Welcome back from Thanksgiving break! Today in integrated science class, students reviewed some notes covering the introductory concepts surrounding energy and energy transformations (Energy Notes14 01 , thanks Mr. Forrest). Students discovered that energy is more important as a book-keeping tool to help us figure out other things like height, mass, and velocity through the use of the energy calculations. Students also received some instruction on open and closed systems. Tomorrow we’ll be continuing systems, learning about energy conservation, and then figuring out how to calculate energy.

Science 8 students began class today by receiving back some old work, and answering the bell-ringer question of what type of plate boundary will create trenches, earthquakes, and tall volcanic mountain ranges (Oceanic to continental convergent boundaries). For the remainder of class, students conferenced about missing, late, and redo assignments, and also spent time finishing the 4th set of their Earth Science Vocab.

HOMEWORK: Integrated=None
Science 8= finish Earth Science Vocab set 4 by Wednesday.

During integrated science today, some students finished up a question or two on their tests, while the class worked together to solve a difficult challenge. Based on the spring labs this week, students tried to make two cars attached to different springs move at the same velocity. The challenge of this was that students had to make the springs create the same forces as one another by pulling them back differently. The students worked to figure out how to match the forces, and tried several options. However, all students failed. Why? Shouldn’t the same force on the same mass accelerate both cars the same? Students learned that the springs change their force output as they contract again, so the amount of force is not always the same. On Monday, students will get a small clue to help them achieve their goal.

Students in science 8 read a few paragraphs from their textbook about plate movement (caused by convection currents), and then also viewed and discussed several plate boundary animations. The students discussed what features are created at each boundary, and why, and then also were asked to create explanations as to why the plates move the ways they do. Students then worked on the Finding the Tectonic Plates Lab.  However, there were no computers today, so students used the Students will be using a file called the Plate Boundary Evidence Maps. Students will finish the lab over the weekend at home using the Dynamic Earth (no plate lines)kmz file, or the Interactive Geology World Map.

HOMEWORK: Integrated=None
Science 8= Finding the Tectonic Plates Lab (may use the Interactive Geology World Map instead of Google Earth).

Today in integrated science, students shared their work with the Colored Spring Lab and we discussed what their results meant. We discovered that each of the colored Springs had its own stiffness that was represented by its slope on our graphs. The units for the slope were in N/cm, meaning that 0.5 N/cm slope meant that each 0.5 Newtons of force stretched the springs by 1 cm.  Afterwards, students were challenged to take the 5 springs and put them in order of their strength.

In science 8 class,  students began with the bell ringer question of, “How do we know where the tectonic plates are?” Students who have begun notecards know that at plate boundaries, certain features are created. The location of these features can help students know where the plate boundaries are. After this introduction, we reviewed the Finding the Tectonic Plates Lab. Students will be using a file called the  Dynamic Earth (no plate lines) kmz file that overlays certain geological data onto a Google Earth planet. Students will be working in the next few days to discover features around the earth that tell scientists where the plate boundaries actually are.

HOMEWORK: Integrated= study for your test Thursday, review day tomorrow
Science 8= Earth Science Vocab Set 3 due Wednesday

Today in integrated science, students began learning about forces from springs in our Colored Spring Lab, which will be due tomorrow.

Students in Science 8 classes turned in their retake quizzes from the weekend and then used the Puzzle Pieces and Fossil Evidence worksheet to see how Wegener fit several pieces of evidence together to hypothesize the existence of Pangea. The remainder of class was used by students to take a week 13 quiz retake and/or finish the  Earth Science Vocab Set 3.

HOMEWORK: Integrated= finish the Colored Spring Lab
Science 8= Earth Science Vocab Set 3 due Wednesday

Today in class, students in integrated finished discussing the Force Fields WS, and we showed how field lines will show the force direction and also direction of motion for objects placed within that field. Students also began looking at a Colored Spring Lab, which will help us look at the forces created by springs.

Students in science 8 classes graded their reading questions from the “Ocean of the Future” reading. Students then took a quiz over their Plate Tectonic Theory notes  and the Plate Tectonic Theory powerpoint, and the notecards from this week.

HOMEWORK: Integrated= Test over forces Thursday
Science 8= None

Plate Tectonic Theory notes       Plate Tectonic Theory powerpoint

Newton’s Laws Homework    Force Fields WS

Integrated students finished debating the results of the Hover puck and bowling ball lab NL1 2015 . Student discussions in general did very well, and so we then moved into discussions of the Newton’s Laws Homework. We will also be working on explaining the Force Fields WS, and we may practice tomorrow with Magnetic Field, Electric Field,  Electric Field of Dreams, Electric Field Hockey.

Science 8 students worked today to finish their 2nd set of Earth Science Vocab. Tomorrow, we’ll be learning about the history of Plate Tectonic Theory.

HOMEWORK: Integrated= Finish the Force Fields WS. Test next Wednesday over Forces.
Science 8=Earth Science Vocab set 2 due tomorrow.

Integrated science moved towards the end of their Hover puck and bowling ball lab NL1 2015 discussions today. They also received the Force Fields WS, and may want to practice with Magnetic Field, Electric Field,  Electric Field of Dreams, Electric Field Hockey.

Science 8 students traded and graded their week 12 quiz over earth’s interior evidence. Students then reviewed the Earth’s Interior diagrams and questions diagrams on shadow zones, which we’ll continue to review this week. Afterwards, students worked on the second set of Earth Science Vocab, which is due Wednesday.

HOMEWORK: Integrated= Force Fields WS due Wednesday, test on Forces Friday.
Science 8=  Earth Science Vocab set 2 due Wednesday.