October 23, 2012

It has been a while since my last post.  That is a sign of how busy things have been in the lab(and a personal battle with a cold virus).

In the last two weeks, Sixth Grade has been studying Plate Tectonics.  They used the cracked shells on hard boiled eggs to model what happens as the plates move around.  Chocolate pudding cups and graham crackers were used to model eruption of lava in sea floor spreading.  Looking at the cross section of an apple gave them a representation of the layers of the Earth.  Using cut outs of the continents, students moved the "plates" on Earth as they would through time.  Today they watched a demonstration of the impact of heat on the movement of fluids, this modeled the movement of magma in the Earth's mantle.  Next it is on to the study of earthquakes.

Fifth Grade was in the lab today for an introduction to atomic structure.  They used tiddlywinks of different colors to represent the location of subatomic particle in an atom.  The terms they used were atom, atomic number, atomic mass, atomic nucleus, proton, neutron and electron.

Last week Fourth Grade used the new Vernier Heart Rate probes and Lab Quest to explore how their heart rate changes with activity (or lack of activity). The spent some time getting acquainted with the device and preparing their hypothesis and data table, then Mr. Weaver guided them through the data collection portion during PE.  Students each selected which activity to do and recorded their heart rate before and after that activity.

After school, STEM Club has been investigating a variety of things including magnetism, legos and lego robotics, worms, frogs, lizards, guinea pig and rabbit, pond water, rubber band rockets, zing wings and design drawings.  One group of students have been exploring prosthetic limbs.  The even had a science sleepover and assembled a model of a prosthetic arm, complete with straw fingers that bend at the "joints".  With the help of their parent they viewed a video tour of a local prosthetic manufacturer.

Last Thursday I forgot to cover the frog cage after STEM Club.  When I returned Saturday, after recovering from my virus,  I discovered the frog had escaped.  I thoroughly searched the room with no luck.  I cam to the conclusion that it was stuck behind a wall and most likely dead.  This morning during Geometry class a couple students noticed movement by the recycling collection container and alerted me.  There was the frog hiding behind a plastic bag.  It is now safely back in the aquarium.

October 9, 2012

The STEM Club has begun.  There were more students than stools yesterday at our inargrual meeting of the CHPCS STEM Club!  A list of citizen science opportunities was presented and also a list of competitions and contests.  Both are available in the right margin of this web page.

Students filled out a survey of their interest areas in science, the survey had space for students to add areas not listed.  If you missed the meeting click on STEM Club Area of Interest Survey and send the information back to g.brunning@chpcs.org.

The meetings are scheduled for Mondays 3:45pm to 4:45pm, but due to number of students the possibility of an additional day is being developed and an email announcement will be sent tomorrow.

Thank you to the parents that were able to come to the meeting and help facilitate the different groups of interest.  If you have an interest in science, engineering, technology and or math and would like to help at one or many meetings, your time contribution will be greatly appreciated.  Email your interest and availability to g.bruning@chpcs.org.

A reminder to parents and students, science is about a search for knowledge and technology is the application of the knowledge.  We are capable of many things do to science, however not all those things belong in the hands of those who lack training and safety gear.  So please talk to your students about the importance of keeping others safe as well as ourselves.  STEM Club is not a safe place for students to use explosive or dangerous chemicals.  Anything that has potential for harm if mishandled is only allowed to be transported and demonstrated by or used in the presence of a trained adult and must be pre-authorized by Ms. Brunning.

Science is awesome and I am excited to be joining your children on this journey of discovery!

October 3, 2012

Applied Superconductivity Conference's Outreach Day

Is your student interested in physics, chemistry and or engineering? Next week there is an Applied Superconductivity Conference at the Oregon Convention Center and they are offering a Public Outreach Day on Wednesday October 10th from 1-4:30 pm. 

Information is available at www.ascinc.org/outreach.  and at  Applied Superconductivity Educational Outreach Day Flyer.

Note that admission is free but a badge must be picked up at the registration desk.
For the demos they will have 20 tables set up with exhibits from Mad Science, OMSI, and by Applied Superconductivity (of superconducting cables, mag lev devices) and Hitachi is bringing in an SEM.  In addition there will be conducted tours of the exhibits for participants.
Although this is during the school day, it is a unique opportunity for your interested student.  With such short notice the school is unable to conduct a field trip, however, because it is a great educational opportunity ,if possible parents are encouraged to take their students to this event.

CHPCS STEM CLUB-if you are interested in science, technology engineering and or math, come check out STEM Club, after school on Mondays 3:45 to 4:45 in the science lab.

In the lab....
Yesterday 4th grade did a blood typing activity using simulated blood.  They tested unknown "blood" samples with simulated "Antibody A" and "Antibody B".  They wore their lab coats as would a lab technician conducting the actual test in a lab.  As a class the students also played an online simulation on blood typing. You can access the game at The Blood Typing Game.    Next week 4th grade will be back to do a lab activity on the human heart.