Our last big science activity for the year was with the densities of liquids. They had seven liquids: syrup, honey, dish soap, water, vegetable oil, isopropyl alcohol, and baby oil. (The water was dyed blue and the rubbing alcohol dyed red so that the students could easily see the layers. The baby oil is on top and is clear.) The students predicted the order of the liquids, from most dense to least dense. We then poured in each liquid and observed the order. Afterwards, we placed in four cylinders made of different materials and observed where they stayed in relation to the liquids. Our discussion included using our math knowledge of decimals to give the approximate density of each solid cylinder based on the given density of each liquid. Here are some pictures from that day.
The students completed two activities with graduated cylinders.
First, the students learned how to read the volume on a graduated cylinder, and practiced on stations around the room. There was a variety of cylinders, with different cylinders having different scales and intervals. Second, the students used the skill they had just learned to find the volume of irregular objects using displacement of water. They read the water level, placed the object in the water, then read it again to find the difference. Below are some pictures from these activities. The students calibrated spring scales using 1-gram paperclips. They used the spring scales to measure the mass of various objects, and compared the results with the other groups. They were able to see that these particular spring scales produced unreliable measurements, which led to a discussion on the importance of standardized measurement instruments. Pictures of the activity are below.
As part of the Floating and Sinking unit, the students designed boats of different sizes out of aluminum foil and tested to see how many marbles they would hold. We were able to have discussions about which designs consistently held more than the others, and observations about why. Here are some pictures from those days.
As a culminating project for our Environments unit, the students are creating dioramas of the various biomes. These will be displayed during the Invention Convention on April 7th. The work will mostly be done at school, unless the student CHOOSES to make items for their project at home and bring them in.
The basic requirements are:
For the complete rubric, click here. See pictures of the projects below! We spent a lot of class time discussing animal adaptions, ranging from individual behavior to behavior of the group to physical changes. Some examples include (1) lizards in Florida moving to live in the tops of the trees when a larger species moved into the bushes where they had been living, (2) animals finding new food sources after their original food became scarce, and (3) animals, such as whales and dolphins, finding new hunting methods.
We watched several videos that explain these occurrences very well. Some of the clips were from the BBC Nova series Inside the Animal Mind, while others were clips from TED Talks and National Geographic shows. Below are some pictures from an activity the students did about the results of an animal changing physically. "Food" (beans) was spread out on the floor. Each "animal" (student) was given an appendage: a fork, spoon, or knife. They were also given a cup to store their food. They were ONLY able to use the appendage to gather food. After the time was up, they counted up how much food they were able to obtain. We compared the totals for the various appendages each time, and found that the spoons consistently stored the most, followed closely by the forks, and the knives were far behind. This showed that the animals that were best adapted to gathering this type of food got the most food. Here are some pictures from both classes: The Monterey Bay Aquarium in California has several live animal cams so that the public can view the animals any time during the day. I have linked those cameras below. There are also several Eagle Cams from around the country. Some of these will have nests with baby eagles so that the public can watch them grow. Below are a few options.
We have just started our last topic of the school year: Environments! This unit begins with very basic information and vocabulary, such as producer/consumer/decomposer, biotic/abiotic factors, herbivore/omnivore/carnivore, and predator/prey. Once students are comfortable with the vocabulary terms, we will move to food chains and food webs. Throughout this unit, we will be discussing various biomes around the world. There are slightly different biomes based on where the information is coming from, so we will use the ones in the textbook for our current unit. One very important part of this unit is the importance of each factor (plant or animal) within that single environment, and the effects of even one factor being removed due to disease, hunting, or similar situation.
As part of our discussions about stimulus and response, the students participated in some activities that tested reaction time and compared right hand to left hand. In one, they were given five attempts to move their hand before the cup touched it. In the other, they tested the time it took for them to catch a falling object. We were able to connect these activities to the role that PRACTICE plays in sports music, and other hobbies. Below are some pictures!
Over the past few weeks, the students have been doing activities related to the joints and movement. Primarily, they have been concentrating on which muscles and joints are used for various movements, and what happens when you lose the ability to use a joint or other part of the body (such as the thumb). Hopefully they told you about some of the activities, but here are some pictures!
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