Oalf....What are you doing in Science Class!!!

So to learn about conductors and conduction this year. My super cool teacher BFF, Jakil and I create an explorations for our kids. 


So here you go: 
Materials:
mini pie tins (1 for each group)
small Styrofoam plates (1 for each group)
small paper plates (1 for each group)
small plastic plates (1 for each group) We used the tops that came with our pie tins.
Candy Melts Note: *** (after doing this lab, I believe small chocolate chips will work better and they are cheaper)***
Styrofoam cups (4 per group)
Hot Water

As a side note, something I love about this lab, is if you was the stuff, you will only have to replace the paper plates and chocolate the next year. 

This experiment for me was done at the end of heat transfer unit, after a radiation and convection experiment. 
So here you go. Heat up the water while the students set up, and make their hypothesis.

Question: Which material will melt the chocolate the fastest?

I put the students in groups of four. Students created a chart to keep their data. (We talk about whether this will be qualitative or quantitative.)

The teacher comes around and puts hot water in the cups. The students then top with the different types of plates the the melts (or chocolate chips). I assign each student to one cup in the group. The students simply count how long it takes the candy to melt, and then record. (you could use stop watches if you had enough, I don't though)

After the lab, the students share out their results and we record on a class data chart, and take averages. We add in vocabulary: conductor, insulator, conduction. We right a conclusion to our lab together. Then I leave up sentence stems and key words and students write their conclusions on their own. 

Later in the week this Exit Ticket Appears, and I have to say it is one of my favorite exit tickets of all time. 

Here are some of their response! lol!!!

Well I hope you find the lab helpful. Oh and as a heads up I'm thinking of changing the name of my blog, and starting a TPT. Still thinking it through, but hopefully I will decided soon.

Let the Summer Post begin!

It's Summer time here in Tennessee, which means it is abnormally hot!! I missed you all!
However, it being to hot to go outside means, I get to post more of this years shenanigans.

As, you prep for next year maybe these ideas over the next couple of weeks will strike your fancy, or maybe you will just sip Mai Tai's at the beach. Which ever is fine with me ;)


So one of the Tennessee State Science Standards is to understand human and natural disasters impact on the environment. Well, I found that my students understood that humans impact the environment, but the vocabulary in some of the questions and answers in the sample questions in the state assessment really throw them for a loop.

So, there is a lab called Oh Deer;
link to original lab: http://arvinapes.weebly.com/oh-deer-lab.html
It is a study in population, and I thought the questions could be easily modified to focus on vocabulary and help my students towards mastery of this standard.

Well, this activity requires a lot of space, and THUNDERSTORMS ruined my life because we needed to go outside!!! or so I thought!
I modified the lesson into an indoor playable table top game, and the kids ate it up!!

Game set up: (all was just typed and printed on card stock)
Each student gets a set of deer (you can determine the number I did 12)

A game board that has three survival needs (food, water, and shelter)

The group gets a set of scenario cards

1. At the beginning of each rounds the students must put all there deer out on the game board choosing how many deer need water, food, and shelter)

2. the students must put at least one deer on each of the needs unless they have less than 5 deer; then they may distribute as the choose.

3. Once all cards are placed. The reader for the round draws and reads a scenario card.
Sample Scenario Card:
                                                                    Oh Deer!

A local farm has used pesticides that have leaked into the local river and poisoned the water. All deer that drank water this turn have died.

4. The students then take all the deer that have "died," and move them to the side. 

5. Students repeat steps 1-4 until all, but one player (the winner) has deer left.

Before the students played the game I asked them to take down observations in their Science notebooks about what happened to the deer in terms of quantity and well as how they died. 

After playing we went over key vocabulary from the cards and did a Science Reflection.

It was all a big hit and more importantly it increased the amount of students who mastered this standardized by an average of 40% per class. 

Here is a link of the printable (deer, cards, and game board) and ppt I used for FREE!! Happy planning, and keep having a great Summer!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5AmFXrzxffpTWN4aS1kUWt0Y2c/view?usp=sharing

Love,

Mrs. Beasley