Engaging in Guided Inquiry

Question: How does the steepness of a slope and mass affect a collision outcome?

Prediction: The steeper the slope, the harder the collision. The greater the mass, the harder the collision.

Procedure: We constructed a ramp with two thick books, a cardboard ramp, and two planks of wood to create a track. The three toy cars were the same; one was the collision car, one was the control car, and one was the car with heavier mass. We used pennies to make the car heavier.

Results:
Control car with ramp at 2 3/16": collision car traveled an average of 29 inches.
Control car with ramp at 4 1/4": collision car traveled an average of 68 inches.

Weighted car with ramp at 2 3/16": collision car traveled an average of 40.5 inches.
Weighted car with ramp at 4 1/4" : collision car traveled an average of 68 inches.

Our prediction was correct! The steepness of the slope and/or the mass of the vehicle will cause a harder collision.

Doing this experiment with my 11 year old son and 8 year old daughter was a lot of fun - we were all engaged in the learning experience. By doing the hands-on activity, it reinforced for us the concepts of mass, momentum, velocity, and Newton's second law of motion.

I think that doing this in a classroom would be a worthwhile endeavor; however, I think that I would first be sure to do plenty of activities based on confirmation inquiry and structured inquiry. This would give my students the foundational skills needed to facilitate a guided inquiry experiment.

This experiment would relate to my students' daily lives because of their familiarity with cars and car accidents. They could also apply this knowledge to something less dangerous - the slides! The steeper the slide, the greater their momentum, which would explain why most students go a lot slower on the spiral slide than the straight slide.

Providing students with inquiry-based instruction, and gradually increasing student involvement in the experiments and investigations, will help our students become better at problem solving, critical thinking, and observation.

Click here for a link to my video of the experiment - I hope you enjoy it!

Structured Inquiry Lesson

I have found that involving students through active questioning is a great way to pique students' interest and stimulate their analytical thinking skills. Structured inquiry lessons encourage students to generate their own hypotheses based on their observations and experimentation; however, they are supported by questioning from the teacher.
I conducted a scientific investigation into the polarity concept of magnets. I found the lesson in an AIMS book called "Mostly Magnets" (AIMS, 1991). The activity is designed to allow students to experiment and observe the repelling and attracting behaviors of magnets. To trigger prior knowledge, I first created a magnet center in which the students could explore with a variety of magnets. Then, after a questioning session to focus the students' investigation, they each received a pencil and several O-ring magnets. They experimented with using two or three magnets; they then worked with their desk partners to use more magnets on one pencil. The students quickly realized that sometimes the magnets would repel each other and sometimes they would stick together; they also discovered that if they stuck two or more magnets together and then put another magnet with the same polarity, it would bounce higher and "float" higher than if it was put above just one magnet.
As extension activities and as a method of differentiation, I gave my students a list of assignments that they can do to represent their knowledge of magnets. Some examples are - Powerpoint presentations, schematic drawings, an essay, a video, or a photo journal entry.
One thing that I discovered was that most of my students understood the concept of repelling and attracting; however, the concept of polarity was still unclear for a few students. Next year, I plan to do a "jigsaw" type of cooperative learning activity using the science textbook to enhance the students' understanding of polarity before beginning the actual science experiment.


AIMS Education Foundation. (1991). Mostly magnets. AIMS Education Foundation.

Iceberg Experiment

Global Warming Experiment
For this week’s assignment, I had to conduct an experiment with ice cubes. First, I put some ice cubes into a bowl and let them sit in the freezer overnight. Then, I filled up the bowl with water, all the way to the top, and left it until the ice melted. My prediction was that the bowl would not overflow with water, since the melted water from the ice would simply replace the amount of space taken up by the ice cubes.
That being said, the world’s glaciers are not actually immersed in the water but rather rise above it; therefore, if a glacier melts, it would in fact be adding water to the oceans. Global warming can have severe repercussions for every continent, and it may not be as far in the future as people might think. “Seventy-five percent of the world's fresh water is stored in glaciers, but scientists predict climate change will cause some of the world's largest glaciers to completely melt by 2030” (NOW on PBS, 2010).
Scientists have predicted widespread flooding if the world’s icecaps melt and “even a modest rise in sea levels could cause flooding problems for low-lying coastal areas…[and] if the West Antarctic Ice Sheet were to melt and collapse into the sea, it would push sea levels up more than 32 feet” (Strickland & Grabianowski, 2005). One fact that I did not know about is that the oceans’ waters would actually expand if warmed, therefore causing more flooding on top of the glacial melting. In fact, “thermal expansion has already raised the oceans 4 to 8 inches” (Lovgren, 2004). Additionally, global warming could proceed at a faster pace because there would be less ice to reflect the sun’s rays.
As I conducted this experiment, I wondered about a couple of things related to global warming:
1 – Is global warming a natural phenomena that has been “helped along” by pollution and disregard for the environment?
2 – So many ice caps have already collapsed, and clearly it is happening at a faster and faster pace so it begs the question of if this is a problem that can be repaired, or are the wheels already in motion?
3 – Would changing variables change the outcome of the experiment, and how? For example, if I aimed a fan at the bowl of water and ice and/or increased or decreased the temperature of the water, would those actions have an effect on the experiment?
Although there are some naysayers who believe that global warming is simply overstated hysteria, it seems clear to me based on scientific research and data that we have a significant event occurring on this planet. If it is at all possible to rectify the problem, all of us are duty-bound to do whatever it takes to reverse this global warming and its catastrophic effects.

