Wednesday, 29 November and Thursday, 30 November, 2006

Using information from the videos from activities and laboratory activities
Students should be able to:
-demonstrate how speed is affected by contact forces.
-hypothesize, test, and draw conclusions from an experiment.

Our do now was a quick write: Why do some shoes have textured soles?

After reviewing past home learnings, we completed lab 10 on friction and speed, to access how friction affects the acceleration of an object. Students concluded that friction causes objects to move slower and to stop. As an alternataive to this lab, students should first print out the individual investigations sheets from the geocities site, and then visit the following site:
http://www.glencoe.com/sites/common_assets/science/virtual_labs/E24/E24.html
Be sure to answer all the journal questions and to complete the table.

Home learning can be found at the top of this blog. HL 8 and HL 9 should be done on separate sheets of loose leaf paper. Be sure to label each section and place only answers on your sheets. You should have two separate sheets to turn in!

Monday, 27 November and Tuesday, 28 November, 2006

Using information from the videos from the internet, classroom activities and laboratory activities
Students should be able to:
-demonstrate how speed is affected by contact forces.
-hypothesize, test, and draw conclusions from an experiment.

After reviewing how to do home learning 7, which is found at the top of this blog, students watched a brainpop presentation on acceleration. They they took notes in the two column style for words found in the text, pages 98-102. Students can find the text online by visiting the site: http://glencoe.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/0078693896
Once at the site, look in the first column entitled click here to enter student center. Look at the section titled textbook resources and click on the link student edition pdf. When prompted, click that link again to read the pdf version of the book.

The definitions from the pages included:
speed-the distance traveled divided by the time needed to travel that distance.
velocity-the displacement divided by time.
acceleration-the change in velocity divided by the amount of time required for the change to occur.

After reading, we performed a lab on speed. Students missing the lab should first visit the geocities site and print out the individual sheets and then perform the online lab: what is the relationship between distance, speed, and time.
Links to these sites can be found on the podomatic site.

Tuesday, 21 November and Wednesday, 22 November, 2006

Using information from the internet and classroom activities
Students should be able to:a toothed wheel that engages another toothed mechanism in order to change the speed or direction of transmitted motion-take an exam on energy and heat
-compare and contrast the different types of simple machines.
-research a historical machine for a written report.

Students took the 3rd exam of the year on Energy and Heat.

After the exam, students visited various web sites to learn about Rube Goldberg machines. They then learned and took notes on simple machines. For the web sites, visit http://geocities.com/DrGCDMS. Scroll down to the section (on the right), labeled simple machine links. First, click on the link Rube Goldberg. Once on the site, read about Rube Goldberg, in the link marked About Rube. Once you've read about the cartoonist, revisit the geocities site and click on the link simple machines. There, take notes on each of the simple machines. Make a four column note table that includes:
Simple Machine/Definition-Description/Diagram/Examples
These include:
inclined plane: is a plane surface set at an angle, other than a right angle, against a horizontal surface.
wedge: a moving inclined plane.
screw: an inclined plane wrapped around a cylinder
lever: an arm that "pivots" (or turns) against a "fulcrum" (or point)
wheel and axle:a lever that has a wheel, the round end, that turns the axle, the cylindrical post, causing movement.
pulley: a variation of the wheel and axle, that has a cord wrapped around a wheel. As the wheel rotates, the cord moves in either direction. If a hook is attached to the cord, it can be used to cause wheel's rotation and to raise and lower objects.
gear: a toothed wheel that engages another toothed mechanism in order to change the speed or direction of transmitted motion.

Students then visited the website: www.edheads.com. While there, do the activities for simple machine and odd machines.

The only home learning is to work on all science fair plans, science fair projects, written reports and technology reports.

Friday, 17 November and Monday, 20 November, 2006

Using information from the videos from the internet, internet access and classroom activities
Students should be able to:
-take a quiz on heat, work and force.
-describe how energy is transferred from one object to another.

Students watched videos on force, work, heat, and temperature from BrainPop. This served as a review of the topics. After viewing videos, we took a quiz on heat, work, and force.

We also distributed papers for the written report and the technology report, which will be posted at a later date. (See Tuesday and Wednesday, 21/22).

We read and reviewed an article for scientific information and its connection to energy transfer. The article can be found at the top of this blog.

Blocks 2, 4, and 6 completed the conclusions and analysis section for Lab 8: Collision Course. Block 4 also completed their team presentation on water.

