September 30

Today in class, students in Integrated watched a short video to help them Visualize Gravity, so that we can understand better why gravity is not a force itself. Afterwards, students traded and graded their Force Diagrams , and then used the rest of class as a workshop to practice force diagrams with the Free Body Diagrams worksheet, which is homework for tomorrow.

Science 8 students spent time in class gathering and analyzing data on weight and mass for the Newton’s 2nd Law Lab (spring scale lab). Period 4 almost completely finished the lab, while all other classes will still have some time tomorrow to complete the lab graph and questions. Students tonight should continue working on the PhET simulations Newton’s second law worksheet, which is due Friday (use the PhET Forces and Motion Basics Simulation).

HOMEWORK: Integrated= Free Body Diagrams
Science 8=PhET simulations Newton’s second law worksheet due Friday (use the PhET Forces and Motion Basics Simulation).

September 29

Today in class, students worked in Integrated science on finalizing the Force Diagram Notes and practicing how to do force diagrams. Student tonight will also work on the Force Diagrams worksheet.

Science 8 students began class today with a bell ringer asking them to complete two pre-lab questions from the Newton’s 2nd Law Lab (spring scale lab). Students also answered a question on how to make a NASCAR vehicle go faster, which produced several interesting ideas. Afterwards, we reviewed a short simulation from the PhET Forces and Motion Basics Simulation just to readdress some misconceptions over the topic. Students will finish the PhET simulations Newton’s second law worksheet by Friday. Finally, we began discussions of the second law of motion and its application to sports in particular, including a short video over the application to Football kicking. Students then received instruction on the Newton’s 2nd Law Lab (spring scale lab) and began collecting data in some classes. This lab will allow us to see what accelerations are produced by weight.

HOMEWORK: Integrated=Force Diagrams  (Force Diagrams Video for help)
Sciencec8= PhET Forces and Motion Basics Simulation

September 28

Today in class, students in integrated science began to work on learning about Newton’s 1st law of motion and began taking Force Diagram Notes to learn how to make force diagrams.

 

Science 8 students spent time working on the Forces and Motion Simulation (PhET) and filling out the PhET simulations Newton’s second law worksheet to wrap up Newton’s 1st law, and begin 2nd law. Some students took some extra instruction before their retake of the week 6 quiz.

HOMEWORK: None

September 23

Today in integrated science, students reviewed for their test tomorrow, which will cover the whole motion unit.

Science 8 continued work on their Hover puck and bowling ball lab NL1 2015. They also have a quiz tomorrow on Newton’s first law, so a review sheet was handed out to practice (with answers).

HOMEWORK: Integrated=study for test
Science 8= read Soccer Smarts. Review practice sheet, quiz tomorrow on Newton’s 1st Law

 

Force Diagrams Video

September 23

Today in class, students in integrated science continued to share, analyze, and stress out over their data from the falling objects lab. Some students concluded that the objects fall at a constant velocity, some said that the objects accelerate, and some said that the objects accelerate and then maintain a constant velocity, or CV then A. Tomorrow we’ll have a review for our test, and then Friday we will have our motion unit test.

In Science 8, students reviewed the answers for questions 5-8 on the Free Body Diagrams worksheet. Afterwards, students were given some instruction on Newton’s 1st law of motion, and then began the Hover puck and bowling ball lab NL1 2015. Tomorrow, we’ll be completing the lab, and then working on preparing for our Friday quiz.

HOMEWORK: Integrated=Prepare for motion test on Friday, review old quizzes, labs, and homework.
Science 8= None

September 22

Today in Integrated Science class, student began by answering three questions covering  Galileo’s Experiments last night. Afterwards, students prepared and shared their data from the falling objects lab, which will continue tomorrow.

Science 8 students began with a  different bell ringer question which asked them to create a force diagram for a man parachuting at constant velocity. Afterwards, each table group was given the challenge of whiteboarding one question from our Free Body Diagrams worksheet. We then challenged the class to present the boards and make sure the answers were all correct within a given time period and without help from Mr. Ross. All of this was done for a ticket towards the Sophie trophy. Tonight for homework, students must correct and/or finish any problems on the back side of the Free Body Diagrams worksheet (excluding #9).

HOMEWORK: Integrated= Study for test Friday on Acceleration , constant velocity, graphs, motion maps, and algebraic expressions/calculations.
Science 8= finish Free Body Diagrams , excluding #9.

September 21

Today in class, integrated science students began with their retakes of the week 5 quiz, and then finished up data collection and argument analysis for their presentation tomorrow on whether falling objects accelerate or move at a constant velocity (or both). Students tonight will need to do the Falling Objects and Inclined Planes portions of the interactive for Galileo’s Experiments.

Science 8 students began with a bell ringer that showed 3 force diagrams today and asked for students to determine what the motions of the objects were. Students recalled that the motion of objects under balanced forces will move at a constant velocity, and unbalanced forces lead to acceleration. Students then traded and graded their Force Diagrams worksheet. For the remainder of the period, students finished up the Force Diagram Notes , and then worked on Free Body Diagrams worksheet (except number 9).

HOMEWORK: Integrated=do the Falling Objects and Inclined Planes portions of the interactive for Galileo’s Experiments. Test on motion Friday.
Science 8= Finish the Free Body Diagrams, all except #9 in period 3 and 4, only #’s 1-4 in periods 6 and 7.

Force Diagrams Video

September 18

Today in class, students in Integrated began working on their week 5 quiz covering velocity vs. time graphs and acceleration. Afterwards, they worked for the remainder of the period on finding out whether falling objects accelerate or move at a constant velocity.

Students in 8th grade science also began class with their week 5 quiz over graphs, motion maps, and newton’s laws 1 and 2. While they were working on the quiz, the students had their Force Diagrams homework checked by the teacher. Afterwards, we began learning how we can determine the motion of an object from a force diagram (Force Diagram Notes). Students can watch the Force Diagrams Video for review but they will work on the Free Body Diagrams worksheet for homework, but only questions 1 and 2.

HOMEWORK: Integrated= none
Science 8= Review Force Diagrams worksheet for Monday.   Watch the Force Diagrams Video or review the Force Diagram Notes for help. (Period 4 only: Free Body Diagrams, 1 and 2).

September 17

Today in class, students in Integrated began class by grading the Calculating Acceleration HW. Students in period 2 actually had a short time to review the process to approach these problems though. Afterwards, students began making observations of a falling object, and then began investigating whether object fall at a constant velocity or an acceleration. Tonight for homework, students will read the article The Winning Edge about a skier who uses Newton’s Laws to help him compete. They will also do 1.3 Constant Velocity worksheet 3.

Science 8 students worked on looking at 6 demonstration setups for our frictionless carts, and determined whether the objects in each situation moved at a constant velocity of an acceleration. Students learned that balanced forces on an object produce a constant velocity, while unbalanced forces cause objects to accelerate. For homework, students will work on the Force Diagrams homework.

HOMEWORK: Integrated= quiz tomorrow on velocity vs. time graphs, acceleration. Read and do questions for The Winning Edge.      1.3 Constant Velocity worksheet 3
Science 8= Quiz tomorrow on creating motion maps, graphs, and written descriptions from a data set, and two questions on Newton’s Laws of motion 1 and 2. Finish the Force Diagrams homework.