Watch this video one time all the way through.
Then, BEFORE you watch the video the second time make a table in your notebook, or use a WORD document which you can later post to your blog or print for your notebook.
This is what your table should have:
7 columns across (State of Matter, volume, shape, mass, expansion, compressibility, 3 example)
4 rows down (the top row will have the above titles in it, gas, liquid, solid)
Then, watch the video again and you may need to pause it to be able to complete the table while the video is playing. You do not need to have the sound on to get the information. It is all displayed on the screen. :)
Then, share your completed table with a friend to make sure that you have the correct information. :) Precision is important.
Welcome to grade 6 science! This year we will use this blog as well as your own personal science blogs to communicate with each other about current events, projects, assignments, interactive websites, reflections, and lab investigation conclusions. I'm excited to get started with you in our first unit: Investigating Matter in Our World!
Final Research report AND project for Grade 6!!!! :)
Inquiry Question: How are people affected by motion and forces? How can science and technology help society stay safe?
Objectives:
Students will design and create their own roller coaster to test the principles of motion and energy.
Students will complete a research project (Public Service Announcement) about a topic of their choice in regards to personal safety and the effects of motion and forces on the body.
Students will present their research project to their classmates and perhaps to younger grades.
Lesson Context
What real-world contexts are included in the lesson? If not included, please explain why real-world contexts are not appropriate for this lesson.
****Students will investigate forces and motion in the classroom (MAINLY INERTIA), as well as real-world applications such as (airbags and safety belts and helmets).
****Students will investigate the invention of seat belts, helmets, and air bags and the effects of these safety features on society. We will also look at the evolution of the technology behind these safety features and future advancements.
****How does this lesson help to develop scientifically literate students?
Students will understand that scientists learn and understand through trial and error when investigating various phenomena, laws of physics, and/or new technologies and through these tests scientist’s knowledge can be used towards creating safety features for various things in our lives.
Students will learn to ask questions, test a model of inertia and momentum, and answer questions about daily experiences and during various class experiments.
They will learn the vocabulary necessary for understanding the scientific concepts behind Newton’s three laws of motion, friction, forces, and momentum which will be required when reading news articles, when discussing with others in class, and describing and explaining effects of speed and momentum on an object upon impact.
Students will also understand the risks and options for keeping themselves safe in a variety of situations.
Extension/Enrichment/Transfer or Generalization of Knowledge that engages students in their learning
Roller Coaster Project:
·Students will work together to sketch a potential model of a roller coaster, discuss materials they will need to make the model of the roller coaster, and finally create the model for a marble.
·Each person in the group will have a role assigned to ensure that everyone is engaged in a way that they can be successful.
·They will need to apply their knowledge of forces and motion, as well as potential and kinetic energy in order to get the marble from the beginning to the end of the track.
·The object of the project is to get enough acceleration to go around the arches and to decelerate to a stop at the end.
·When they finally get the roller coaster to work, they will create a poster of the roller coaster, they will label areas of acceleration, deceleration, kinetic energy, potential energy, and if they can they will label it with positive G’s and negative G’s which the marble (or rider) will be experiencing.
Synthesis/Closure
Making a REAL LIFE CONNECTION to forces and motion which will impact their own health and safety, students will research the effects of forces on the human body.
This will be a final project which will be in the form of a Public Service Announcement.
Students will choose a topic they are interested in regarding the effects of forces on the human body and safety features that are needed to keep people safe. For example, some topics may be: race car driver safety equipment (helmet and reconstruction of the car), skateboarding safety equipment (helmet), roller coaster safety features, seatbelts, car seats for babies, biking/motorcycle safety equipment (helmets), airbag systems in cars, and others that students may think of).
Students will research the effectiveness of the systems, and how they work to keep people safe, what materials they are made from, the evolution of the product (how it has changed), if they have been recalled (because they have flaws from the factory), future enhancements as well as what they are used for.
Then, once students complete their research they will create a Public Service Announcement in order to make people aware of how they can stay safe and have fun at the same time.
Students will present their topics to the class through their Public Service Announcement.
For the past few months, we have been exploring Earth's layers, magma, plate tectonics, the currents that circulate under the Earth's crust and volcanoes, minerals that make up the Earth's rocks, how we identify them, and we explored a bit on the rock cycle (which will be explored more in Grade 8!).
Our final section to this unit was our study on the formation of crystals and minerals, their importance to our everyday lives, the race to find them and mine them, and also how they are mined and processed.
To close this unit with your final thoughts and new inquiries, make a blog post describing what you have learned about the topics we have explored over the past three months. Visit http://www.bubbl.us and create a mind map to help you to write your reflection. When you do this, please export to your pictures and import it to your blog post.
Here are a few questions to help you with your reflection: The unit question I would like you to discuss is: How valuable is a rock?
State what you have learned which could help you give your thoughts to this question.
The Area of Interaction of the unit was: Environments: To investigate the role and responsibilities of individuals and societies in the sustainable use and exploitation of natural resources taken from the Earth's crust. Does it fit this unit? Explain.
