It’s time to start thinking about the Science Fair!

The Science Fair will be on Wednesday, April 25th!

6th and 7th graders will create their own scientific experiments to perform at home and present on the day of the Science Fair. 8th graders can choose to do a Science Fair project or create their own Invention!

The first deadline:Topic brainstorm-due Monday, Feb. 12 for ALL BLOCKS!

All students have been given the following information:

Science Fair info and timeline
Topic brainstorm worksheet

For 8th graders:

Invention info
Invention brainstorm worksheet

The hardest part is finding a topic.  The brainstorm is meant to help you think of a few.  I’ve mentioned a few websites in the handout.  Sometimes the websites offer science fair “topics” that aren’t really experiments.  Watch out for these!  Also surveys are not science experiments.  We’ll talk about this more in class.

Building Roller coasters

Each table group was given the same materials and the same task:

Build a roller coaster with two hills and one loop!

The entire roller coaster had to be free-standing except they could hold one portion of it.  The marble also had to stay on the track.  We didn’t want any marble roller coaster riders to land on their heads!

Rule #1 of Roller coaster building:

The 1st hill has to be the tallest (and the scariest!)

Here’s a little taste of what they made in class.  Just click on these pictures for a larger view.  I will print out pictures for class display.   It was an awesome project!

                                            
                           

If you’d like to build one at home, here are some simple materials:

• Pipe insulation (just cut it in half and it makes a perfect curve)
• A handful of marbles (we lost a few in class)
• Lots of blue painter’s tape

**Annakai told me that she built one in her house with two loops!  Anybody want to try for three loops?!  Have fun!

Homework for the Week of Jan 29th

Students have been broken up into small groups at their table to research a type of energy source. I have handed out their initial research. They must fill out the Energy Resource Research sheet for the following class. We will be using the laptops for further research and for making posters about the energy source.

Due date:

Block I: next Monday, Feb 5

Block II: Friday, Feb 2

Block III: next Monday, Feb 5

**I’ll post the pics from the roller coaster building later today!

Dense gas performs an amazing act!

The gas placed into the container in this video is sulfur hexafluoride.  It is a colorless, odorless, non-toxic & non-flammable gas.  It is five times denser than the air around us.  Sulfur hexafluoride has many uses– a gas insulator, semiconductor, a tracer gas, a contrast agent for ultrasounds, and it is used surgery to repair detached retinas.  It is also a potent greenhouse gas.

Thanks to Gordon (Isaac’s dad) for this video link!

Homework for the Week of Jan. 22nd

1) Read “Conservation of Energy”

2) Read “Roller Coaster History”

3) Complete HW#18: We all scream for energy!

Due date:

Block I: Wed

Block II: Tuesday

Block III: Thursday

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3) Read “Energy Resources”

4)HW#19: Energy Source

Block I: next Wednesday

Block II: Friday

Block III:next Thursday

Backyard Roller coaster

This guy made his own rollercoaster in his backyard complete with a 360 degree loop!

Homework for the Week of Jan. 15th

1) Read “Energy Conversions”

2) Complete

Due date:

Block I: next Monday, Jan 22

Block II: Friday, Jan 19

Block III: next Monday, Jan 22

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Just a reminder that grades are handed out on Friday during Block class. These are the semester grades which have narratives in addition to the letter grades.

Molecules in motion

This is silly.  Hope it makes you laugh!  And sing-a-long…

Machines

Here’s some websites if you’d like to find out more about different kinds of machines.  We talked about the lever and the inclined plane but there’s more!  Did you know that a pair of scissors which most would consider a simple tool that we use all the time, is actually made up of two different kinds of machines: levers and wedges- it’s a compound machine.

Inventors Toolbox

Edhead interactive site: Simple machines

Edhead interactive site: The Odd machine 

Homework for the Week of Jan. 8th

Happy new year everyone!

Back to bizness….

1) Read “Work and Power” packet

2) Complete

Due date:

Block I: Wednesday

Block II: Friday

Block III: Thursday

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1) Read “What is energy?”

2) Complete

Due date:

Block I: next Wednesday (no school Monday)

Block II: next Tuesday

Block III: next Thursday (no school Monday)