Home learnings 5 and 6 should be done on separate sheets of loose leaf paper. They are found at the top of this blog.

Wednesday, 15 November and Thursday, 16 November, 2006

Using information from the videos from the internet, internet access and classroom activities
Students should be able to:
-learn about the Florida Everglades.
-justify the importance of water to life on Earth.

The do now was to write two teacher-like questions about the Florida Everglades and answer them.

On Thursday, many students will visit the Florida Everglades for a team field trip. One of the themes for this semester is water, and in particular, the Everglades. Students will watch film clips on the Everglades in class. If you are interested in seeing the clips, sign up for a free trial of Cosmeo at www.cosmeo.com and search for The Everglades. Several videos will appear for you to view.

After viewing the videos, students presented their team projects on water. Topics included water pressure, watersheds, water cycle, water of the ocean, water pollution, water solubility, water pressure, and water as a conductor of electric current.

Odd blocks did the ice cream experiment today to demonstrate heat transfer from warm to cooler objects.

Home learning is to continue to work on science fair projects, which are due in class the 5th or 6th of December, depending on block.

Monday, 13 November and Tuesday, 14 November, 2006

Using information from the classroom activities and laboratory experiments,
Students should be able to:
-hypothesize and test how much work can be done by items of different sizes.
-demonstrate the transfer of energy from warm to cold objects.

Our do now was a quick write: Why does a soda get cold when you put it in the refrigerator?

Students performed lab 8, Collision Course, which deals with determining how the mass of an object affects the amount of kinetic energy it transfers to another object.

Students missing lab can go to the podomatic website for the 13/14 November to find a make-up lab. Remember to visit the geocities site to print out the individual investigations sheet.

Home learning 4 can be found at the top of this blog.

Wednesday, 8 November and Thursday, 9 November, 2006

Using information from the internets,
Students should be able to:
-work on the Zoom Project: How does water affect the quality of life in Florida?

Today's entire class was dedicated to working on the Zoom grant project about water. Students were assigned by groups to study a particular characteristic or property or subject of water. The topics included: water as a conductor of electric current, water and cellular respiration, water and the human body, water and photosynthesis, the water cycle, water of the ocean, water pollution, water pressure, watershed, water vapor, and water solubility. Each team read first from ScienceSaurus to get background information on their topic. Then, using the internet, they learned to acquire photos to place into a short iMovie presentation. The presentation should include the team name and participants, the topic, a minimum of three photos representing the topic, and a detailed definition or description of the topic. The presentations may not last longer than 5 minutes and may or may not include music. Presentations will be viewed in class on another session.

Home learning over the holiday weekend is to continue to work on the science fair project or science fair plan.

Friday, 3 November and Monday, 6 November, 2006

Using information from classroom activities and laboratory experiments,
Students should be able to:
-take a quiz on energy and waves.
-analyze a science article for content about potential and kinetic energy.
-hypothesize about how materials affect kinetic energy.
-draw conclusions from experimentation.

Our do-now was a quick write on the topic: how does size affect the amount of kinetic energy an object has?

Once we reviewed the last homework, we reviewed the requirements for the article. This is the home work and can be found at the top of the blog.

The remainder of the class time was used to complete a lab that dealt conservation of energy. The lab was performed using different sizes of balls (tennis ball, ping-pomg ball, rubber ball) and determining how high the balls bounced. This was a challenge, since students had to measure the height of EACH of the bounces and determine which ball type bounced higher, which ball type retained the greatest percent of bounce ability, and what might cause the balls to not bounce as high.

Students absent for the lab should visit the http://drgcdms.podomatic.com site and follow the directions for 3/4 November, 2006.

Wednesday, 1 November and Thursday, 2 November, 2006

Using information from classroom activities, the internet and laboratory experiments,
Students should be able to:
-compare and contrast the types of waves.
-describe the properties and characteristics of waves.

Students completed a Venn diagram comparing transverse and longitudinal waves. Such a diagram may look like this:


After completing the do now, students went to www.glencoe.com and completed a quiz on line and a virtual lab on the properties of waves. Check the podomatic site at http://drgcdms.potomatic.com for the details.

Once completed with the computer work, students demonstrated their knowledge about how amplitude affects frequency by using metal coils and timing the travel time of both small and large amplitude waves. They concluded that the larger the amplitude, the faster the wave traves, or the greater the frequency.

Students were also given small slinkys to demonstrate transverse and longitudinal waves.

Home learning 3 can be found at the top of this blog.