuation of Midterm Projects

Today in Dr. E's class, the groups continued to perform their projects. Today's experiments were very different compared to Tuesdays in dealing with the way the projects were presented. On Tuesday, several of the groups had handouts, whereas today a few groups had powerpoints which I thought were very beneficial. It is not that Tuesdays groups did a bad job at presenting, but I believe that it helped to have a powerpoint because then the students could physically see what the groups were saying and read for themselves, instead of listening to groups speak freely. I think today's experiments were a little more exciting then Tuesdays because today two groups did an experiment that dealt with food that we could eat at the end of the experiment. I really enjoyed doing the midterm projects and I hope that we do them second semester too. One of the main reasons that I liked doing the experiments, is because I was able to get ideas from several of the groups and potentially use those experiments in my classroom someday. I also really liked how the groups specified the age level that the children should be performing the experiment because sometimes it is difficult to determine age appropriate activities. Even though the experiments have taken up two class period already and another one next week, I am very thrilled that we did midterm projects!

Midterm project

On Tuesday in Dr. E's class, a few different groups presented their projects, including my group. I was kind of nervous being the second group to go because I did not want to look bad compared to the first group, but it all worked out in the end. Each group that presented on Tuesday was very well prepared, touching on each point that Dr. E wanted them to. All of the groups talked about safety precautions and described what they would do if they were actually performing the experiment. It was very interesting to see the different ideas that each group came up with; I do have to say though, that my groups project was the messiest and probably took the longest. My group was so excited about our project that we just wanted to stay up there and perform the whole experiment like we would for our classroom, so we did. If we would have presented only bits and pieces of our experiment, then I do not think our experiment would be as exciting as it was. I really think that we thought of a good experiment that helped to keep the students attention. During the experiment I was watching some of the people, and it was funny to see some of their reactions to what we were doing or about to be doing. I thought that the experiments were a very good idea and now I have an experiment that I could perform for my classroom someday!

Pressure

In class today, the main focus was density and pressure. To first discuss density, Dr. E reminded the class that density is equivalent to mass divided by volume; mass and volume go up and down proportionally. Dr. E then moved on tand conversed about pressure. One of the first things she brought up when dealing with pressure, was checking our tires in our car or bikes. She went on to inform the class that the more pressure a tire has in it, the better mileage you will get with your car or bike. Dr. E then wanted the class to experience pressure themselves, so she set up a fun activity for the different groups to partake in. The materials needed for the experiment were butcher paper, a ruler, and markers. The object of this experiment was to see which group could get the most amount of pressure. Our group then chose a person to lay on the paper and cover the most paper they could with their body, trying to cover the most area allowable. Once our group member was strategically placed onto the paper, one person in our group took the marker and outlined her body onto the paper, while another person and I measured the width and the height of her body. We measured in cm and Dr. E asked for the final answer in inches squared per lbs. so we converted our area. After converting our area, we took our group members weight and divided it by the area to obtain how much pressure we used. It turns out that our group ended up having the least pressure because we covered the most area when in fact we should have tried the cover the least amount of area so we could obtain the most pressure. I really enjoyed that experiment, not only because it was interactive, but it was also very easy to see where an individual could have gone wrong. This was a fun experiment that I know elementary students would love!

"The Leaping Ping Pong Ball"

To start off class, Dr. E showed us a little experiment online. There was a picture of water and then there was an object on the end of the pole and Dr. E asked the class to hypothesize whether or not, when the object was submerged, if it would hit the bottom. From that little experiment, Dr. E was able to show the class that when an object is submerged into water, the object pushes aside water, displacing a volume of water. The weight of the water pushed aside equals a buoyant force. After participating in the short experiment, Dr. E then allowed the class to do an experiment with their groups. This was by far the most enjoyable experiment that i think the class has ever done. Before starting out the experiment, our group hypothesized what we think would happen and then began the experiment. For the experiment, each group was given two beakers, a funnel, and a ping pong ball. The materials person then placed the funnel in one of the beakers with the ping pong ball it the funnel and the other beaker was placed 2-3 cm from the other beaker. The group members then had to secure the beakers with their hands while one member of the group blew really hard onto the ping pong ball, trying to have the ball leap to the other beaker. This sounds like it would be rather easy, but this experiment was actually difficult, it was a very hard task blowing onto the ball and trying to have it land in the other beaker. I counted how many times it took, and by the end, it had taken 19 times to finally blow the ball into the other beaker. This experiment was very fun and I am definitely going to keep this is mind when I am a teacher!