References:
Lovgren, S. (2004). Warming to Cause Catastrophic Rise in Sea Level? National Geographic News. Retrieved on May 20, 2010 from http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/04/0420_040420_earthday.html
Strickland, Jonathan, and Ed Grabianowski. "How Global Warming Works." 21 April 2005. HowStuffWorks.com. Retrieved from on May 23, 2010.

STEM Lesson

Creating a science lesson based on STEM - science, technology, engineering, and math - was more challenging than I thought it would be. I decided to use a lesson on plants that I've used with my second-graders. The lesson actually takes place over several weeks, as we experimented with what happens to plants when exposed to different conditions - no light versus light, on the side versus right-side up, etc. The students work as a whole class, individually, and in small groups as they learn about plants, make predictions, and observe the changes that take place. They also record measurement data in their science journals for future analysis during math time. The students create a Power Point about the experiments as a final project.
The lesson plan template provided by Walden helped with planning the lesson, and I definitely was more thoughtful and intentional in my approach to the curriculum. Thinking about the 5 E's was beneficial as I had to plan the steps of engagement, exploration, explanation, elaboration, and evaluation. Since I usually just plan out my lessons based on what I want the students to learn, this step of using the template did take more time than I am used to, but I felt that the lesson was more rigorous and addressed more learning styles (along with more cooperative learning, which the students really enjoyed!).
I had difficulty integrating engineering into my lesson and I hope to do some more research into this aspect of STEM. I'd also love to solicit comments and suggestions from my fellow bloggers!

Happy Mother's Day!
One great way to add some science into a Mother's Day art project is to have your students plant flowers in a pot that they have decorated. I start a plant unit in April by reading plant books, bringing in extra plants for the students to look at, and doing several experiments with plants. We also plant a seed into the Mother's Day pot and put the pots in a sunny windowsill so that they can be just about ready to bloom in time for Mother's Day.
Each student gets a plant packet with diagrams of plant anatomy, descriptions of the plant life cycle, and scientist observation logs. The students draw pictures of their plants every few days so that they can see the changes that the plants undergo as they grow. We also make a plant book where I will bring in enough flowers so that every student gets one. They "dissect" the plant and tape each part - stem, leaf, petal, etc. onto separate pages and write a description underneath the plant part. On the cover of the plant book they draw and color a picture of their flower.
The flower book, the plant packet, and of course the Mother's Day flower pot are always a big hit with the kids and their parents!

My First Blog

Greetings! I am a second-grade teacher in San Diego, CA. I am taking a course, Nature of Science, for my master's degree, and I will be blogging here about teaching, and of course science.
For me, science is one of the most motivating subjects to teach. My students love doing experiments and working in groups with hands-on activities. Teaching about life cycles really opens their eyes to the wonders of nature, and my students develop a greater sense of respect for their environment.
One science unit that is always a big hit with my students is what I call "Bugology." First, I let the students explore a variety of nonfiction books about insects. Then I will read several books to them, and we'll discuss what makes an insect an insect. After my students have a good solid foundation in insect anatomy, life cycles, eating habits, etc. they get to invent their own bug! The new bug has to have correct insect anatomy with the mouthparts matching what they eat. For example, if a student invents a bug that sips puddle water, the mouthparts have to have a sipping apparatus instead of jaws designed for chewing leaves. Also, the anatomy has to match the bug's habitat (to show understanding of adaptation) and the size has to be representative of typical insects - no giganto bugs that are the size of people, although my students would LOVE to do that, trust me!
For a writing assignment, the students will write paragraphs - one paragraph describes the physical appearance of the bug, the next paragraph will describe the bug's life cycle, another paragraph will describe the eating habits, and so on. They will put their writing assignment next to a drawing of their bug and voila - an awesome display for a science bulletin board!

I am looking forward to sharing more science lessons and ideas on my new blog!