Happy New Year 2016

We are ready for all the systems for the human body. This is a large amount of information for students to learn and retain. But they must in order to succeed with understanding how every part works together or doesn't. Through this we'll touch upon Natural Selection and why we have evolved like Homo naledi.

Smooth, Cardiac and Skeletal

Can you tell the difference?

Bigelow students can. After completing a lab contrasting  and comparing the differences and likenesses under a microscope, students made correct choices using their sketches.

Bones and Muscles!

It's time for human body structure development! We'll start with a few bones and some muscles thrown in to give the body a little structure, protection and movement.
Students are creating a life size human outline in order to identify the various system parts. Eventually we'll be building systems! http://www.payer.de/kommkulturen/kultur0413.wav
 What are humans anyway?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQBKQwCeajg

Asexual Reproduction

What is asexual reproduction? We'll find out in our Oh Bacteria/Oh Deer lab this week. We'll concentrate of comparing organelles and cell function of different living things.

Organelles

This week we are using organelles and comparing them to parts of a community. For instance: the nucleus of a CELL controls the entire cell like the bus driver controls the bus on the way to school. Then, students will act out these comparisons!

NWEA

It's NWEA testing in Science for the Fall. This online test (45 questions) gives us a snapshot of where students are in Conceptual and General knowledge. Students work hard to best answer the questions, which change in difficulty as the he or she answers correctly or incorrectly.
I use this test to identify places where I can improve in curriculum delivery. It gives me a good view for individual student gains or losses when we test again in the Spring. Most students show improvement later in the year, but some do not and it's my job to figure out what I can do to help them learn what they may not understand.

Contrrol vs Controlled

Now that the quarter is over I want to acknowledge the fine work that my students did in determining whether or not agricultural run-off  makes an impact to organisms on the Sandy River. Many students found that their was an increase in populations probably due to detritus and algae that the runoff produces.
  We worked with variables to understand how to perform an experiment and now we'll extend that with another type of variable called the control. Stay tuned.

Bridge Project Grading

Now that we have experience in: collecting data, understanding variables, and interpreting some graphs, we'll use all of these skills to create the Bridge to Bridge project.  The project is key to your overall grade in Science.  In order to succeed with an above average grade, a student must go beyond the actual requirement below. It's not so much about having more information in this project. It's about showing a higher understanding.

http://www.v-sci.com/uploads/2/1/4/4/21441462/bridge_bridge_rubric_2015.pdf

Data Collection.

After flipping rocks in the cold waters of the Sandy River, upstream and downstream of a large stretch of farmland, students are now working with analyzing the data. We'll use spreadsheets and graphs to project trends in populations of aquatic organisms found and not found. This will help answer whether the agricultural run-off impacts these living insects.

Sandy River Field Experience

We hit the river this week to collect data for the Problem Statement: Does agricultural run-off affect the aquatic organisms in the Sandy River? 
   Students will use the population data of the the various nymphs and larvae to answer the problem statement above, .......but first they must make a Hypothesis. Press the link below and make your educated guess!
http://www.v-sci.com/sandy-river.html

Computers!!!!!!!!!

As we just got our computers, delivery of the curriculum will be much more interactive, The first thing we need to agree on is the how and where we can use these devices most effectively.
   With that in mind we need to load Apps from the Apple store such as Pages Numbers and other various valuable programs. Students will establish a free account over the next week to do this.
   Also, we'll establish an online storage system  called Google Drive on your computer. This will allow you to save things and access theses documents more easily.

Meandering through Metamorphosis.

Last week we investigated the Scientific Method with a skit about two guys walking down the beach in December. They found a Problem to solve, and used the steps to form an Experiment and eventually collect data reach a Conclusion.
     We also used the bisecting scopes and found various relationships between organisms. We even introduced types of metamorphosis's with the Aphid and the the Monarch Butterfly.
This week we discover what might be in the Sandy River!

Science Start

  We had a great start discussing mutualism. commensalism and parasitism. We even discoverd an existing parasitical relationship (symbiosis) between a burdock plant and a burdock seed-head moth. The larva made its home in the seed casing as it munched on the protein of the burdock seed!