Work Day

Today Dr. E decided to give her physical science classes a work day which I thought was amazing. My group for the midterm project had no idea what we were going to do or where to even start. Dr. E calmed us down and gave us some suggestions of where to go to find different experiment options. After a little while, my group was finally able to find an experiment that would be for kindergartens; this is exactly what my group was looking for! After finding out what we were going to do, we approved the idea by Dr. E and then immediately got started. One person was the recorder who wrote down on a sheet of paper the steps of our experiment, another person worked on a worksheet that we are going to have in our experiment, and I started writing the lesson plan. I feel as though the decision for us to all work on separate things was a good idea because we got a lot done and we were able to bounce off ideas to each other. Before leaving class, my group made sure that each person was going to do their job over the weekend so we could continue to progress in our midterm project. We all also agreed to do equal parts in the experiment, not allowing anyone to do more than the other. After walking out of physical science today I felt extremely relieved to know that not only did our group figure out our project, but we also were able to start on it and assign tasks to everyone in the group. I am really excited for this project, I think my group is going to have a wonderful turn out!

Reviewing Reading Guide

For the entire class period, Dr. E discussed the reading guide with the class. The last time that we had class we were only able to go over about half of the reading guide, and Dr. E wanted to make sure that all of our questions were answered before we had to take the quiz. The thing I enjoyed the most about discussing the reading guide was Dr. E's visual effects. To get everyone's attention, Dr. E first threw a plastic ball to show that when something is throw, it moves in a parabolic pathway, due to gravity. I thought that her example was very simple, yet spectacular. Dr. E was not only able to demonstrate what she meant by parabolic paths, but she also got her students involved and ready to pay attention by throwing the ball to them. The other thing I found helpful was when Dr. E was trying to explain what a simple machine was to the class. Dr. E grabbed a marker and a piece of paper and cut the paper down so it formed a square, she then took the square and formed a triangle out of the paper and then wrapped it around her marker; she was demonstrating to the class what an incline plane looked like. The last thing that grabbed my attention in Dr. E's class today was when she was throwing her pencil up and down. The reason that Dr. E was doing this exercise was to show that when you throw an object up, the time up and the time down will be equal (if caught at the same place). In dealing with that experiment, Dr. E also explained that velocity is zero at the top right when it is ready to come down; the pencil physically stops in mid air. It is not that the class did not already know that, but I think when Dr. E said that the pencil physically stopped in mid air, it caught the classes attention. I really enjoyed class today because I find it very interesting when Dr. E does hands on experiments in the classroom. I know that if Dr. E would not have done some of the things she did today in class, I probably would have not remembered them.

Midterm Projects!!

Instead of physically going to class, Dr. E allowed her students to do some research for their midterm project that is due in just a few weeks! The individuals working in my group are both going into teaching with a focus on early childhood development, so we talked about maybe doing a project that would be for kindergartens. I looked at all of the research links that Dr. E made available, and I not only found out a lot of valuable information but also got some good ideas for our project. The useful information I found out all had to deal with kindergarten; I could have looked at different grades but I thought I would just look at this grade level since we will probably be focusing on it. I found out that kindergarten teachers need to focus on observing and collecting information about the progress students are making. I also found out that all kindergartens should be able to do the following things: describe solid objects in terms of one physical attribute, identify water in its liquid form, name a difference between day and night and between summer and winter, and identify pictures of living things. Before looking at the website, I never would have considered these things for kindergartens to be able to do. The things listed above are such simple things that I think some individuals look past but should not, those concepts are vital things for kindergartens to know. I also found several good ideas for our project from the example activities website Dr. E listed. The projects that I found were only for kindergartens, the following are a few examples: learning about different senses, learning about all the different colors, understanding the concept of animals and the changes they go through like a caterpillar turning into a butterfly, and finally solid, liquid and gases. All the experiments I found had to deal with developing skills that kindergartens need to learn in order to understand and excel in school. I think these projects will be fun to do and I also think they are an excellent idea because it not only gives us a hands on experience but also gives us ideas for teaching in our near future!

