Inquiry Project Overview

Today, we went over expectations and criteria for the year-long project. Afterwards, I met with each group as groups worked on maps and procedures.

Key Documents:

• Expectations
• Criteria

Please talk to me if you have any questions.

Float it!

By the end of class, I should be able to:

• Write a paragraph that summarizes a design process.
• Examine the relationship between mass and volume.

Please do the following now:

1. Update your Table of Contents in your notebook. The header row should contain the following:

Topic	Date	Class Goal / Activity	Vocabulary
Matter	8/22/12	What is matter? How are mass and volume related to matter?

2. Analyze the data taken last class. What do you notice?

*	Questions to ask when analyzing data: What trends do I notice? Are there any values that stand out? How close together are the values of similar measurements? What is similar / different about the measurements?
*

August Process Words

• Analyze
• Distinguish
• Compose
• Illustrate
• Contribute
• Elaborate

A return to matter: With the person sitting beside you, create a list of 10 things that you believe can be called matter.


"Create an object out of clay that will float."

• 8 minutes
• Use a covering material on the table
• Tip: pat the clay dry after testing and before shaping it into a new design.
• At the end of the 8 minutes, please do the following:
• Sketch your design into your notebook
• Describe your design process.
• Why do you believe your design floated?

"Design an object out of clay that can carry the largest mass possible."

• 17 minutes
• Possible object to use for mass:
• Washers
• Pennies
• Measured mass
• Use a covering material on the table
• Tip: pat the clay dry after testing and before shaping it into a new design.
• At the end of the 17 minutes, please do the following:
• Sketch your final design into your notebook.
• In a paragraph, please answer the following questions...
• How many washers could your boat hold?
• Describe your design process. How did your boat design change?
• Why do you believe your design floated?
• What boat designs seemed to work best? What is it about these designs that made them successful?
• What boat designs didn't seem to work well? What is it about these designs that made them less successful or unsuccessful?

For Friday, August 24

• Inquiry Planning Form
• If you did not finish answering the questions (in paragraph form) from the second design, please do so in your notebook.

Matter, Mass and Volume

By the end of class, I should be able to:

• properly use a triple-beam balance to measure the mass of an object
• use the displacement method to measure the volume of an object
• explain what is meant by matter
• explain how mass and volume are related to matter

Please do the following now:

1. Create a Table of Contents in your notebook. The header row should contain the following:

Topic
Date

Class Goal / Activity

Vocabulary
Matter
8/20/12
What is matter?
How are mass and volume related to matter?

August Process Words

Analyze
Distinguish
Compose
Illustrate
Contribute
Elaborate

Today’s Vocab:
Matter
Mass
Volume




Triple Beam Balance - Interactive Practice


Use of a graduated cylinder

Data Collection

• Tables are used to collect data in an organized manner.
• Today, I have provided you with a table to use. In the future, you will create your own tables.

For Wednesday, August 22

• Matter & Energy support reading (p. 9-13)
• Describe how to use a triple beam balance
• Describe two different ways to measure the volume of an object.

For Friday, August 24

• Inquiry Planning Form

Final Questions

Today, your group should arrive in class with an inquiry question or a strong idea of what your group plans to investigate this year. Please retrieve the whiteboard you used last class and set it up as below:


We will meet at the desks for each group to present their question. The group will provide the question, the change and the response. Then, each other group must provide one question or thought regarding the proposed inquiry project.

Question Planning Sheet

A space will be created on the outside wall that will become your area to report progress on the project. Each group also needs to create a web page for the project. Current requirements for web page:

• Question
• Independent (manipulated) and Dependent (Responding) variables clearly identified
• “About Us” section that gives a bit of background on each person in the group (please only use first names) and why you are interested in your group’s question.
• A location that allows people to post comments and questions.
• Anything else you want to add to your page at this time.

Parent Night

It was great to see parents last night. I briefly talked about the year long inquiry project and went into details regarding feedback in this class. The presentation is below:

AST Inquiry

By now everyone should be slowly remembering life as a student. A variety of activities are lined up for today beginning with the introduction of our class Read Aloud. By reading The City of Ember, I hope to give us a place to talk about energy, conservation and sustainability.

During class activities:

• Book check-out & Material List
• Walking AST and listing "things" you wonder about.
• What makes a good scientific question?
• Creating an AST-based inquiry question.

Today's Key question: What makes a good scientific question?

I. Brainstorms
What do people ask questions for?

To get information	Find an answer	Support guesses
Curious	Not sure about something	Want to know something and want to be right
To make sense of something (clarify)	To know more about a topic	Interested
To find knowledge without sorting through lots of information	Learn about the environment	relationships

What types of questions are there?

• Why - a reason
• How - a process
• Yes / No - to be sure
• If...., then what will happen (relationship / prediction)
• Where
• When
• What
• Who

What does our question need?

• Time to answer
• A connection over time
• to be testable -
• we have the materials
• it must take place at AST
• I must be able to collect data
• Narrowed down to variables I can investigate

Group Questions
   - How is bug blood different from human blood?
    - Why do your fingers wrinkle after you take a bath?
    - Is rock music better than hip-hop music?
    - Why does bright light cause some people to sneeze?
    - Do smells affect people’s moods?
    - Is vegetarianism better than eating meat?

Task:

1. Decide whether your question can be answered through a scientific investigation.
2. Come up with two testable questions that relate to the problem described in the question.

Whiteboard Presentation - we will continue with this next class

1. Please make sure your original question is posted.
2. Show why you think your question can/cannot be answered through a scientific investigation.
3. Provide the two testable questions and describe what the purpose

Marshmallows rise

Marshmallow Challenge (First Day of School)

 

Rules

1. The Entire Marshmallow Must be on Top: The entire marshmallow needs to be on the top of the structure. Cutting or eating part of the marshmallow disqualifies the team.  
2. Use as Much or as Little of the Kit: The team can use as many or as few of the 20 spaghetti sticks, as much or as little of the string or tape. The team cannot use the paper bag as part of their structure.
3. Break up the Spaghetti, String or Tape: Teams are free to break the spaghetti, cut up the tape and string to create new structures.
4. The Challenge Lasts 18 minutes: Teams cannot hold on to the structure when the time runs out. Those touching or supporting the structure at the end of the exercise will be disqualified.

Results

School Starts on Wednesday!

I hope everyone had a wonderful summer break. I look forward to seeing you all Wednesday.

Mt Adams seen from Hood River, OR