al-mofhariz

Looking for a way to kick off the year and teach students how to use observational skills along with concepts such as variables and inquiry projects?  Several years ago, my colleague and I created a unit that was based on the great Steve Spangler's You Tube videos involving diet coke and mentos.  I mean...what great fun!  My son and I first tried it several years ago in the back yard, then we did it for a birthday party for 7 year olds, and then I decided...I gotta do this in the classroom. So, we decided to tie it into a unit on introducing scientific investigations. Many teachers like to do this at the beginning of the year as a way to introduce science vocabulary words and observation techniques.  My students loved it!  Check out my blogs about the experience from last year by looking at the side posting labels.  You can see what it looked like in action. It is such a big hit it is now my student's #1 favorite activity (three years in a row!) as well as ...

I am on another vacation this weekend..this time to celebrate the wedding of my fourth grade colleague Joe Curtin! So, I peeked back through my posts and picked an oldie but a goodie that I posted back in December. Enjoy! I am all about authentic assessments. I want to peer into the child's mind and see what she or he really understands about a concept that I have taught. However, one of the drawbacks to this is TIME. It takes time to check work and make comments and provide appropriate feedback. Right? This fall I was introduced to a new element of formative instruction that will be implemented in all the FOSS 3rd edition NEW units. I sat with my jaw wide open as I thought...this is what I've been waiting for. So let me tell you how it's done! Step one: When you are teaching a lesson, pick out one or two main concepts that you want them to understand. Write them on the sheet I have provided for FREE in google docs. (right under the Teachers Pay Teachers link) Step...

Now that's a picture: Edgar Allan Poe, Joseph Leidy, and Samuel George Morton at Philadelphia's Academy of Natural Sciences Photo from A Glorious Enterprise: The Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia and the Making of American Science .  Via . Also, did you know that " diddling " can be considered an exact science?   (This and other interesting tid-bits on Poe and early American science appear in Maurice Lee's recent Uncertain Chances . )

A Special Guest Post from Ben Gross, Research Fellow, Center for Contemporary History and Policy, at the Chemical Heritage Foundation (Thanks Ben!) First off, I would like to thank Dan and the other members of the AmericanScience community for offering a forum to discuss a subject near and dear to my heart: the history of corporate science. Specifically, I would like to take a moment to reflect upon the significance of this place: Bell Labs, courtesy of Wikipedia Behold, Bell Labs! Located in Murray Hill, New Jersey, during the quarter century after World War II, this facility rose above all others to become synonymous with American innovation. Although a relative newcomer compared to research organizations at General Electric or Du Pont, the technologies developed within its walls—most notably, the transistor—prompted Fortune magazine to identify it in 1958 as “the world’s greatest industrial laboratory.” Further achievements over the coming decades, such as the launch of the first co...

Raccoons have a great sense of touch.  They have finger like digits that allow them to use their paws like hands.  They also have an operable thumb!  Isn't that cool?  I have created this center today that you can use to connect the racoon's sense of touch to your sense of touch. The only materials you need are from nature.  I recommend collecting a few items such as an apple, a leaf, bark, a pine cone, some plastic bugs (if you want), a trash wrapper, and maybe a rock. Put the items in a paper bag at the center.  Students will need to feel the items in the bag and try to identify what they are and then infer what the raccoon might use it for. I hope you will like this!

When I was a little girl, I loved raccoons.  They seemed so cute and cuddly!  As an adult, I know now that they are quite the opposite - they are actually pretty pesky!  They often get into trash in suburban neighborhoods and carry many diseases.  As a science teacher, I try to compile activities that are science in nature...not artsy!  I hope these suggestions will help you in your classroom. Websites:       National Geographic Kids has a great website with a video clip, map showing locations and printable fact cards for kids who love to to collect cards.     Animal Tracking this PDF is a great idea for a science center where you can have students guess which footprint matches which animal. Raccoon Diagram from Enchanted Learning.   This site has a lot of information, coloring diagrams and crafty ideas. Children's Literature : Exploring the World Of Raccoons by Tracy C. Read Raccoon on His Own by Jim Arnosky

