Walkers

We are slowly winding down our force and motion unit and the kids have been having a blast completing all of the labs that come with this topic.  We have calculated unbalanced forces, seen Newton's Laws come to life by launching marshmallows (more on than in another blog) and calculating speed, velocity, and acceleration.

In order to calculate our speed and acceleration, we timed how long it takes us to perform different types of "walks" in a given distance.  All day long we were seen speed walking, walking backwards, and hopping.  I'm happy to report that no injuries occurred during this activity!  Although it was a pretty average lab, with not much "wow" factor, our students managed to turn it into quite an amusing activity.   I compiled all of the photos and videos into an iMovie with a very appropriate song.  Enjoy!

Holy Chemical Reactions, Batman!

Wow!  What a great time we all had on Friday learning about the five different types of chemical reactions, and what makes a reaction "chemical".  My students were able to list the four characteristics of a chemical change without blinking an eye!
We began the day by trading classrooms with Ms. Amaro, the other 8th grade science teacher.  Her classroom is bigger and really gave us room to spread out and not feel like a can of sardines.  I organized each class in groups of five...Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, and Echo (appropriately named, right?) and off we went.  We connected by skyping our session with the scientist, Mrs. Gribben.  Her job was to perform five experiments and our mission was to choose the type of chemical reaction, identify the reactants and products, and make sure the chemical equation was properly balanced.  It was a real team effort and she had some great experiments!

We were able to watch our lab professor coat a clear mason jar with two clear liquids and watched as it turned into a mini mirror.  We saw what happens when magnesium is burned (a fluorescent blue light appears!).  We watched in amazement as she made elephant toothpaste (hydrogen peroxide decomposing into water and oxygen gas).  We got to see what happens when magnesium is put into hydrochloric acid (acid that is in our stomachs).  No wonder all the food we eat is digested so quickly!  We observed what happens when lead nitrate combines with potassium iodide.  And finally we watched in amazement when ethyl alcohol was lit on fire (boom!).

At the end of the day, my students were able to clearly define the different types of reactions.  They understood that all chemical reactions bear similar qualities but can be drastically different at the same time.  I'm happy to report that we had NO technological difficulties, thanks to our fabulous education technologist, Tanna Fiske.  She stayed in there with us the whole day on "stand by" and even stepped in to be our photographer and videographer.

It really was a great day!  Below are some photos of my students interacting with the lab as well as the coolest video made by Tanna Fiske, summarizing the whole day.

Enjoy!

Astronauts are coming!

Hi  super science followers!  We have had an exciting week in our science classes.  We've mastered the Periodic Table of Elements and have moved on to the wild world of molecules, compounds, and chemical formulas.  I've been trying to convince my students that, yes, science rules the world, but without chemistry, we would have nothing!  I think they're slowly starting to believe me....or at least I hope.  My favorite example is table salt!  They now know that the real chemical name for table salt is Sodium Chloride.  By itself,  the element Sodium, is a soft metal that reacts like a firework when it is placed in water and Chlorine is a poisonous, toxic gas, but when these two combine chemically it forms a totally new substance, table salt.  I joke with them that every time we use salt, we're really using a poisonous firework (maybe that is why it's so bad for us!).

This week, we are building on our chemical knowledge and learning all about chemical reactions. I'm really looking forward to Friday because we are taking part in an interactive chemical reactions lab with  the Challenger Learning Center.  This center serves as a legacy to the seven astronauts lost on the space shuttle Challenger and uses math and science to partner with schools and help students build various 21st century skills.   

During our lab, scientists will perform experiments and demonstrations via Skype, and will help guide students through difficult concepts.  Students will be inspired to ask questions and draw conclusions to deepen their understanding of this specific concept!

Check back on Friday to see how it goes!  My goal is to upload videos and photos of this amazing opportunity!

Have a great week!

Adopt an Element

We spent all of last week learning about the Periodic Table. We learned about the trends of the periodic table, how it is arranged, and what a genius Dmitri Mendeleev must have been to recognize the patterns of the elements back in the 1700's!  Once we had familiarized ourselves with the Periodic Table, each student was able to pick their own element to "adopt".  So many of my students chose very interesting elements!  They were required to find out the basics of their elements, of course, but then they had to research common uses, interesting information, photos of their element in its natural state, and a video about their element.  One of my students even found a video of Xenon (a radioactive gas) being used in a pin ball machine! 
We took all of our data and created a Flowboard on the ipad.  Flowboard is like an interactive Pinterest!  Not only can you post text and pictures, but videos too.  It is a really great way for them to get all of their information in one place.  Below are some student samples that were really out of this world!  Enjoy!

Neon created by Maya Bordas

 Einsteinium created by Madeline Silvestro

 Copper created by Joohi Maknojia
Krypton created by Baker Ward

Silver created by Natasha Trayers

 Radium created by Adele Corder

 Silver created by Perry Rickard

Scientific Inquiry, of course!

I have no doubt that every elementary and middle school student starts out either learning or reviewing Scientific Inquiry at the beginning of the school year.  I remember years ago when it was called "The Scientific Method" and it was a very rigid way of conducting a lab experiment.  Nowadays, it's all about being cyclical and the ability to start anywhere you want in the process just by questioning, observing, and inferring.

We started out with our Toothpick Lab, which was so fun because there was hardly any clean up (yay, me!) and the "wow" was fully in effect.  We bent a few toothpicks, arranged them in a star formation, added droplets of water to the center, and watched the toothpick expand before our very eyes!  This lab was a great way for the students to come up with an appropriate hypothesis and a well-written conclusion without it being too "sciency" yet.  Teachers love a good lab report and we felt we needed to review this important aspect of science.

We also incorporated metric measurements and conversions into our Scientific Inquiry unit.  Most of our students remember "King Henry Died Drinking Chocolate Milk" but were less familiar with converting units.  We set up a Metric Measurement Lab which not only gave them practice of measuring out meters, liters, and grams, but then taking it one step further and converting units.

Below are some pictures of my students participating in our Metric Measurement Lab...

First Blog Post!

Hello all you science peeps!  Welcome to 8th grade Science at Hill Country Middle School in Austin, Texas.  We have been back in class for almost a month and I'm amazed at all the stuff we have done so far.  My blog "goal" is to showcase all of my amazing students as we explore the wonderful world of science.

Science really does rule the world!  Stay tuned and enjoy  :)