Abby Borth- Elementary Science Methods

1. What did you do in lab today? In lab, we built a scale model of the sun and the 4 inner planets, as well as our moon. This had to be in scale in size and in distance. We learned that the solar system is really big in both distance and size. Planets are much farther away than we can ever imagine. We found that quite a few illustrations of this are inaccurate.  2. What was the big question? How big is the Solar System? 3. What did you learn in Thursday's discussion? In lecture, I learned about the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn. Tropic of Cancer is the northernmost point of direct sunlight (Northern Hemisphere). Tropic of Capricorn is the southernmost point of direct sunlight (Southern Hemisphere). I also learned that for every one revolution, the moon does one rotation, so it spins on an axis similar to how the earth does but much slower. I also learned the most supported theory of where the moon came from. A protoplanet crashed into Earth after Earth had formed and...

  1. What did you do in lab today? This week in lab, we explored the questions below by using a light as the sun and having models of the earth and moon at our tables. We looked at how the earth rotates on its own axis, producing the 24- hour day. We learned that the earth's axis is also the cause of the seasons. When the earth's axis points towards the sun, it is summer for that hemisphere. When the earth's axis points away, winter can be expected. Earth also orbits around the sun, producing the 365- day year. The moon takes about one month to orbit earth. The moon spins on its axis once each time it orbits the earth. Because of this, people on Earth only ever see one side of the Moon. The phases of the moon occur as the moon orbits the earth, this changes the way the sun shines on it and reflects different phases of the moon.  2. What was the big question? What are your best understandings about How the phases of the moon occur? What causes the seasons? What causes a luna...

  1. This week in lab, we continued to look at the question, how can we support play that is exciting but not dangerous? For this we looked at the specific question, how can we design a safe and durable playground surface? For this, we modeled a child's fall with an egg. Our challenge was to prevent an egg from breaking when dropped from a height of 1-meter. Our surface could not be any thicker than our bowl. We were able to choose from various materials to place in the bowl. We had options such as rubber, hay, saran wrap, and sand. We chose to try the rubber. This worked at 1-meter. The egg did bounce when it hit the rubber, but it did not crack. We then tried 2-meters and it bounced then cracked even after adding hay and saran wrap. In this lab, we learned that too much force will break an egg. But the more gradually the egg slows down, the smaller the force.  2. We did not have lecture this week.  3. Pendulums and Energy  I learned that energy can take many differ...

  1. This week in lab we continued to explore the question, how can we support play that is exciting but not dangerous? This week we investigated swings with the question, what affects how long it takes a swing to go back and forth? My group investigated the variable weight. Our question was, how does weight affect how long it takes a swing to go back and forth four times? We did three trials with three different weights. We did this by adding weights to a string that was connected to a stick. We made sure that we started the string in the same position each time. We timed each trial then calculated an average. We found that weight did not impact how long it would take a swing to go back and forth. There was not a large enough time difference to make it meaningful.  2. In lecture, we learned what forces acted on a child on a swing. We found that the force of the rope does and the force of gravity, and possibly air drag. The force of gravity pulls straight down and the rope pul...

  The big question addressed in lab, and a description of what you did. In lab we continued to look at the big question, how can we support play that is exciting but not dangerous? We investigated slides and different variables to keep in mind. Our group investigated the question, how does the weight of a rider affect the speed down the slide? Our independent variable was the weight of the rider and our dependent variable was the speed. We did four trials of four different weighted blocks. We found that there was not a significant change of speed depending on the weight of the block so we found our evidence to not be meaningful. We found the claim that the weight of a rider does not affect the speed down a slide. We predicted that we may find different results if the weights differed more from each other.  A description of what you learned in Thursday's lecture. In Thursday's lecture we revisited the variables that could affect the speed of a rider down a slide. We l...

  The big question addressed in lab, and a description of what you did. The big question that was addressed in lab this week was, why should elementary students learn about science? Another was, how should elementary students learn about science? After discussing these questions, we watched a video of students playing on a playground and noted what we noticed and wondered. Following this, we explored how we can support play that is exciting but not dangerous. To explore this question more, we did an experiment on how to make a race exciting by ensuring the racers will cross the finish line close to each other. To do this, we measured the distance of our race and the time it took us to walk this distance. After figuring this out, we were able to determine how much time one racer should start before the other to make the race close.  A description of what you learned in Thursday's lecture. In Thursday's lecture we looked at the SEPS, DCI, and CCCs that are in 3-PS2-2. ...

  1. This week in lab, we designed a learning activity that looked at what happens when you mix vinegar and baking soda. We learned how to develop a question, describe how students might collect and analyze data, and how students should use evidence collected in their investigation to answer the question. The question that we asked students was, does the baking soda completely disappear when you add the vinegar? Where does it go? I learned that it is important to use plan language questions. We figured out the ratio of 1:2 with the baking soda and vinegar to make sure the baking soda completely dissolves. This way, students will be curious to see if the mass stays the same and why this is. The mass will stay the same.  4. I can apply what I have learned to my teaching in the future. I would like to use a similar experiment with future students where they investigate if mass stays the same during a chemical reaction. I will make a few changes to our experiment by making sure no...