November 30, 2012

Another big day in the science lab.
The seventh grade completed an investigation into the amount of sodium bicarbonate required for a complete reaction with acetic acid in vinegar.  They were introduced to chemical formulas, chemical equations, moles, molar mass, pH, acids, bases, and how to write a lab report.  They hypothesized what the best amount of sodium bicarbonate would be for a complete reaction with the acetic acid in 25mL of vinegar.  The results based on the gas produced were not too accurate but the pH test of the resulting solutions were right on for most groups.  They were assigned to complete the lab report for Thursday, December 6.

The first grade came in to prepare their pumpkins for mummification.  The cleaned out the "guts" of the pumpkin and saved the seeds in their canopic container to represent the organs.  The pumpkins were filled with a mixture of salt, baking soda and kitty litter to facilitate the process of drying.  The pumpkins will sit covered in the mixture and newspaper.

After school students who came for the STEM Club were working on a number of ideas. One group was building LEGO cars and using magnets to make them move.  Another group was building a paper airplane model.  Some students were working with the Mindstorm LEGO Robotics set.  A large group of younger students were making crystals with the help of our high school volunteer, Tate Hammersly.  One student was working on building the KNEX roller coaster. Green Team members were also present, working on up-cycled crafts for the CRAFT FAIR this Saturday.

Also this week, eighth grade students used the motion detectors and LabQuest interfaces to learn about acceleration and velocity.

Ms. Brunning did not make it out to lunch recess today to meet with students about their science research projects. She will be out for lunch recesses all next week until she has connected with everyone. The deadline for Assignment 2 that was Dec 3 will be extended to Dec 6.

One last note, OMSI will be offering LEGO classes over the holiday and winter break.
For information go to :  http://www.omsi.edu/classes

SPACE CAMP INFORMATION

Space Camp is open to students 9-18 years old. There are three different age groupings:
Space Camp grades 4-6
Space Academy grades 7-9
Advanced Space Academy grades 10-12
The facility is at the US Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama. 
The 6 day sessions occur once each season.
For more information go to:  http://www.spacecamp.com/camp/sc
For scholarship information go to:  http://www.spacecamp.com/scholarships/
Scholarship applications must be postmarked by December 14, 2012.

November 13, 2012

The Science Lab has been a busy place!
     On Friday, the fifth grade conducted an investigation into the properties of play goo that results with varying amounts of ingredients.  They made flubber, flak and slimy stuff.  The learned that the more Borax you add to the glue water the more solid and less sticky the play goo becomes.  Mrs. Brunning learned to always put down paper on the desk before ever doing this experiment again.

     On Thursday, the fourth grade had a guest presentation by Dr. Perkins.  She spoke about the function and structure of the human body, especially the liver, gall bladder and spleen.  She had a model of a liver with normal and diseased sections.  Students also viewed fresh beef liver sections.

     Seventh grade used an interactive tutorial at http://learner.org/interactives/periodic/index.htm l to review what they had studied about atoms and the periodic table.
     Sixth grade has been using an interactive all last week and today from the same site to review the "Dynamic Earth", introduce "Volcanoes" and the "Rock Cycle".  The links are at:
 http://www.learner.org/interactives/dynamicearth/
http://www.learner.org/interactives/volcanoes/
http://www.learner.org/interactives/rockcycle/index.html

This site has a number of interesting interactives in a variety of disciplines and grade levels, just go to:  http://www.learner.org/interactives/   and search.

Today, the middle school math students participated in the American Mathematics Competition.  The competition is national and involves taking a test of 25 multiple choice math problems.  They will be scored by the Mathematical Association of America and ranked nationally and at the school level.  Results will be available next month.  This is a competition we chose to have students participate in to get a better sense of their math ability on a larger scale.

Next week is Night of the Notables and Wax Museum.  Science Fair will move forward after that event is complete, the main focus right now is preparing for Night of the Notables and Wax Museum. 
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