Jasmyn 4-17

The group tried to decide on a song to put into the strawberry DNA extraction iMovie.  We had fun picking a song.  Then Patrick and Rebecca tweaked the movie. 

We also verified what supplies and our group PLC description for our showcase.

I recently did the DNA extraction in my class, so I am excited for the kids to have the adults do it. I think it will be fun.  I just hope the adults don't complain like my kids. The kids did not like swishing salt water in their mouths.  We tried the experiment with dyed, room temperature alcohol and with cooled alcohol. It worked about the same, but I think the kids like the died alcohol because it looked neat.  I think I will do the activity with strawberries next year. 

Group blog 4-3

We filled out the PLC information sheet and talked about our presentation.  Peter also demonstrated his activity for his the showcase. 

3 April 2013, Steve Di Obilda
     American History student's in one class were assigned to research the causes of the Great Depression by using primary resources, video and computer access. Introduced them to Learn 360.

Jasmyn 3-27

Tomorrow Ms. Coleman and I are going to do an epidemic simulation. The kids will each receive a test tube with a weak acid. One of these tubes will have a different acid and will be the infected person.  The students will trade fluid and we will record it in a Google doc.  After each student has traded three times, we will test the tubes. If they turn yellow, they are not infected. If they turned pink, they are infected.  The students will then have to analyze the results and see if they can determine who was the original infected person.  I hope it goes well. I will let you know next week. 

Ms. Maloney and Rebecca Troyer are creating an iMovie on student led investigations.  The students in Ms. Maloneys class are doing the research and finding the images for it.

The rest of the group is getting their individual projects done for the showcase in May.

Ross 3/27

My physical science classes recently did the inquiry I use for introducing chemistry- figuring out what causes universal indicator to change colors.  As usual, this didn't go quite as well for physical science as it does for chemistry- these students don't have the biology background to understand how to create extra carbon dioxide, since that's usually a test the students decide on doing.    It may be worthwhile in the future to extend the activity for a day for some guided background research once the class decides to look at CO2. 

Chemistry has been doing more mini-inquiries.  Tomorrow they get to choose an aspect of ionic compounds to investigate by making their own changes to a lab we start by doing together.  With a more linear inquiry like this, I hope to leverage the deeper content knowledge of the members of this class.

3/27 - Kluthe Blog

My environmental science class has been working on a collaborative biome research project. Each group chose a biome to research and present as a vacation package to the rest of the class. Each group member had a certain job (zoologist, botanist, geographer or meteorologist) and specialized in a certain aspect of the biome research. They'll present their projects tomorrow and we will vote on the best vacation package.

My biology class will be building models of DNA and using techniques to observe strands of their own DNA! On Friday, we'll be acting out the process of DNA replication and going through some online tutorials.