Jenna- Elementary Science Methods Blog

  The big question addressed in lab, and a description of what you did. In lab, we did presentations about the following concepts Origins of the Universe, Lifecycles of Stars, Galaxies, Origin of the Earth, Black Holes, and Exploration of Space (past, present, and future). My group presented on galaxies: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1QG_PaivJ7nScxtVJi-5uTTiCqH6PRVKeqGkQcH7iSxI/edit?usp=sharing A description of what you learned in Thursday's lecture. In lecture we spent time further discussing the topics that we did presentations on in lab. Answer questions about the weekly textbook reading: What did you learn? The textbook helped us learn the timeline of how our universe formed. It started with the Big Ban 13.7 billion years ago. Then there was a mass star formation, which lead to the black hole and the Milky Way to be formed. The earth was formed 4.5 billion years ago. What was most helpful? I found the videos to be most helpful because they are an engaging way to l...

   The big question addressed in lab, and a description of what you did. In lab, we investigated the size of our solar system. We had to make it to scale, which really put it into perspective the size of our solar system. We made our sun about 7-8 cm long and it lead the rest of the planets to be less than a millimeter. We focused a lot of our discussion on the size of the solar system. It really put it into perspective about how large the solar system is and how small the Earth is in comparison. A description of what you learned in Thursday's lecture. In lecture, we learned that the sun has never been directly above us in Iowa, which is why our shadows always point north. We also learned about the origins of the moon. Answer questions about the weekly textbook reading: What did you learn? I learned the order of the planets and that the inner 4 planets are rocky and the outer 4 are gaseous.  What was most helpful? I found the video that put into perspective the size of sp...

  The big question addressed in lab, and a description of what you did. In lab we discussed the following questions: How do the phases of the moon occur? Initial thought: occur due to the position of the Sun, Moon, and Earth. Part of the moon is dark because it is covered by Earth's shadow. What we learned: The moon we see is the side that is light up by the sun. What causes the seasons? Initial thought: When the Earth is further from the sun, it is Winter, when the Earth is closer to the sun, it is Summer. What we learned: The Earth is titled and sometimes the northern hemisphere is titled towards the Sun and sometimes the southern hemisphere is titled away from the sun. What causes a lunar eclipse? Initial thought: when the moon falls into Earth's shadow What we learned: The Earth, Moon and Sun all align so the shadow of the Earth covers the moon from the sun. A description of what you learned in Thursday's lecture. In lecture we learned about the moon phases and the Sun....

The big question addressed in lab, and a description of what you did. The big question we address in lab was How can we design a safe and durable playground surface? We created our own surface and tested it with dropping and egg. We successfully created as surface with sand and hay to save our kid (egg) from a one meter fall. This was tough because the bowl was small so we had trials where the kid bounced out of the bowl. We had to refine our design to have less material inside to save our kid. We were unable to save our kid from a two meter drop and we ran out of kids to try again. A description of what you learned in Thursday's lecture. In lecture this week, we took an exam over the past 5 weeks of physics . Answer questions about the weekly textbook reading: What did you learn? There was no textbook reading this week. What was most helpful? What do you need more information on? What questions/concerns/comments do you have?

  The big question addressed in lab, and a description of what you did. To begin in math class, we finished up our discussion about friction and slides. After our discussion about slides, we moved on to the big question addressed in lab: What affects how long it takes a swing to go back and forth? My group focused on how the weight of the rider would affect the speed of the swing going back and forth. We found that the weight doesn't matter and the speed of the rider stays pretty close to the same despite the weight difference. A description of what you learned in Thursday's lecture. In lecture, we went into detail about Newton's first and second law along with discussing energy in detail. We discussed how those concepts relate to swings and what can change the speed of the swing.   Answer questions about the weekly textbook reading: What did you learn? I learned what potential and kinetic energy is and how it affects a pendulum swing As a pendulum swings upward, it is po...

  The big question addressed in lab, and a description of what you did. What affects a riders speed down a slide?  In lab, we modeled this by testing different variables. My group tested how hight of a slide would affect riders speed down the slide. We found that with any type of material, the rider is going at a faster speed when the height of the slide is higher. For example, when the wooden stick traveled 1 meter, it was going at a speed of 1.82 m/s. When the wooden stick traveled 2 meters, it was going at a speed of 2.56 m/s. That pattern continued with 2 other types of materials showing that the taller the height, the faster the speed of the rider. In other words, the taller the slide, the faster the child will go. A description of what you learned in Thursday's lecture In lecture, we discussed what we learned in lab and learned more of the reasoning of why those moments happen.  We discussed that the higher the slide, the faster the speed of the rider because riders...

The big question addressed in lab, and a description of what you did. The big question that we focused on in lab was: How can we ensure that a race is exciting? In lab, we decided to model a race that the two people who are different speeds will finish at the same time. We modeled a 5 meter race and did a test run to see the speeds of the two races. One racer walked at 1 mps faster than the other, so the slower racer got a 1 meter head start for the race. During the model, the two racers finished at the same time. A description of what you learned in Thursday's lecture. In lecture, we practiced measuring speed and distance to have two people finish the race at the same time. We discussed that speed= distance/time. We also discussed that there are 2 ways to give someone a lead in a race, they could either get a time or a distance head start. We practiced some problems using that as well. Answer questions about the weekly textbook reading: What did you learn? I learned that accelerat...