As vacation approaches we are reminded of how winter can really change the season. Enjoy your vacation and have a happy holiday. Feel free to post a happy greeting on v-sci discussion.

Bones!

 It's time to memorize the bones so we can proceed with the Artificial Body System (ABS). Students will create body Systems that actually work. It'll be alive,.... alive,...... alive,..........well maybe not actually living but working.

http://yify-torrents.com/movie/Young_Frankenstein_1974

 We'll make muscles, digestive tracts, lymphatic systems, circulatory systems, respiratory systems, urinary tracts, and nervous systems. Then, we plan to hook them together!

It's Still a Dirty Snowball...........Barely!

 Some thought comet Ison disintegrated, but ..... it survived a close encounter with the our Sun. We'll take a look at some video and hopefully investigate more about what to expect with the now famous comet.
  We will also start a new project (Community Cell) concerning the function of organelles in plant or animal cells. Students will compare the function of these organelles to things in our own community that perform similar functions.

Thomas Turkey and Comet Ison

Just a few days of school before Thanksgiving, but we are still wondering what will become of Comet Ison. Will it reach the same demise as Thomas Turkey or will it sling past the sun and avoid collision or  a possible break-up from the Sun's gravitational pull. We'll hopefully see soon as the comet should be showing itself just before sunrise each morning.

Stem Cells!

Students will be operating using stem cells in the next week. Students will be simulating heart repair by planting stem cells in the heart............ online!
However we'll identify cell differences between plant and animal cells using the microscopes in class. Eventually we hope to build an artificial human body that functions! We have work to do in the laboratory.

SketchBookExpress

As the Bacteria experiment comes to a close, we are investigating a new program to us called SketchBookExpress. Students will be drawing and labeling their petri dish and their bacteria colonies. We've completed the spreadsheets and descriptions and now we draw!

Picture provided by Garrett

Take a look at the spreadsheets we are creating this week from data recorded from our Bacteria Experiment. Students decided to count the number of colonies in their petri dish three times over a 2 week period. Each color represents a different class, but we are looking at all the data together which is pretty interesting and gruesome considering Halloween is on Thursday!

Spreadsheets and Good Bacteria!

   This week we look forward to measuring the growth of our bacteria that students hopefully gathered from different areas of the school. We'll decide together on how to measure the growth from petri-dish check to petri-dish check. Our job will be to record our findings in a spreadsheet individually and ultimately as a class.
   We'll also be discovering more about the 'good' bacteria that we need to survive!

Gross...............yuck!

   This week we'll swab various areas at Mt. Blue Middles School, hoping to find bacterial cells to grow in petri dishes. Students have selected places to explore and we should be capturing some really weird cells that will multiply through asexual reproduction using gelatin as food, water, and shelter!
   Our intention is to start identifying some of the organelles in the bacteria and eventually move towards discovering the differences between those cells and animal or plant cells. Students will use the dissecting scopes to explore that growth and we may make slides for microscope viewing later in the week.

Asexual Reproduction.........what?

   It's time to find bacteria hiding at Mt. Blue Middle School. Students will swab an area of their choice and try to grow bacteria in a petri dish filled with gelatin. We'll have a control variable petri dish along with the independent variable petri dish. Students will become familiar with terms in designing experiments that are valid. Hopefully the control variable will produce nothing, while the independent variable will show bacteria asexually reproducing, using the gelatin as food and shelter.

Oh Deer!

Students have been investigating whether or not agricultural run-off plays a role in affecting populations of different species in the Sandy River. While students make various tables and graphs,

 we are also playing the game called "Oh Deer" to determine if there are any similarities between the two habitats. (Sandy River and Maine Woods)  There seems to be a direct correlation to the amount of food a species receives compared to its population within the habitat. More food seems to equal larger populations. Is agricultural run-off food?

Bridge to Bridge

   I can't wait to find out what the results are going to be concerning the experiment we did on the Sandy River! Bigelow students did a fantastic job finding and counting aquatic organisms such as caddis-flies and mayflies at both sites.( Center Bridge and Farmington Falls Bridge)
   We'll be using the data gathered to create individual graphs and overall snapshots of the experience. Does agricultural run-off affect aquatic organisms along the Sandy River? We should have an answer by the end of this week.

Sandy River Field Experience

   This week students will attend the Sandy River Field Experience from Science/Social Studies class on the 26th and 27th of September 2013. Students will be gathering vital information to determine whether the agricultural fields along the Sandy River impact aquatic organisms within the river itself. 

  The water might be cold but I'm sure we'll have hard workers flipping rocks and identifying populations of various species like stoneflies, caddis flies, water pennies etc.

MacBook Airs!

Checking out the MacBook Air computers have has been job #1 of late, as Bigelow students explore their world from a new perspective. We'll be creating outstanding projects and terrific discoveries inside the computer and outside the digital world.

Rocket Launch!

Click the link below to see the map that indicates the rocket launch for 9/06/13 at 11:27pm. It should be a clear night to watch.
http://www.orbital.com/NewsInfo/MissionUpdates/MinotaurV/images/LADEE%20Launch%20Viewing%20Map%20-%20Elevation.jpg

I'll report back my observations after tonight!
v-sci

Welcome

Welcome Bigelow students to v-sci. At v-sci you'll find that science is interactive and extremely hands-on, but it requires hard work on everyone's part to succeed. We'll start the year off on the Sandy River investigating agricultural run-off and it's impact on aquatic organisms.
I'm excited!
v-sci