The Significant Concept: Students will understand that the convection currents under the Earth's crust within the mantle play a big role in causing movement in the tectonic plates, creating volcanoes, and moving magma up into Earth's crust where various rocks and minerals formed and used for human consumption. Do you think you have a good understanding of the significant concept? Why or why not? What part/s do you understand?
How do you feel you did during this unit? What could you have improved?
How do you feel about the activities you took part in?
Did you learn any new skills or knowledge that you did not know before?
What did you find interesting?
What was your favorite and/or least favorite part?
What would you add or change about this unit for next year's grade 6 students?
Is there anything you still wonder about in these topics we studied? IF so, what?
During this lab, we worked on our mapping skills and used coordinates of latitude and longitude to plot Earthquake and Volcanic occurences on a world map.
When you write your blog post be sure to include the title of the lab, the guiding question, your hypothesis, a picture of the map you plotted the coordinates on, as well as your analysis (question 1 and 2) as well as the conclusion. Complete the More to Explore as well. EXCEPT, on the map of the world, or U.S. locate active volcanoes and areas of earthquake activity. Determine the distance fro m your home to the nearest active volcano. :)
Guiding Question: Is there a pattern in the locations of earthquakes and volcanoes? Well...what do you think?
Guiding Question: How might convection in Earth's mantle affect tectonic plates? OR How does hot liquid affect an object at the surface of colder water?
What is your prediction-Hypothesis? Be sure to include your reasons behind the prediction.
Skills Focus: Making models, observing
Write a blog post using the questions 1 and 4 for the Data Analysis, and 2, 3, and 5 as part of the Conclusion. Remember, when writing a conclusion, you should always go back to the Guiding Question and answer it. In Further Inquiry: think about errors, how the model represents convection currents, etc... Also, look at the Designing Experiments Section on the lab sheet. What further inquiries do you have or new experiments could you create?
Be sure that your blog post includes a picture of your map, your garden, and the key of where you planted your "seed crystals".
Every day you should make a journal entry in your blog post, include any modification you make along the way.
Be sure that you are keeping a daily record of crystal growth, complete with sketches of the different kinds of crystals.
(Borax, Epsom Salts, Salt, Sugar, Monoammonium Phosphate)
Here are some photos of crystals we made in class without being on a certain material for your reference.
See the small cube shaped crystals?
Salt climbs up this straw and takes it over!
Do you see the needle shaped crystals?
Borax crystals we grew look almost diamond-like.
These sugar crystals are pretty big cubes! Yum...
If you are having a hard time growing crystals, perhaps you could add standing pools of solution which would have more success.
Compare growth of different kinds of crystals on your garden, as well as those on other classmates. Remember: You will make a short presentation later.
These are the five solutions we used during this project.
Aren't they beautiful?
Guiding Question for this project was: How do crystals grow?
After two weeks of observations, make your final observation today (Feb. 11)
Anything growing? Did the materials change?
Be sure to include pictures of what the different crystals your garden contained look like or should have looked like.
Data Analysis:
What material did the crystals grow bet on?
What material did the crystals grow the worst on?
What solution was the easiest to grow crystals from?
What solution grew crystals the slowest or were the most difficult?
Which method was the best for growing crystals?
Conclusions: What can you conclude about the conditions that are needed for crystals to grow? Give examples from evidence you have seen from either your garden or classmate's gardens. What have you learned about crystals during this project? Do you have a new hypothesis?
Further Inquiry: What errors may have occurred in your garden? How would you change the experiment if you were to do it all over again? What further questions do you have about crystals and the conditions they need for growth?
Today we will begin our new unit on Earth's structure. Before you visit the website below, think about what you already know about Earth, how it works, what it looks like inside, what parts make up the Earth? Write a response to this KWL prompt in a new blog post. Be sure to write down as well questions about any aspect of Earth that you want to learn about.
When visiting this Smithsonian Website, visit the Multimedia Section. When you are there, you will be able to click on a variety of topics. Throughout this unit, we will be studying the forces behind the Earth's changes, the rock cycle, rock types, types of mining, minerals and how mining works to be used in the production of vital and not so vital goods.
Visit the various sections regarding: Plate Tectonics and Volcanoes, Gems and Minerals, Rocks and Mining.
In Plate Tectonics, pay attention mostly to the Inner Earth and The Unreachable Frontier. Within Inner Earth, find out the layers of the Earth and what they are like inside. In the Unreachable Frontier, find out what meteorites may tell us about space. Also, visit the rocks section in Unreachable Frontier. Discuss how the special rocks called peridotites can give us clues about the Inner Earth. Then, v isit diamonds. How do diamonds grow? Where are they found? How do they get to the surface of the Earth?
You may be interested as well in Volcanoes and Hotspots as this will explain convection and will allow you to understand how the Rock Cycle Works later on.
In Rocks and Mining, pay attention to the Rocks at and below Earth's Surface as well as Mining. However, when you go into each subsection there are many different tabs you can click on.
Visit each and go back and forth trying to get an idea of the question: Where do rocks come from? How are they formed? Why are there so many different rocks and colors? What is a mine and how does it work? Why do we need mining? What do we get from mining? How are the rocks processed after being dug out from a mine?