Science Project

In class today, we discussed the upcoming project that is due on Thursday the 30th of October. Dr. E sent around a sign- up sheet and allowed for groups to have no more than three people to a group. Dr. E then showed the class where to look on the internet to come up with ideas for the projects. My group thought that it would be a good idea to do a project that deals with the age of kids that we want to teach. By doing this, it will not only get each individual more experienced in the field they will teach, but also provide you with ideas for projects when it comes time to be a teacher. After discussing the project and making sure that everyone had a group to work with, the class then started to discuss the reading guide. The class was only able to make it through the first page of the reading guide because Dr. E wanted to show the class a hands- on example. Dr. E explained that hands on projects always helps students understand the concept you are trying to teach a little bit better because it helps to reach their attention and keep it. A question on the reading guide had to do with a bowling ball so Dr. E brought a bowling ball into class to try and show what one of the questions on the reading guide was asking. I thought this was a good idea because it caught a lot of students’ attention and helped them pay attention and understand the concept a lot better. I think that I am going to do as many hands-on projects that I can so my students will be intrigued to learn new things!

Paper Airplanes!!!!

During the class period on Thursday, Dr. E once again reminded everyone that they need to make sure that everyone is able to see each other’s blog. Dr. E then went on to discuss the reading guide that is due in a week and she also showed the class where to find assignments on D2L. After she answered everyone’s questions or concerns, Dr. E then revisited Newton’s second law of motion, asking the class several different questions to make sure that we did not forget about it. Dr. E reminded us of numerous things: When objects fall the acceleration due to gravity is 9.8 m/s², weight is different from mass because weight depends on gravity and mass is always constant and depends on matter, the closer together two objects are, the higher the force of attraction between them. Dr. E then continued to enlighten us by showing the class what projectile motion looked like and also why we have tides (which is due to the moon). After Dr. E had finished lecturing, the class then had a chance to experiment with paper airplanes. Exactly a week ago, Dr. E had asked everyone to bring a paper airplane in that had a long hang time so we could have a competition to see whose airplane actually had the longest hang time. Within my group, I ended up having the longest hang time at almost two whole seconds! Each person in my group had a hang time around a minute and a half, but thankfully mine lasted a few seconds longer to win the competition. Even though during the class period, I felt like I was too old to be having a paper airplane contest, it was still a lot of fun. It is my belief that younger children would have a blast with this; the activity would not only be fun, but also make them think pretty strenuously about how to make a paper airplane with the longest hang time.

Online Assignment

For today's class, instead of physically going to class, Dr. E assigned a project online. The project that was assigned consisted of putting weights on a spring and watching the spring bounce up and down and observing the gravity of the weight. For the first trial run, I put the red weight on the spring marked 3 and timed to see how long it would take for the red weight to come to a stop. It took the red weight almost twelve seconds to come to a complete stop. While I was timing the red weight, I not only watched the weights movement but I also watched the gravity that showed an energy of three. For the next trial I took the 250 pound weight,placed it on springer 2 and observed its motion. For the 250 pound weight it showed no energy movement because when I began I chose the option of, only show energy of three. I did however observe that it took almost nine seconds for the weight to come to a complete stop. I then chose to try the 100 pound weight and placed it on springer one. The 100 pound weight did not show any energy level because once again it did not have energy of three. I observed that it took eleven and a half seconds to come to a complete stop. Finally, I chose the 50 pound weight and placed it once again on the springer 1, this time I was very shocked to see that it took almost twelve seconds for the 50 pound weight to come to a stop. The reason I found this complete odd was because it took longer for the 50 pound weight to come to a stop then the 100 pound weight; if I could have guessed, I would have hypothesized the complete opposite. For the experiment there were several different options that one could choose from and I chose for time to be 1/4 and for the place to be earth. This experiment was very interesting and fun to do. I will definitely have to keep this experiment in mind when I am planning science experiments for my students. I think that young students would get a thrill out of this experiment!

