Dec 14 and 15

Today in class we took a break from chemistry and learned how to analyze the international boiling point data. We practiced using excel to create graphs and look at trends.

Help in doing this is available on my website under the 'IBP' Page.

Dec 7th and 8th

Today in class we learned about the elements project. In this project we will be creating a fact sheet, a small model and then a commercial about an element assigned to us.

Each class reviewed the rubric and the project and then saw an example of a successful commercial.

We then went to the computer lab and researched our element for our fact sheet.

Dec 2nd and 3rd

Today we dug into the periodic table and reviewed the parts of an atom. We learned how to use the information on the periodic table to determine how many protons, neutrons and electrons were in different atoms. We also learned how to identify an elements name by looking at the number of protons.

This information can be found in chapter Five of the Introduction to Matter book, which is available online--see my website for the online textbook.

Nov 30th and Dec 1st

Our do now today was on the differences between physical and chemical changes. We discussed both, and gave examples of each. We then discussed that the do now questions would make good quiz questions (hint, hint). I would exoect a quiz on wednesday/thursday on this.

After the do now we built our fifth and final design, then explained the changes we made from design to design. Finally we tested and filmed our final designs-look for the films on youtube or in the class wiki.

We also started chemistry. We handed out a periodic table for each student then briefly discussed group 18, the Noble gases, and group 17, the Halogens.

Nov 23-24, creating our posters

Today we spent our time working on our posters. We illustrated our four designs and then explained what we would do if we were to build another version of our thermal protective system.

We will present the posters on the 25th.

Nov 20 The final design

Today we created one more thermal protective system. Kudos go to the group in period 5B that created a design that lasted 41 seconds--almost double what all other groups were able to do.

Be sure to check out the video footage on youtube--look for videos by beakernflask

Nov 18 and 19--Engineering Design Challenge Day

Today we first took care of our first marking period grades. I handed out a sheet to each student, the sheet showed every grade that they had earned in the 1st marking period. They then filled out a form titled "Why I got the grade I got" and wrote one sentence on what they could focus on in second marking period in order to do better.

Once this was out of the way we created two structures for our engineering design challenge. The first structure was made with just a 3 inch square of Al foil. This was tested (and the tests were filmed).

The second structure was made using a 3 inch square of copper mesh, a piece of Al foil, two nuts and one washer. These were also tested and filmed.

Film can be seen at;

http://sciencerocksroom121.pbworks.com/FrontPage

Once on the website look at the right hand side of the screen. There should be several hotlinks, one for each class. Click on the hotlink, then download and view the video files.