9/30/08 Reading Module

We did not have science methods today, but we did have an online assignment. The online assignment was to read chapters 3 and 4 of Ready, Set, Science and then answer the questions on the reading module.
I learned a lot from reading the chapters and enjoyed reading about the case studies on air pressure. I thought it was interesting to learn about teaching core concepts about science over years, rather than teaching it in one year and then going on to something else. It is hard for students to comprehend so much in so little amount of time. So, I think that teaching these core concepts over an extended time period is a great idea to help students really learn the concepts. Overall, I thought the chapters were really informative and the reading module helped me to think about what I had read.

The Amazing Food Detective

I thought this game was very interesting. It would be a good game for kids to play in the younger grades because they would get a kick out of it and they would be learning from it too. I did think it was a little repetitive and slightly boring, but as I said, younger kids would like it. It helps kids to determine what is healthy to eat and how much exercise they should be getting. I like that it is interactive and they can move the magnifying glass around the page and click on things. I also liked that when the magnifying glass moved over certain objects it gave facts about those particular objects, which is a good for kids to see. Overall, I thought this was a neat little interactive game that many younger children will learn from and enjoy.

9/23/08 The Acid Test

Today in Science Methods we did a lab that tested the acidity of different kinds of fruits and juices. We had to put a little bit of baking soda into a cup and then add some of the juice. We also tested vinegar and water for acidity too.
My group started with the vinegar and added it to the baking soda, it fizzled a lot. We cleaned out the cup and tried just using water and baking soda, which did nothing. Then we tried a 50/50 combo of vinegar and water with the baking soda, which fizzled pretty good.
After that, we got into the fruit juices. We started off with white grapefruit juice and added it to the baking soda. The combination did not fizzle like we thought it would. Then we tried lime juice and baking soda, which had a huge effect and fizzled a lot. Next, was orange juice and baking soda, which did not fizzle hardly at all. Finally, we tried pink grapefruit juice, which fizzled about the same as the pink grapefruit juice.
Then we tested the acidity of real fruit pieces. First, we tried a lemon piece and sprinkled some baking powder on top of it. It did not fizzle well at all, but we still got a little reaction out of it. Next, we tried an orange piece. It fizzled, but was very hard to see because it was hardly noticeable. Then we tried a piece of lime, which did about the same as the lemon. Finally, we tried a piece of grapefruit, which we all thought would do something, but it did the same as the lemon and lime pieces.
We recorded all of our observations on an Acid Test graph. It was clear to our group that the vinegar and lime juice fizzled the most out of everything. The 50/50 combo came in third.
All in all, it was a very fun lab activity and I hope we get to do the second part of the lab the next time that we have class.

9/18/08 Food and Nutrition

Today we had class in a different room, so that we could take advantage of the computers. We were told to get into groups of three and then we discussed food and nutrition. I learned lots of new things about calories, carbohydrates, protein, etc... Our groups had to go online and play a game where we drag food onto a plate and try to meet the requirements for the task. If we wanted to get rid of something we fed it to the dog on the screen...he cannot be a healthy dog. My group had a lot of fun trying to get the right amount of calories and fat on the plate.
After we did the online activity, we got a worksheet and had to pick three things to have for lunch. Then we had to figure out how many carbs, protein, and fat were in our lunch. For our lunch, we chose to have a plain hot dog, a carrot, and a cola. When we figured it out, we came up with 370 calories, which I think is pretty decent. Overall, I learned a lot about nutrition in class today.

9/16/08 The Safety Game

Today I learned about content and processes in science. I also learned about the four strands of learning in science.
The four strands include:
Strand 1 - Understanding Scientific Explanations
Strand 2 - Generating Scientific Evidence
Strand 3 - Reflecting on Scientific Knowledge
Strand 4 - Participating Productively in Science
The class as a whole asked a lot of questions at the beginning of class and many of the questions were answered for them.
The last half of class was devoted to making The Safety Game. The game is about learning safety within science. However, I did not get to play the game because I was too busy making it look nice. It looks like a lot of fun and hopefully I get the chance to play it one of these days.

9/11/08 Nature of Science

Today in Science Methods we discussed the importance of science in the classroom. We talked about how theory has a different meaning in science than it does outside of science. Theories include: scientific claims, evidence, hypothesis, and facts. Our class seemed to be a little misled by what a theory was, but we had our questions answered through the PowerPoint presentation.
We did an activity in class with one cylinder vase and one spherical vase. Each vase contained Hershey's kisses and we were supposed to guess if the vases contained the same or different amounts of kisses. The class thought that they were the same, but we learned that the spherical vase actually contained more chocolate.
The last topic of the day was a tutorial on Desire2Learn (D2L). A lot of us were having troubles or misunderstandings concerning D2L and the tutorial really seemed to help.
Overall, I learned quite a bit of information in today's Science Methods class.

9/9/08 Lab Activity

Today in Science Methods we did a lab activity called Temperature Probe Response Time. In the lab we had to find two different temperatures using the EasyTemp temperature probe. We wanted to measure the response time of the EasyTemp temperature probe. We also used this lab activity to learn more about the EasyData program.
The lab activity required us to obtain the data of both hot and cold water and to find the response time for the EasyTemp temperature probe to level off. My group had a little trouble with the technology and did not quite get the data figured out. We tried our very best, but class ended before we were able to get it all worked out.
This lab was very informative on how technology can be frustrating, but it was interesting to say the least. Hopefully, next time our group can get the technology to work for us and then we can collect some data.