TCPS Science

The San Diego Science Alliance (SDSA) is hosting a Student and Parent Night at their annual High Tech Fair.  This event is designed for middle and high school students. SDSA is the catalyst for improving K-12 science education in San Diego County. They deliver quality experiential programs, build bridges between the region’s diverse business, education and scientific research communities, and foster public/private partnerships to increase science literacy.  For more information, see below or check out SDSA .

Third grade students measure the solvent for chromatography.

All science students are currently studying matter.  For the early elementary, this means solids, liquids, gases, and their properties.  Older elementary students are learning about atoms and separating substances into their components.  In class this week, they used coffee filters and markers to do simple chromatography.  Middle school students have been researching atoms and discussing the pro’s and con’s of nuclear energy.

Visit Family Science Days during the Annual Meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) at the San Diego Convention Center.

Browse interactive tabletop exhibits, learn about cool science jobs, and have your questions answered by experts convened by AAAS. This free event is open to all, but organized especially for middle- and high-school students.

All events will take place Saturday and Sunday, 20-21 February in the San Diego Convention Center Exhibit Hall B1, 111 West Harbor Drive.

This community science showcase—featuring hands-on demonstrations and other family and kid-friendly activities—shines a spotlight on a broad range of formal and informal science educators who promote an interest in science among the general public.

It is a FREE event for the general public and one of our most popular.

To see a list of presenters and for more information: http://www.aaas.org/meetings/2010/program/fsd/#schedule

All TCPS students are studying matter.  Early elementary students are focusing on the main phases of matter (solids, liquids, and gases) and making measurements of solids and liquids.  Fourth and Fifth grades are studying atoms and have learned about the fourth and most common phase, plasma.  A great website is to check out more info is

http://www.chem4kids.com/files/matter_intro.html

Middle school students create a closed system to capture the gas produced during a chemical reaction.

Middle school students have conducted experiments to answer the questions does mass (the amount of matter) change when there is a chemical or physical change?  They are deep into their investigations of the really small–atoms.  Some interesting facts about the size of atoms–  If an apple were magnified to the size of the Earth, then the atoms in the apple would be approximately the size of the original apple.  A human hair is about one million carbon atoms wide.  A single drop of water has 2000,000,000,000,000,000,000 atoms of oxygen and twice that number of hydrogen atoms.  It takes only 5 million (5,000,000) hydrogen atoms to cover the head of a pin.

Do you know what season it is?  The calendar says that the first day of winter was December 21.  All the children’s books say that we should be playing in the snow and wearing coats and mittens. 

In science classes, we have discussed the European seasons and how they do not always make sense outside of Europe and New England.  We studied the Aboriginal seasons from around Australia.  Some tribes have five seasons that last between two and four months while others have only three seasons. 

TCPS students created their own seasons for San Diego.  Some were based on surfing, shopping, gardening, sports, or travel.  Ask your student to explain his/her seasons and see if you can create your own calendar of different seasons with your favorite weather related activity.

7th Grade Students have a science photo moment

The lesson was about weather and what happens when warm air meets colder, denser air.  The students were so fascinated by the dispersion of the food coloring in the different temperature waters, that we suspended the weather activity to explore and photograph the diffusion patterns.

For great references check out the TCPS Library Research Guide.

First graders learn how to read a thermometer.

We have begun a new unit on weather.  The students from all grade levels come into class and excitedly ask, “what are we doin’ today?”  We have been brain-storming (pun intended) to discover what we already know and what we want to find out.  As always, the science curriculum follows the California standards for grade level competencies and the TCPS curriculum goals.

Below are overviews of how the material will be covered by grade level.  If you have any questions, please contact me.

  1^st, 2^nd, and 3^rd graders:

For early elementary students, the focus is on observing the sky and noticing the weather.  Weather measuring devices such as thermometers, barometers, and wind vanes will be used to obtain data about the weather.  For these instruments, we will make simple ones in class from common, household materials. Constructing the instruments helps the students understand the processes being measured.  Once they understand the concept, we will also use commercial instruments to make accurate readings and record our data.  The water cycle and clouds will complete our unit.