Web Seminar

For those of you that do not know this, the physical science class did not meet on Thursday in the classroom; instead the majority of the class had class online. A web seminar was being advertised and Dr. E really wanted us to be able to participate in it so this is where we spent our Thursday class period. I was able to easily access the web seminar whereas some of my fellow classmates found it extremely difficult. After logging on, the main person in charge greeted everyone, answered any questions that anyone had, and then immediately started asking questions to try and get to know us. Participants were permitted to look at the web site or do whatever they desired for about a half hour while other individuals tried accessing the web site. Soon after the half hour, the web seminar started in which everyone was asked particular questions and the answers were then graphed for everyone to see the results. Then the seminar began where the students learned interesting facts about stars the sun, and planets. I knew some of the simple facts such as the sun is five billion years old and stars do not move around in space in zigzag patterns. On the other hand though, there were also quite a few things I did not know: scientists classify stars based on their spectra, there is a point where a star needs a lot of light, atoms and molecules in the cooler outer layers absorb light so we can observe an Absorption Spectrum, when you are looking at a star there is a certain signature scientists look at to categorize them, planets form around stars form accretion of smaller bits after the central star forms, or from a clump orbiting the main star, and finally astronomy is a dynamic science; new discoveries add to our knowledge of the universe and our own solar system. As one can see, I learned a lot of interesting information from the web seminar. At first I was really regretting having to watch the seminar for an hour and fifteen minutes, but once it was over I was pleased to have seen it. I really enjoyed changing up the class atmosphere and partaking in the web seminar instead of physically going to class. I hope that we are able to do this again sometime; I think the web seminar was a very good experience!

Going over reading guide

On Tuesday during the class period, Dr. E's students discussed the reading guide. Dr. E asked a question and then she waited for someone to answer it or she called on that person. We spent more time on certain questions than others so we were not able to go over the entire reading guide. Thankfully, Dr. E made sure that before we left the classroom, every question was answered. It was very beneficial to go over the reading guide in class because then when it came to taking the quiz later that night, it really helped. The quiz that we took covered almost the entire reading guide and a little bit of information from the readings out of the book. The quiz was actually pretty easy but it did take me around forty minutes to complete it because I wanted to make sure that everything I answered was correct. After submitting the quiz I was a bit nervous because the computer results said I failed but then I found an email that Dr. E sent, telling us to not worry. I was very relieved to receive that email because I was concerned that I had failed after all the time I put into the quiz. I really enjoy the way that Dr. E does her quizzes because it does not cause any stress. The person taking the quiz can be free from worry due to the fact that the quizzes are not timed and you can take it twice. I think that when I become a teacher I might also do some of the quizzes like that because it allows for the student to truly think about what they are doing. It also does not cause worriment for the student and it allows them to be stress free!

"Graphing Your Motion"

Today in physical science class, Dr. E's students experienced an informational class. The reason I say this is because when we got to class the first thing Dr. E did was show us how to connect our blog to the rest of the class'. This was very helpful because there were only eleven students who had connected themselves, several people who did not know how to connect to each other's blogs, and still other individuals in the class that was unaware of the fact that he or she needed to have a blog for the class. Dr. E went on further to explain how to register for a Webseminar since several students had emailed her questions and concerns dealing with the seminar and she also provided an alternative for those students who are not going to be able to attend the seminar online. After Dr. E had made sure that each individual got his or her questions all answered, Dr. E explained the experiment that we were going to be doing. Two days ago on Tuesday, the class had tried to perform the experiment just mentioned, but the materials needed were not cooperating. Dr. E figured out why the experiment malfunctioned and then explained to each of us how to use the LoggerPro. It was very beneficial for Dr. E to explain how to use the LoggerPro because several of my classmates were unaware of how to use the technology. After Dr. E. thoroughly explained the experiment, the class began the experiment, anxious to see how it would turn out. The experiment was very interesting, each group had a motion detector that they placed close to the ground so it could read objects. The groups then measured out four meters, placing tape at each meter. One person would then push the collect button to start recording date while another person stood at the one meter marker, holding a clipboard and walked backwards, stopped, and then continued walking backwards. Our group went through this process several times just to see how each graph looked different. On one of our final steps we had a person once again record data while a different person walked backwards, stopped, and then ran backwards. It was very interesting to see how the graphs changed from just walking to then running. After we had finished the experiment, our group went back to the classroom and answered the questions together. I really enjoyed this experiment because it allowed the class to really interact with each other. I plan on doing experiments like this when I become a teacher because i think children would also enjoy the interaction and because this experiment allowed students to be active instead of just sitting at their desk!

