Alexa's Elementary Science Methods Blog

What did you do in lab?   - This week in lab we modeled the three different kinds of rocks with starbursts. First, when creating the two models of the igneous rocks, we made the first one by heating warming it up and then letting it cool from the air, and the other one was made by warming it up and cooling it in cold water. Next, the sedimentary rocks were made by pushing one together with our hands, and stepping on the other one. Lastly, the metamorphic rocks were made warmed up, and one of them we pushed together with more pressure, and the other one we applied lighter pressure. In lab we also talked about assessments we give. It was emphasized that when we give assessments, the most important thing to observe is their learning and improvement they have made from the formative assessments to the summative assessments. What did you learn in lecture?   -  One of the things I learned about this week in lecture is the different types of weathering. The first type is mechani...

  What did you do in lab? This week in lab we worked on putting different events in order on a timeline as an introduction to geologic time. We started off by placing five different events on the timeline in the place where we thought they would fit. These five events were the first appearance of humans, when dinosaurs were on Earth, the first land plants as well as the first land animals, and lastly, the creation of the moon. Next, we used Earth Viewer to search for multiple events that took place and when they took place. Some events that we looked into were the first land plants, which took place 470 million years ago, as well as Pangaea which took place 300-200 million years ago.  What did you learn in lecture? Exam

What did you do in lab?  - This week in lab we presented our slideshow over the space topic we chose. My groups topic was black holes. Here is the link to our presentation: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1U_mbKomuz5pA6SSsrsdxWTUVqeJUFXOUEg0IDS85E54/edit?usp=sharing - While researching black holes, some big ideas I learned is that black holes are created at the end of a stars life and they grow bigger as they take in more matter. I also learned that the gravity compressed in a black hole prevents any kind of light from escaping, so this is why black holes can not be visibly seen. There are four different types of black holes: stellar, supermassive, intermediate, and miniature. We also got to listen to other presentations. These were origin of the universe, lifecycles of stars, origin of the earth, galaxies, past, present, and future of space travel, and black holes.  What did you learn in Thursday's lecture? - This week in lecture we began by talking about the orig...

What did you do in lab? What was the big question? - Big question: How big is the solar system? - This week in lab we created a model of the solar system, including the sun, the four inner planets (Mercury, Venus, Mars, Earth), and the moon. Our model included the specific sizes of the sun, planets, and moon, as well as the specific distance between them. We started by assigning our sun's diameter as 250mm, and the other sizes and distances were determined from that. To create our sun we drew it on a whiteboard, using the tape measurer to make it to scale. From there, we created mercury with playdough at 0.874mm at 10.41m away from the sun. Next we did Venus which was 2.174mm in size and 19.42m away from the sun. Then was Earth which ended up being 2.289mm in size and 26.86m away from the sun, with the moon being a short distance after the Earth. Lastly, we created mars at 1.2mm and 40.92m away from the sun.  What did you learn in Thursday's lecture? - This week in lecture we w...