Force and Motion

 We've been learning about force and motion in science.  A force is a push or pull applied to an object to put it in motion.  For our first investigation, pairs completed an obstacle course.  Each pair used a broom to push or pull a bowling ball through a course while trying to get the fastest time.  The students agreed that it was harder than it looked.  They did great!

Our second investigation was all about friction.  Friction happens when there is resistance from a surface or object which slows down the object in motion.  We tested out six different ramps.  First we made predictions about which ramp surface would create the most friction with a small moving toy car and which surface would create the least amount of friction.  Then we tested them.  We measured the distance the car traveled after it left the ramp.  

A Matter Experiment

 We've been learning about the 3 states of matter: solid, liquid, and gas.  On Friday we had some fun with this messy experiment!  Oobleck is considered a non-Newtonian fluid because it has properties that act like both a solid and a liquid!  This is an easy experiment for the students to try at home as well.  You just need 2 parts cornstarch to 1 part water and food coloring if you'd like.

Engineering an Egg Drop

 In our engineering unit, we've learned that engineers need to use creative ideas to build or take things apart.  They also need to be great problem solvers who are willing to try things in a new way if they don't work the first time.

In order to put these skills to use, the students built an egg drop box with a few limited supplies.  Each group was given a shoe box filled with 1 toilet paper tube, 2 cotton balls, 1 styrofoam cup, 2 paper towels, 2 popsicle sticks, 2 straws, 2 pipe cleaners, and a roll of masking tape.

On day 1, the students created their boxes without the egg.  They had to make some assumptions on how the egg would fit into their design.  On day 2, the students were given the egg and many groups had to problem solve a new design based on whether or not the egg fit into their original design.  

This project also gave the students another chance to collaborate within a partnership or group and practice listening to each other's ideas and working together.

The goal was to keep the egg safe for 3 different heights of dropping.  We dropped off a desk, off the landing of the stairs to the new gym, and off the catwalk.

After each drop, groups may have had to redesign if their egg broke from the drop.  This was a fun project!

Egg drop construction:

Drop 1: Six out of eight eggs survived!

Drop 2: All eggs survived!

Drop 3: We dropped from the catwalk in the gym.  The class couldn't believe that every egg survived!

Measuring our Towers

 Earlier in the week we measured our towers.  In the end, it didn't matter which group had the tallest tower.  Each group accomplished the goal of working together and problem solving in order to have a standing tower.  They all did great!

What is Science?

 The class cheered last week when I announced that with 3rd quarter beginning, we also begin science!  We talked about what the word science means to us.  The class had many replies: doing experiments, learning about nature, learning about the earth, asking questions, designing things, working with chemicals, learning about animals, learning about how things work, and much more!  Our first science unit is designed to take students through the scientific method.  We started with a question, designed an experiment, made a hypothesis, ran our experiment, and analyzed our data to form a conclusion. 

Our first question was: "How can we keep bananas fresher longer?"  Our experiment used 3 different methods: putting a banana in a sealed plastic bag, putting a banana in the fridge, and wrapping a banana stem with plastic wrap.  We checked on our bananas each day and wrote down our observations.  We noticed that the banana in the fridge turned brown very quickly, the banana with the plastic wrap formed brown spots throughout the week, while the banana in the bag looked the freshest the longest.  On our final day we peeled the bananas to find that the 3 bananas on the inside, all looked pretty similar.  Our conclusion was the banana in the plastic bag and the banana in the fridge were equally fresh on the inside.

Our second experiment asked the question: "How can we make gummy bears grow the most?"  We tried plain water, lemon water, sugar water, and vinegar water.  The students each made a hypothesis.  Some predicted sugar water since gummy bears are made of sugar.  We weighed and measured each gummy bear before and after.  The results showed that vinegar water grew the gummy bear the most.