D2L

On Tuesday, September 16 the physical science class discovered all of the benefits that desire to learn has to offer. Several of the students in class were confused on where certain things were located, how to submit assignments through dropbox, how to create a blog, and where to find future assignments. To solve this problem, Dr. E dedicated the first half hour of class to showing her students how to access all the things needed for physical science. I thought this was a very intelligent idea on Dr. E's part because numerous students had questions that needed to be answered in order to be successful in physical science. Coming from experience, i was very happy that Dr. E demonstrated to everyone where things could be found on D2L because otherwise i would have been lost for quite some time now. After Dr. E had answered everyone's questions, she decided to start an experiment called "Graphing Your Motion." Even though Dr. E had good intentions with starting the experiment, most of the students were not able to do the experiment because several of the LoggerPro's had run out of battery. Before leaving class Dr. E assured the class that when we came back on Thursday she would have all the glitches fixed so we could participate in the experiment. Even though i was upset that i was not able to do the experiment, i learned a valid lesson in class- things go wrong in the classroom and as a teacher you need to be prepared for it!

The Moving Man

The moving man was an experiment where the individual was able to click on a man and drag him back and forth across the screen in order to see where his position, acceleration, and velocity fell. To start off the experiment, the person doing the experiment could choose where he or she wanted him to start at and then that person could move him either forward, backward, or both ways for 20.0 seconds. When I first started the experiment the man was placed at zero meters so that is where I left him and then continued along with the experiment. I started to move him forward slowly and noticed that the acceleration graph moved twice as fast as the velocity graph which in return moved twice as fast as the position graph. I also observed that it if I was moving the man slow enough and going forward that acceleration showed up as negative which I thought was very odd. I always knew that if you move something backwards then the object will have negative acceleration but I did not know until the experiment that if an object moved slowly enough, acceleration would appear to be zero or negative. I also noticed that when the man is not moving, the acceleration, velocity, and position graphs all run straight across the screen until the man is in motion again. I found that no matter where I started the man on the position graph, the experiment was still very interesting to see how such small movements can affect position, velocity, and acceleration in such great amounts.

The Science of a Kiss

On Tuesday, September 9th the physical science class took part in a experiment revolving around a Hersey's kiss. This lab was very engaging due to the fact that the first thing we did was estimate if a rounded, stubby container or a skinny and tall container held more Hersey's kisses. In my lab group, we estimated that the rounded, stubby container held most Hersey's kisses than the tall container and come to find out, we were the only group that guessed that. All of the other groups hypothesized that the containers held the same number of kisses but my group spent a lot of time analyzing the two containers comparing them in every way we could to help us form a correct hypothesis. The lab was not only revolved around Hersey's kisses though, the lab was very useful in teaching the class the formulas for gravitational energy (GE= mgh), the formula for the kinetic energy of a moving object (KE= 1/2 mv^2), and also that the unit of energy is the joule (j). I was taught that information when i was in high school but it was very nice to have a refresher to remind me of those two things. The group finally participated in dropping the Hersey kiss from a height of 0.1 meter, 0.5 meter, and 1 meter and recording the results in order to find the gravitational potential energy. This lab was very interesting and i think it would be a good lab for elementary students because i think that the students would not only enjoy the lab because it deals with Hersey kisses but i also think the children would enjoy estimating to see which container fit more Hersey's kisses. This lab was great for those of us who are looking into becoming a science teacher!

Snowflakes Lab

On the first day of class, we were introduced to the criteria and then were provided with the experience of engaging in a snowflake lab. Each individual was set to a particular task, in which i was entitled to get the materials for the snowflake lab. I thought that by assigning each individual in the group a particular task on the first day that it showed structure. On days that we did do labs, each member of the group can be efficient on staying on task provided that they know what their job is in the group. I really enjoyed the snowflake lab but i did find it a little bit confusing. For certain parts of the directions it said to repeat that step a certain number of times which i thought could be pretty confusing for a second or third grader. Even though the lab was a bit confusing, it was also very enjoyable to see all the different shapes that individuals made their snowflakes. For the most part, the snowflakes were symmetrical and turned out, I only saw a few that were not symmetrical (including my own).