While I am out of town, Gabrielle from Amazing Science Discoveries has decided to do a guest blog for me.  I hope you enjoy it! Long Live, the Cacti!      Image source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Cardon_Pachycereus_pringlei.jpg Have you ever wondered how those lumps of thorny cacti thrive despite the waterless and scorching conditions of the desert? Let’s inspect how well the cactus adapts to survive in the harsh conditions of sandy wastelands where only few plants live. If you take a close look at the structure of a cactus plant, you will notice that its leaves have shrunk to the point that in some species of cactus, the leaves are nonexistent. This allows the plant to prevent loss of water. If there is more surface area that is exposed to the sun, then the faster that the stored water evaporates from the cactus. Thus, this spine-covered hardy plant has ...

A little over 110 years ago Thorstein Veblen published The Theory of the Leisure Class , in which he spelled out his now famous and well-known idea of "conspicuous consumption." As Veblen argued, people conspicuously consume, buying silver wear and other luxury goods when cheaper stand-ins would do, because they desire to flag their social status. Since the publication of Veblen's book, people have invented many and multifarious ways of being noticed. I have recently been thinking a great deal about the technological dimensions of self-presentation. Let's call them technologies of conspicuous affection. For several years, I've been talking about the role of conspicuous abstention in our society. You are sitting at a table with a group of people who are conversing. Paul brings up the fact that he watched Mad Men last night. He says the episode was keen. "Draper was a jerk. It was great." Harold, who is also sitting at the table, begins to fidget. Everyone...

More thoughts on beer technologies! These should go down just as smoothly as  my post on canning craft beer (written up more fully here ). I'll focus on  MillerCoors, one of the industry's biggest packaging innovators, and  in particular on one of their best-selling beers, Miller Lite .  Look at that pour! The fact that taste isn't the most interesting thing about Miller Lite (as the company itself has basically suggested*) is, I'd argue, not unrelated to the fact that the brand has been on the leading edge of a packaging revolution for the last half-decade.  Consumers have a lot of trouble telling the difference between "light American lagers" by taste ( just listen to these experts !). To distinguish themselves on the marketplace, a lot goes into (big surprise) marketing – but here I think we've got something more. Differences in packaging might in fact be mostly talk, but there's at least a claim to technological superiority – and that's enoug...

I am getting ready to head out of town to celebrate my parent's 50th wedding anniversary!  I will be off the grid for several days.  So while I am out of town, I want to share with you one of my favorite blogs.... Handbook for Nature Study. This blog was created as a resource for homeschoolers...but the activities can easily be implemented in your own classroom.  The link above takes you to her current blog about TURTLES!  (I love turtles.) Her blog includes links to Youtube videos, how to pond dip, ideas for outdoor hour observations and follow up activities.  I think you will love it!  See ya next week!

Making models is a skill that is used by real scientists...and is a skill that teachers should be encouraging our students to use.  The next great engineers are sitting in our classrooms everyday! With this science center, students can create a feather model which they can easily compare to the real thing.  You will take a feather and trace around the edges.  Cut it out and tape it to a straw.  Next, try to cut out the filaments along the sides. When you are finished, you will measure and compare length, mass and some other tests.  The reflection piece also allows you to think about why the real feather is better for the birds! Download this resource here for FREE. Enjoy!

I have debated between turtles and space all summer...I love my turtle and so do the kids. I had thought....Slow and Steady wins the race.... but today...I definitely settled on space.  First of all...it is the first science unit we will teach this year.  It hooks the students and gets them excited about school.  We had even made up this cute bulletin board that I found last summer from Clutter Free Classroom .  She had found it from this link for bulletin board design. We also have these blow up planets and Mrs. Fultz had a great idea I saw on Pinterest.. I could do that! Second...I found a bunch of stuff at TARGET! I was wasting time while waiting for a ZPak prescription (yes, I have an upper respiratory infection in the SUMMER...not fair!)...and I happened across this: It was a bulletin board set with the planets and rockets..for $2.50. Next I found....rocket & planet shapes (for $2) as well as window clings ($2).  They were all in primary colors which a...

