12-8-14

Part 2 of Let's 

Get Ready to Tumble

 We first started by finishing the activity we began last week.  We had started to explore the bases of buildings and how they move.  We also looked at ways to reinforce the buildings base.  This week we started with the bases we built and added a 3-D structure to it.

 We then tested out our buildings on the shake table.  Most of them made it through 30 seconds of shaking without major damage.  Many were displaced and some had minor damage.

 We then took what we learned with our straw buildings and applied it to a new material...... toothpicks and day old marshmallows!!!  I have included several pictures of the building process of these structures.  The students were given 150 toothpicks and 50 marshmallows.  Their structure had to be at least a foot tall.

 Here are pictures of the various structures built and the teams that built them!

 Finally, we tested these buildings on the shake table.  The buildings had to withstand 30 seconds of shaking from Mrs. Blust and Miss Dornon.  Overall the structures help up very well!  Some swayed back and forth quite a bit and had they been real buildings they would have seen more damage.  I have posted pictures of the buildings after they went through at least a 6.0 magnitude earthquake =)


 Can't wait to see you all next week.  Remember that if you want pizza next week to bring in $2.00 to Mrs. Blust by Friday, December 12th.

12-1-14

Let's Get Ready to Tumble

Today in IMSA we started our investigation into building structures and earthquakes.  In our first activity we tested 4 different structures made of Starburst.  We tested them by putting them in a foil pan and simulating the vibrations of an earthquake.  We then evaluated how quickly and in what matter each structure was damaged.  The students then decided on and tested one structure that they picked but that was at various distances from the epicenter.   

 

The second activity took the information from the first and started to apply it to building a 3-D structure with straws, limited tape and card stock.  These structures will be tested on the shake table next week.  We will continue with the last two activities of this unit also.  

 This is all building up to the activity that the students will start developing and then carry out at our parent night.  Please keep checking back on this blog for more information about parent night and be looking for a handout on it to be coming home before break.  The parent night is
                                                      currently set for Jan. 12th, 2015.

11-24-14

Magma, Magma

We explored some of the most well known volcanoes.  We then looked deeper into the types of magma produced from these volcanoes and the type of eruptions associated with each. The students started off with investigating the viscosity of various liquids.  We then tested two synthetic magma types and observed their characteristics.

See you next week when we start our investigations on best building structures and medium to build them on!!

11-17-14

Edible Tectonics

Today's topic was plate tectonics.  We looked at and discussed the various plate boundaries found on Earth.  We also looked at and discuss a website that showed the plate boundaries and the various movement involved with each.

 We then demonstrated the types of plate boundaries with graham crackers and icing.  The students first created their own "World of Plates" with the graham crackers. They placed the plates on the icing which represented the mantle of the Earth.  The student groups then moved around to each world and created a plate boundary type.  The groups were required to make one of each type as they moved from world to world. When the students returned to their world they had to try and figure out which plate boundaries were created and in which order it all happened.

Next up is volcanoes......

IMSA Field Trip

Churchill's IMSA Fusion Field Trip!!!!

The above picture shows the overall itinerary for the fun filled day that we experienced.  Despite a lengthy bus ride, everyone had an amazing time!!! I think the students enjoyed lunch the most... Ha Ha!  

 We started off our day with 3-D Geometry.  They were first given a set of blocks.  The students were then introduced to isometric and orthographic views and how to draw them.  They were then challenged to go through several cards and make the structures shown on the cards.  The students excelled at this task and many will be asked by Mrs. Blust to visit her classes and demonstrate the lesson to her students.


 

By far their favorite due to getting as much as you want and the ice cream for dessert.

 After lunch we went to the Biology room and were introduced to Sea Stars.  The students were taught this lesson by high school aged IMSA students.  They took our students through identifying the various external structures of the sea star.  The students were then allowed to dissect the sea star and learn about its internal structures.

After our dissection the students were lead on a campus tour and were able to see a dorm room.  We then climbed on board the bus and headed back to Galesburg!!!

See you at our regular meeting on Monday, Nov. 17th, 2014.  However, DO NOT forget about the webinar with Computational Biologist, Dr. Kai Orton on Tuesday, Nov. 18th, 2014!!!

The webinar will only run from 3pm till about 4 or 4:15pm.  It is not mandatory but should be exciting to hear about!

Convection Currents

Convection Currents

The lesson on 11-10-14 was on convection currents.  The students talked about convection currents that are all around us and what those look like.  We then continued that conversation into the convection currents that are believed to be inside the Earth and assisting in plate movement.  The students then were engaged in an activity that allowed them to see the movement of substances and how they vary according to the substances temperature.  The students were guided in some of the experiment and then allowed to come up with three of their own variations on water temperatures to test.  Off to the side and below are  the before and after pictures of the experiments.  

10/27/14 & 11/3/14--Ordering Events from Earth's History

 Brain Break?!?!  

The students have been working so hard on a subject that is hard to conceptualize due to its inability to be put in their hands or be seen.  Despite those challenges the students have done a wonderful job understanding the activities and the expanse of the Earth's interior.  Due to their hard work and the fact that we want to continue to welcome our new 6th graders to the group we did a team building activity with the students that had nothing to do with Earth! =)     

The students were given a certain amount of the following: yarn, tape, spaghetti noodles and a marshmallow.  This these items they had to try and build the tallest free standing structure in a given time.  They really enjoyed this activity and the competitiveness came out in them all!

 After our friendly competition we delve into the next IMSA lesson, Earth's History.  Each student was given an event in Earth's History and the goal was for them to put themselves in the correct order.  The snapshots below show them hard at work trying to order themselves from earliest to most recent.  Not only were they timed but they could not talk to one another either.  Our 8th graders really took the lead in organizing everyone.  When they felt ready we checked their order and told them how many were wrong.  They tried a second time to get organized with less time allotted.  We then checked them again and gave them one last shot but this time allowed conversation about it.  All said and done they did very well.  Our 6th and 7th graders offered a lot of insight on their 3rd try and they all worked very well together.

We then finished the Earth's History lesson on Nov. 3rd.  We took the events we worked with last week and looked at the actual historical time it occurred and then scaled it to the length on one year.  We did this using formulas and Google sheets on the kids' Chromebooks.  The students were very surprised to see the correlation of when some of the events occurred in the scaled version of a years time.  

We will now be moving into looking at convection currents, plate tectonics and volcanoes!!!!
Can't wait to see everyone on Monday, Nov. 10th and don't forget the field trip on Wednesday, Nov. 12th!!  It will be a great time as IMSA!