We have been having tons of fun in both 7th and 8th grade.
Seventh graders have been learning about populations and ecosystems. They started by learning how to identify items as individuals, populations, communities, and ecosystems. They learned the difference between biotic and abiotic factors.
We used chips to learn how to create a dichotomous key. The best part was eating them afterwards. We learned another classification technique (cladogram) that helped us to determine how a platypus, a whale, a cat and a human relate to one another. Students were able to take what they learned to classify the students in our class.
We learned about aquariums and terrariums by creating mini ecosystems. They are thriving(with the exception of a few unfortunate guppies). We will be observing the changes to the populations throughout the next month. We hope to see babies soon!
Eighth graders are finishing up their rollercoaster physics project. As one student observed, my classroom looks like it is on life support with all of the tubing connected to walls and chairs for their rollercoasters. They have learned how to determine velocity using measurements from their tracks and the time it takes to complete the track. They predicted and observed how changes to their tracks affect velocity. We learned about the physics of rollercoasters in order to understand potential energy, kinetic energy, gravitational force, centrifugal force, Newton's laws of motion, inertia and momentum. We also learned about how these concepts relate to the physical changes that happen to our bodies when these forces are put on them. The kids are excited to go to grad night at Six Flags and experience firsthand the physics they learned.
