You Tube in regular rotation

Ok, so I'm always looking for ways to make the science lesson more interesting. My students bore easily and the more bored they are the more disruptive they can be. So I've taken to Youtube for help. And I have found some great "science accurate" interesting videos. Mostly songs but still good nonetheless.

So 7th grade as you already know have been learning about potential and kinetic energy so I found this video, well song, very repetitive, but it got the point across. I played it (where they could only hear the music but not see the video) for several days as the students were walking in.

It was a great discussion starter for the lesson. I would start asking questions about what the song was about and of course they weren't listening, so then I would have to play the song several more times to help facilitate discussion. (Sneaky aren't I!)

Some students starting complaining that they couldn't get the song out their heads and many were caught humming it in class (YES!! Gotcha!).  Then one girl complained that she felt like she was in jail, because she was being held hostage, being made to listen to the song over and over again. Really!!

OK OK, so here's the video.

Bounce! lab a big hit

Ok, so the 7th graders were learning about potential and kinetic energy this week. And I found a "Bounce!" lab from Science-class.net  under physics and energy, that really hit the spot.  It was really a hit. I should have taken pictures.

What did they do: Measure a piece to masking tape at least 100 cm from the floor on the wall. Mark it in three spots, 50 cm, 75 cm, and 100 cm.  Starting at 50 cm drop the ball and watch where it comes back up to, record the measurement and do this four times more. And then repeat for the other two measurements. Find the average heights, make a bar graph, and answer some analysis questions.

What did they learn: Potential is converted to kinetic energy, energy is conserved, law of conservation of energy, energy is converted to other forms of energy like sound and thermal.

What did they practice: Using a measuring tool , accurately recording metric measurements, finding averages, taking data from a table and putting it into a graph, comparing and interpreting data from a graph, analyzing other scenarios for the same concept.

In my class, students complete the hands-on part in class and the analysis at home. We come together the next day to discuss the results. The next days discussion went well for my morning class, who had completed the analysis at home, but the afternoon class is still working on doing their homework at home before we can have more meaningful real conversations in class.

Boom Bang Boom!! Couldn't ask for a better lesson.

Science Club Yeah!

     I am oh so excited to have been given the go ahead to start a science club.  Yippee!! I've always wanted to chair a science club. I imagine that in high school if mine had a science club, I would have been interested enough to attend at least one meeting.  I'm stealing all of my ideas from Sciencespot.com  and hope to start right after midterms.  Oh my, midterms next week already!
     We will probably meet bimonthly and do some build-this and demo-that type stuff. I would love to hear some suggestions. Foil boats, popsicle stick bridges, and egg drop parachutes are already at the top of the list. I had asked the math teacher to be my partner, but she bottomed out due to other commitments. But I think I've got someone else in mind that would be helpful.
     I've also got to come up with a way to raise money. How am I going to pay for the "stuff" we will need to do stuff. hmmm.... I'll have to think about that one some more. I want to visit COSI as an end of school year field trip and in btw go to the observatory. Wish me luck! I've never started or even headed up a school club before so this is a new endeavor for me.