What We're Doing
Check back for updates and class photos about what we're currently doing!
Week 3: September 18-22
This week, we watched four clips of people doing various activities. We watched Lebron shoot hoops, an amazing 5 year old piano player, a man doing handstand push-ups and swimmer holding his breath for a long time underwater. Watching these clips raised many questions for us about how the human body can perform such tasks. We each shared one or more questions we were really curious about on our class question board.
We are not the only ones curious about these questions! Many jobs are centered around these questions. For example, doctors, nurses, coaches, biologists and bioengineers all must have a good understanding of how the human body works. With our group members, we brainstormed why understanding the human body might help these professionals and what kinds of tools and methods they might use to do their job. Some of the tools we came up with include X-rays, heart rate monitors, 3D printers, CAT scans and microscopes.
As biologists-in-training, we too will start using tools to help us look inside the human body! Students became familiar with how to use a microscope to focus and look at small objects using a light microscope. Stay tuned for more microscope explorations next week!
This week, we watched four clips of people doing various activities. We watched Lebron shoot hoops, an amazing 5 year old piano player, a man doing handstand push-ups and swimmer holding his breath for a long time underwater. Watching these clips raised many questions for us about how the human body can perform such tasks. We each shared one or more questions we were really curious about on our class question board.
We are not the only ones curious about these questions! Many jobs are centered around these questions. For example, doctors, nurses, coaches, biologists and bioengineers all must have a good understanding of how the human body works. With our group members, we brainstormed why understanding the human body might help these professionals and what kinds of tools and methods they might use to do their job. Some of the tools we came up with include X-rays, heart rate monitors, 3D printers, CAT scans and microscopes.
As biologists-in-training, we too will start using tools to help us look inside the human body! Students became familiar with how to use a microscope to focus and look at small objects using a light microscope. Stay tuned for more microscope explorations next week!
Week 2: September 11-15
A good scientist is always making observations and asking questions about the world around them. We are learning the steps of the scientific method:
Given the problem, "What happens to gummy bears in different liquids?" students had to design an experiment and investigate the effect different liquids have on gummy bears. Students identified the variables they would manipulate or keep the same, set up their experiment and collected data on their gummy bears the next day. We found that gummy bears expand in size in almost all liquids except salt water! We wrapped up the week by analyzing our results and writing up our first scientific conclusion.
But wait, that's not it! The scientific method is an ongoing process that is always repeating! We will be revisiting this process throughout the year.
A good scientist is always making observations and asking questions about the world around them. We are learning the steps of the scientific method:
- Define the problem
- Background Research
- Write a hypothesis
- Design and conduct the experiment
- Collect and analyze data
- Draw a conclusion
Given the problem, "What happens to gummy bears in different liquids?" students had to design an experiment and investigate the effect different liquids have on gummy bears. Students identified the variables they would manipulate or keep the same, set up their experiment and collected data on their gummy bears the next day. We found that gummy bears expand in size in almost all liquids except salt water! We wrapped up the week by analyzing our results and writing up our first scientific conclusion.
But wait, that's not it! The scientific method is an ongoing process that is always repeating! We will be revisiting this process throughout the year.
Week 1: September 5-8
We kicked off the school year by doing a spaghetti-marshmallow engineering challenge! Students were given limited time and supplies, just as real engineers would be given in the real world to complete their projects.
We wrapped up the week by discussing what good teamwork looks like, what shapes make strong structures and how we would learn from our experience to create even stronger and taller structures if we were to repeat the challenge again.
We kicked off the school year by doing a spaghetti-marshmallow engineering challenge! Students were given limited time and supplies, just as real engineers would be given in the real world to complete their projects.
We wrapped up the week by discussing what good teamwork looks like, what shapes make strong structures and how we would learn from our experience to create even stronger and taller structures if we were to repeat the challenge again.