Gummi Bears

This lab never ceases to fascinate the students.  We soak a Gummi Bear overnight in cold tap water and then observe the results.  I use this lab to teach the difference between qualitative vs. quantitative data. 
Someday, I hope to have a group of students who will investigate the reactions in other liquids.  I would love to know how they react in Kool-aid, salt-water, etc.

Drops on a Coin

One of the labs I am using to teach scientific method with this year is called "Drops on a Coin."  In this lab students design their own experiment to compare the number of drops of water that can be contained on a penny to the number on a nickle.  I allowed the students to come up with their own procedures which proved interesting, as some students didn't elaborate much at all on how to get the drops on the coins nor did they allow for repetition.  How do you teach scientific method?

Week One: What Does a Scientist Look Like and What Do They Do?

I want to share with you some very nice drawings from an activity I did the third day of school.  I called it, "What does a scientist look like and what do they do?"  Yes, I know there is a bit of a grammar issue with that question but I didn't want to cause any additional bias among my students by say "and what does he/she do?"  After the students posted their drawings, we did a "Gallery Walk" looking for similarities and differences among the drawings.  Out of 132 completed drawings roughly 90% were drawn as men with crazy wild hair blowing things up as they wore a lab coat.  I teach 9th graders I expected them to have a better  perception of scientists than they have.  Do you do anything to dispel the stereotypical scientist in your students minds?

  We discussed many nature of science concepts during the week and will continue these next week.  "Drops on a Penny, Apple Observations, Candle Observations, Ghost Crystals and Gummi Bears", gonna be a hugely busy week.

Welcome Back!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am excited to be back at school.  I have that same nervous, anxious feeling that I had on the 1st day of my 1st year as a teacher. I continue to learn new things and get very excited to share what I have learned with others.  I hope that my students are able to see and feel how much I love what I do.
This "picture" was created using Wordle.  If you haven't seen it check it out, play around with it, learn something new.