Crazy Cartesian Connections!

During the Earth's Atmosphere unit, 8th grade students created Cartesian divers out of pop bottles, eye droppers, and some fun decorating supplies. They created a "fishing game" where squeezing on the bottle caused one of the divers to sink and with the right angle could "catch" the other diver. I then challenged students to explain how the diver worked and connect three words: density, pressure, and volume. Jean created a video to show her learning...and have a little fun! Click here for a direct link on YouTube. I later used this video in my ESL Assessment class to identify the different levels of English language proficiency.

Galileo's Famous Experiments

Towards the end of the semester, 9th grade Physics students were challenged to create a multimedia presentation to show their learning about a famous physicist. They first researched and wrote papers (using MLA format), and then created some sort of presentation. Taco (interesting name, I know) created a video about Galileo. However, instead of just regurgitating facts about his life, Taco decided to re-enact Galileo's famous experiments. What a great way to show a true understanding of Galileo's contributions to Physics! Plus, his video definitely illustrated his understanding of isolating the variable during a scientific investigation. While the video isn't perfect (Taco has limited language proficiency), it really does a great job of showing Taco's learning about Galileo. Click here for a direct link on YouTube.

Why Do We Need a Snarflemucker?

8th Grade: Ecology Expedition

Students researched biomes and created a narrated presentation of their research. Then, they worked in groups to teach each other about ecological principles (food chains, food webs, limiting factors, symbiosis, predation, and carrying capacity). Finally, students demonstrated their learning by creating a website, video (documentary) or powerpoint showing what they learned through the creation of a make-believe ecosystem on a faraway planet, Darwinius. Students built their ecosystem around one organism, the Snarflemucker, that had been brought back to Earth for testing.

Human Biology RAFT Project

Students chose a project from the RAFT Project List (Role, Audience, Format and Topic) and researched two body systems and their interactions using teacher-provided research questions. These questions were scaffolded depending on language level proficiency. Once students finished their research, they created products that illustrated what they had learned from their research. They also took a standardized quiz over each body system to show that they had met the standards and  benchmarks for the expedition.

Click Here to See a Student's Project: A"Travel Blog" written by "Sam the Sandwich"

Click Here to See a photo album of students working

You Are What You Eat!

10th Grade Biology:

Students researched how the body uses energy and created energy bars. Be sure to check out the photo album to see pics of students in action!

Check out the photo album of different stages of the project!

Coming Soon: Science Fair Project

Eighth grade students do an independent project where they develop an entire experiment that follows the scientific method. I help them through the process by providing them feedback and guidance through the entire process.

Science is Sweet!

This is a student-produced procedure to show how to calculate the number of carbon atoms present in a bag of sugar.

A deeper explanation of the assignment can be seen here.

Work Sample Coming Soon!