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.