Group items tagged

Observe, describe and ask questions about how changes in one part of an ecosystem create changes in other parts of the ecosystem 5.3.1

You might also want to add a "life science" tag to this activity to make it easier for your colleagues to find and use.

Very cool website.  This could be a place to discuss African American scientist, George Alcorn.  (invented the Imaging XRay Spectrometer.)  Black History Month opportunity

For use with the Science Process standard, Prediction.  This hands on activity would be useful with ESL, and the cooperative learning style would also help with ESL,and also be easy to differentiate g/t kids by allowing them to make a video or podcast of the daily weather and thew news.  If grants can be written, this would be a good one to take a field trip to a local television station 

1.1.2 Characterize materials as solid or liquid, investigate their properties, record observations and explain the choices to others based on evidence (i.e., physical properties). 1.1.3  Experiment with simple methods for separating solids and liquids based on their physical properties. Differentiation: Gifted students could do extended research on how people used to make butter in the pioneer days.  Have them note what was similar to how they made butter, and what was different.

This goes with the Blubber worksheet from the other website about Polar Bear Blubber.

Extension: This activity can connect math with social studies - use fabrics or objects from another culture. Adaptations: Gifted students can help Special Ed students by exploring together in small groups. EL students benefit from direct observation for context of objects.

The Design Process: Identify a need or problem to be solved; brainstorm potential solutions; throughout the entire design process, document the design with drawings (including labels) in a portfolio or notebook so that the process can be replicated; select a solution to the need or problem; select the most appropriate materials to develop a solution that will meet the need; evaluate and test the design. This activity can be adapted for gifted students by allowing them to first draw a blueprint of their model. This will allow them to make predictions and hypothesis about their cube model and their tag board model. These students can then record their observations and their conclusions about their final product. This activity can also be adapted for younger grades by giving the students more materials to help them balance their models. Also, allowing the younger students to work in partners, rather than pairs, will allow them to more freely express their ideas. Working with a partner will give each student the opportunity to make sure their ideas are heard. For younger students, omitting the blueprint may also be helpful. Rather, having the students simply draw a picture of their model with labels may be more appropriate.

Students ask questions about a variety of living things and everyday events that can be answered through shared observations.SC.K.4.1 2000Give examples of plants and animals.SC.K.4.2 2000Observe plants and animals, describing how they are alike and how they are different in the way they look and in the things they do.

5.1.2 "Describe the difference between weight and mass. Understand that weight is dependent on gravity and mass is the amount of matter in a given substance or material."

Extension: After completing the experiment with oil and water, students could experiment with other liquids and make a hypothesis whether or not the density of the two liquids will be the same or different.

SC.3.3 2000 - The Physical SettingStudents observe changes of the Earth and sky. They continue to explore the concepts of energy and motion.SC.3.3.1 2000Observe and describe the apparent motion of the sun and moon over a time span of one day.

5.4.2 "Investigate the purpose of prototypes and models when designing a solution to a problem and how limitations in cost and design features might affect their construction." This activity can be modified for gifted students by having them make predictions or recommendations about the types of materials that could be added to the boats to improve their design and function. The activity could be modified for younger grades by having them design only two boats and decide which one is better. This would be ideal, because younger students may take more time to build and design their boats.

This has some interesting variations to our pennies in the boat activity. I like the math connection with the bidding slip and making sure they save their boats for later comparisons.