Welcome to v-sci!

Welcome to v-sci. As we explore the universe throughout the next two years. I'd like to make sure that our mission together is to really do what these people have done.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2yvp4SZS3M

Getting Ready for Frog Dissection

We are almost ready for frog dissection. Over the last few weeks we have revisited the human body systems and worked on understanding genetics and childbirth through lectures and simulations. We'll investigate Punnett Squares a little more, discussing genotype similarities/differences along with phenotype differences/similarities concerning birth parents and offspring.

Pregnancy Complications

After learning about how the reproductive parts of the male and female work, we are currently working on the complications during pregnancy. We are all different based on our unique gene combinations on our 46 chromosome. But during delivery and during development of the blastula, embryo, fetus and baby, instructions from those genes can be misinterpreted or absent. We'll discuss this which will lead us to genetic disorders.

Human Body Revisited!!!!

It's almost time for us to dissect frogs and in order to do this, you need a refresher course of the human body. You can use www.innerbody.com , http://www.factmonster.com/ipka/A0774536.html , http://kidshealth.org/kid/htbw/the Anatronica Google App or some other decent resource that describes the function of the human body systems. Below is the information you need to complete for this class. Find out what each part does if you don't already know. Use your own words!
If it were me and I am....me, I would organize this with a Keynote, Inspiration 8 or a table out of Pages.

Levers, Inclined Planes..........

It's almost time to pull a Chevrolet Cavalier with one thumb! It's almost time to move a large concrete planter with one student! We have been working with simple machines in the classroom and students get it. It's all about trading force (N) for distance (m) or distance (m) for force (N). Either way, we are doing the same work (J)!

Work

  Sometimes when we work, we don't really work as far as the word 'work' in science is defined. Work equals a force applied to move something a distance. If that force is applied and the object does not move....then....no work is done on the object. This doesn't mean you personally didn't expend energy. It just means that no work on the object was done.

Formula ⬇

Work (J) = Force (N) x Distance (m)

Data

Sometimes people have the data right in front of them and it's just to much to really comprehend. We have to ask ourselves, "What is all this stuff really telling us?". That's why we interpret data in the Record & Analyze. It helps us pinpoint  whether or not our Hypothesis was right or wrong.

Interpret Data

According to the graph, the v-sci Tsunami Saver successful alerts inhabitants with waves that have an amplitude  between 6 to 10 (cm) inclusive.

Maine Maple Sunday!

     Warm -up, mud season and Spring is finally on it's way, although it's still pretty chilly outside. The sugar we use on pancakes is called maple syrup. It's not made from anything but maple tree sap that's boiled to a syrup consistency.
     I can tell you that the tree itself worked pretty hard to store that sap for a reason. How did it make it? What is photosynthesis? Why is it such an important industry in Maine?
    We are going to find out.

Carbon

We are all responsible for warming the earth since we use carbon to travel and keep warm. Think about what changes you can make to help reduce global warming.

Heat

It's time to really work on transferring energy from either one type to another or as with Heat (infrared) Energy- conduction, convection and radiation We have heated solids, fluids  and have felt the waves of infrared upon our face from any heat source.

http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20131218-absolute-zero-to-absolute-hot

Work

February vacation is over and it's time to work towards getting you on the road to high school. We have much to do in the way of science. Let's get the job done together.

Switch

The whole objective to the Tsunami Project http://www.v-sci.com/uploads/2/1/4/4/21441462/tsunami_pack_directions.pdfis to design, produce, and refine a switch that works instantly, not intermittently, when the crest of the wave moves past it!

Wave Power!

How can you, yes you, harness the power of a wave and capture that energy use it it to save lives.

Tsunami!!!!!!!!!!

Tsunami's are a real threat to coastal communities around the world. We have decided to create a warning system within our own class using the Tsunami wave tank. Our job is to convert the energy created by the wave, to another form in order to warn inhabitants that danger is on the way!


lhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/science/earth/natural_disasters/tsunami#p00hs2ql

Let's build a motor like Faraday!

This week we'll construct a battery with  a liquid that has a low PH and zinc and copper. It will be weak, but this chemical reaction will lead us to building a small motor like Faraday.