Maggie Conrad's Elementary Science Methods Blog

  1. What did you do in the lab?    2. What was the big question?  3. What did you learn in Thursday's discussion?  4. Read the online textbook, Chapter 5           1. What did you learn?            2. What was most helpful?           3. What do you need more information on?  5. What questions, concerns, and/or comments do you have?           In the lab this week, we talked about when certain events happened. We talked about humans appearing, dinosaurs ruling the earth, the first land plants, the first land animals, and when the moon was created. We placed these on a timeline as to when we thought they occurred. We then looked into the formative assessment results. We then worked in groups and looked into a certain billion years. We looked into different important events during that time. We wrote it on a sticky note and then placed i...

  1. What did you do in the lab?    2. What was the big question?  3. What did you learn in Thursday's discussion?  4. Read the online textbook, Chapter 5           1. What did you learn?            2. What was most helpful?           3. What do you need more information on?  5. What questions, concerns, and/or comments do you have?        In lab this week we presented on our different topics. My group presented on the origin of the Earth. We heard about the origin of the universe, the lifecycles of stars, galaxies, black holes, and the exploration of space: past, present, and future. I learned more about how the earth is constantly shifting due to plate tectonics. I also learned that the shifting of the plates can cause different things like earthquakes, mountains, and trenches.  I also learned that there are 2 trillion different galaxies...

 1. What did you do in the lab?    2. What was the big question?  3. What did you learn in Thursday's discussion?  4. Read the online textbook, Chapter 5           1. What did you learn?            2. What was most helpful?           3. What do you need more information on?  5. What questions, concerns, and/or comments do you have?           In the lab this week, I was not in class but talking with my table group and looking at the slides, they did two formative assessments. They also reviewed last week's discussions about the sun and the moon. Then, they talked about our assignment that was due. It was an interview talking to Harvard graduates/staff and also high schoolers. One point that I remember is that if teachers assume that your past teachers taught you, they will just build off of what they assume you were taught. Also, ...

1. What did you do in the lab?    2. What was the big question?  3. What did you learn in Thursday's discussion?  4. Read the online textbook, Chapter 5           1. What did you learn?            2. What was most helpful?           3. What do you need more information on?  5. What questions, concerns, and/or comments do you have?        In the lab, we were given some questions to think about without googling. They were "How do the phases of the moon occur?" "What causes the seasons?" "What causes a lunar eclipse?" We got to think and jot down our ideas before we got to discuss them with groups. I had an easier time thinking of the first and the last questions, but the one about seasons was a bit more challenging for me.        My answer to the first question was "The sun causes only one part of the moon to be shown." I...

  The big question addressed in the lab, and a description of what you did. A description of what you learned in Thursday's lecture. Answer questions about the weekly textbook reading: What did you learn? What was most helpful? What do you need more information on? What questions/concerns/comments do you have?        The question that we addressed in the lab was "How can we design a safe and durable playground surface?" Our challenge for this lab was to prevent an egg from breaking when dropped from a height of 1 meter. Our groups got to pick what materials we got to use. My group decided to use plastic wrap, sand, and straw. We started with the sand at the bottom of the bowl and then topped it with a heavier layer of straw. We then put the plastic wrap surrounding the top of the bowl. We then dropped the egg from 1 meter. The egg ended up bouncing out of the bowl and cracking. We looked at our video and noticed it hit a weird spot on the bowl too. We decided we...

  The big question addressed in the lab, and a description of what you did. A description of what you learned in Thursday's lecture. Answer questions about the weekly textbook reading: What did you learn? What was most helpful? What do you need more information on? What questions/concerns/comments do you have?   The big question that was addressed in the lab was "What affects how long it takes for a swing to go back and forth." We looked into this question by doing an experiment on whether a rider's position affects how fast a swing goes back and forth.  Our question was "Does the position of a rider affect how fast a swing goes back and forth in 10 swings."  Our hypothesis was "If a rider is leaning back they will swing faster, but they will not go back and forth as much as someone who is fitting straight up.  We used a string, washers, a small pencil lead container, and a binder clip. We tested our question by using the washer at different spots in th...

  The big question addressed in the lab, and a description of what you did. A description of what you learned in Thursday's lecture. Answer questions about the weekly textbook reading: What did you learn? What was most helpful? What do you need more information on? What questions/concerns/comments do you have?  In the lab this week, we did an experiment about how certain variables affect how fast you go down a slide. You could choose from the clothing you wear, the steepness, rider weight, rider height, surface, and rain or sunshine. You were to work in your group and choose one variable to test. My group chose to test the steepness of the slide.       Our question to figure out was, "Does the steepness of a slide affect how fast a rider goes down the slide?"      We did five different tests all at different steepnesses. The tests were done at 0.55 meters, 0.75 meters, 1.0 meters, 1.7 meters, and 2.1 meters. We laid the "slide" on each part o...