Lesson 1 - Monday, Sep 30
Today in science: B & C periods learned that our three gas demonstrations seen during last week’s Lessons 3 & 4 were actually our first examples of instances in which something new–in this case three new gases–was created. For each of these three gas-producing reactions, we wrote math-style equations that students can now see in the G7 Notes Portal. For each of these equations, we then spent time distilling them down to their most important expressions for the purpose of giving them as answers to an upcoming quiz question, “How can we make something new that wasn’t there before?”
Homework: B & C period students should prepare for Tuesday’s one-question quiz. H period students completed this quiz last Friday.
Lesson 2 - Tue, Oct 1 (B, C) & Wed, Oct 2 (H)
Today in science: B & C period had a short one-question quiz at the start of the lesson. The question asked was, “How can we make something new that wasn’t there before?,” to which Dr. M expected the answers discussed in detail during the Lesson 1. B & C period students were also asked to update their Demo #1, #2, & #3 notes in their science notebooks based on the small corrections Dr. M made to his Demo class notes. Students then saw Demo #4, which showed yet another gas-producing reaction–in this instance the same gas produced by the bath bombs: carbon dioxide gas. The full equation for this gas-producing reaction can also be see in the G7 Notes Portal.
Since they did not need to take/complete a quiz during this lesson, H period students instead received their graded quiz. This allowed Dr. M to explain the different between earning 3s versus 4s and how a 4 on this quiz will become a 3 on the final Unit test (it’s not really that complicated, it’s just that students need to learn how to speak in the language of “particles”). During this lesson, H period was also asked to double-check the accuracy of their notes for all four of the gas-producing Demos.
Homework: There is no science homework tonight.
Lesson 3 - Wed, Oct 2 (B, C) & Thu, Oct 3 (H)
Today in science: B period’s science lesson cannot be described in words. It can only be celebrated by its awesomeness, and only those students present in the science lab–plus Mr. Barry & Dr. M–can ever truly appreciate and understand what occurred. 😉🫶
C period was shown how Demo’s 1, 2, 3, & 4 are actually four different answers students can use in the future to our Driving Question. Dr. M also explained to students how he graded the most recent quiz, which students will have returned to them (graded) in their next science lesson. Near the end of the lesson C period also had the good idea of updating their Table of Contents and turning each of the four gas-producing Demos into their own entries. Finally, it was decided that the next important task for C period students is to learn to speak about “atoms.”
H period students saw gas-producing Demo #4, in which we saw a second way of making carbon dioxide gas. Although they already had this Demo written in their science notebooks, they had not yet seen the actual (physical) Demo.
Homework: There is no science homework tonight.
Lesson 4 - Thu, Oct 3 (B) & Fri, Oct 4 (C, H)
Today in science: Both B & C period students received their graded quizzes at the start of the lesson. This gave Dr. M a chance to mention that we not only have the two ways of creating something new that we used on the quiz (i.e., gas-producing Demo #s 1 & 2), but we also have the two additional ways seen–and mapped–during gas-producing Demo #s 3 & 4.
After checking to see that all three classes had updated their Table of Contents to clearly show both INV #1 and the four Demos, Dr. M then asked students to revisit the original bath bomb reaction and identify which of the original bath bomb ingredients are responsible for making the carbon dioxide gas bubbles. This led to the planning of INV #2: COMBINING INGREDIENTS, in which we aim to prove through experimentation what combination of bath bomb ingredients create carbon dioxide gas (bubbles)? B period had time to plan the investigation but not to do any of the ‘trials.’ C & H periods had time to plan the investigation and perform some ‘trials.’ On Monday, we will finish performing any (other) trials and summarize the results.
Homework: There is no weekend science homework.
Announcements...
The DRIVING QUESTION of our current unit is: How can we make something new that was not there before?
#1 - ...
#2 - ...