Fourth grade students watch the liquid level in thermometer they made rise in hot water.

 4^th and 5^th graders:

We will review and extend the material for early elementary.  We will make some of the weather instruments. Additional material will include air pressure, the role of the sun in creating weather, convection currents, storm formation and severe weather.  We will also learn how to read weather maps.

Current Events: Students in 4^th and 5^th grades have done a great job of reading and writing about current events. In order to better teach the process of reading and writing about science, I selected the first articles so we were literally all on the same page.  We discussed each one in class and I modeled note-taking.  We discussed what a summary is and the students wrote one in class.  The analysis (thinking about it) was challenging for many of the students.  Where this has evolved to is the students are to imagine they get to meet the scientists who did the work.  What would they say to them?  What questions do they have?  If they could work with the scientists for a week, what experiments would they like to do?

Now that the students have learned the format, they are ready to select their own articles.  Students may receive assistance in reading and understanding more challenging material.  Dates for articles will be assigned in class.  I’m looking forward to having the students teach me and the rest of the class about the new discoveries in science they read about.  For more information, click Weather Current Event.

Middle school students determine what heats and cools faster, water or sand.

 Middle School Students:

We will cover the atmosphere, weather, climate, and climate change.  This includes a lot of vocabulary and concepts that will be addressed through reading of the text.  We will also do laboratory experiments every week.  The overall emphasis at this level will be on understanding cause and effect relationships of the complex system of air surrounding the earth. 

 World Weather: The weather in San Diego is fairly consistent compared to most other places.  Therefore, we will be tracking weather around the world.  All homerooms have selected pen pals from Australia to Uganda.  To enhance our understanding of these diverse places, middle school students will track the weather in each location and report weekly.  (Be sure to check out the World Weather Board in the science room.)  This information will be part of the students’ weather journals.  Students will also collect articles about weather incidents to include in their journals along with reflections about all they are learning. 

Student Selected Experiments:  In the petrology unit, middle school students selected methods for growing crystals and brought them to class.  I procured the materials and the students worked in groups to complete the experiments.  Students enjoyed the process of trying things out even though some procedures did not work very well.  This time, students will find simple weather instruments or experiments they would like to try.  I will obtain the necessary materials (I’m on a first name basis with the staff at my local Home Depot) and we will have a few lab days devoted to completing as many as possible.  Look for photos in future postings.

Students in 4th grade use microscopes to see the tiny rocks in sand.

A big thank you to all the parents who sent in sand from their  trips and vacations.  The students are enjoying analyzing all the samples.  Using the microscopes, mineral resources, and web information about each beach, students are determining the make up of individual grains.  As budding geologists, they are seeing sand not as one thing, but an entire rock collection in miniature form.  Many of the sand samples will be on display for open house.  See you then.

Luck was once considered scientific–certain actions brought good luck, others bad.  Take the following quiz to see if you can pick out the lucky ones.   Answers are listed at the end.  Post a comment with your result.  What current scientific ‘facts’ will seem as silly in one hundred years?

1.  You see a white cat.  2.  You dream of a white cat. 3.  You hear a cat sneeze.  4.  You hear a rooster crow at night.  5.  You hear three hoots of an owl.  6.  You pick up a piece of coal lying n your path.  7.  You get out of bed left foot first.  8.  You put on a dress inside-out.  9.  You put your shirt on inside-out.  10.  You open an umbrella inside a building or house.  11.  You sneeze three times before breakfast.  12.  You sing before breakfast.  13.  A robin flies into your house.  14.  You sleep facing south.  15.  The top of our head has an itch. 

Answers:  1) bad luck; 2) good luck; 3)  good; 4) bad; 5) bad; 6) good; 7) bad; 8 ) good; 9) bad; 10) bad; 11) good; 12) bad; 13) good; 14)good; 15) good.