Have you ever really thought about feathers?  What purpose do they serve for the animals that need them?  What purpose do humans use feather for?  Two words come to mind - warmth and protection. (Well and a slight thought about Grandma's feather bed...also a great use of feathers!) This science center involves comparing two types of feathers: Flight feathers vs. Downy feathers. Both feathers serve a purpose...but they are also different enough that you can easily compare them.  Using a Box and T chart to list and compare what the students notice.  You can even provide man-made synthetic materials to observe and compare material that people use for warmth and protection in coats. This is a science center that you can use to compare downy to flight feathers using man-made materials as well as feathers.  You can download it for free here .

In keeping with my owl and eagle theme...here is another Science Center  that you can download for FREE...investigating flight feathers. With this center is a task card that explains what to do when they investigate. It gives background information as well as some tasks to try with the feathers.  You will need to have a collection of feathers ...either some you found (and cleaned!) or some you purchase. Next is a sheet that students can record observations, measurements and reflections in a guided approach. Enjoy!

Every single day, people create, collect, and share 2.5 quintillion bytes of data . Text. Tweets. Photos. Videos. Clicks. Links. Consumer transactions. Blog posts and comments.  And so on . . . down, down, down the rabbit hole . . . While all this ballooning information creates storage nightmares for some, a new breed of computational social scientists is enthusiastically exploring Big Data and extracting surprising insights about human behavior .   Duncan Watts—principal researcher at Microsoft’s new NYC-based laboratory, former sociology professor at Columbia University, and the author of Everything Is Obvious (*Once You Know the Answer) —is at the forefront of these studies, examining concepts ranging from influence and incentives to social contagion and stereotypes . He challenges over-simplified explanations about human interactions and asks:  Why do  common sense  explanations often turn out to be wrong?  Are your friends as similar to you ...

Do you like to investigate owl pellets?  It is always one of my favorite activities!! For those of you who may not know what they are, let me explain.  Owls eat their prey whole - and then spit back up the bones in a fur ball.  You can purchase these lovely pellets and find out what they ate for dinner.   It is a great hands-on activity to teach in a "real way" the idea of a food web or food chain. For those of you who are squeamish...oh yes, I know you are out there!  You can also do this on-line.  There is a great website called KidWings.  This website shows owl pellets from a variety of owls...including, the barred owl. At this site, you can get teacher resources to include information about owls, bone charts, and photographs.  There is even a video that explains how to have a successful pellet investigation. I have created a Science Center using Owl Pellets for the upper grades.  In it you will start with a focus question, some back groun...

This retrospective look (from the 1980s, it seems, by Brooke Hindle ) at the mid-twentieth-century origins of the history of science in early America deserves a quick read. The piece covers quite a bit of ground (including history of technology and material culture), but I found most interesting its discussion of the influence on the history of science of the tide toward "social and intellectual history," alongside the rise of institutions that I would affiliate with the American studies movement like the [now Omohundro] Institute of Early American History and Culture. On the history of American studies generally, my first stop for an actor's account is still Leo Marx's 2004 essay, "Believing in America."

     Did you look at the resources I posted yesterday?  They included many wonderful FREE YouTube clips, children's literature (available at your local library) as well as websites with more information.  Today, I have two resources available for you.  One is cheap ($1) and one is FREE.  Cheap resource : $1.00   I have put together 11 pages of non-fiction reading passages on the barred owl. They are written to cover topics:  food webs, food chain, habitat, human impact, comparing spotted owls to barred owls, structural adaptations and behavioral adaptations.  Each of these passages includes a place to reflect on what they learn - either through writing or drawing.  Free Resource:   This is one of the resources that is included in the cheap resource.  It is a passage explaining some of the adaptations that the barred owl makes behaviorally.  It includes a space to draw what you learn from the passage.  ...