Lesson 1 - Monday, Sep 15
Housekeeping: Dr. M did a Science Notebook check-in. In Veracross, this assignment will show as a 1-pt. “Homework” assignment and thus influence the Academic grade (but only a tiny amount!). He also spent some time explaining grade weighting and what students see when they generate a Veracross Grade Report for themselves.
1. RA3 (Pretty crystals) – A group discussion (i.e., Talking Heads) activity aimed at distinguishing rocks, crystals, and minerals.
2. Notetaking – Definitions for today’s discussion words–rocks, crystals, and minerals–have been added to the G7 Notes Portal. Students were asked to put these notes in their Science Notebook. Students should think about transforming these notes into a single Concept Map as soon as possible.
Homework: In Monday’s science class, Dr. M asked students to answer two different (non-graded) practice questions by using their Exam.net iPad App at home. The Exam code for DQ7 (Under the crust) is GVK7bF. The Exam code for DQ8 (Underground temperature) is SMJnvi.
Lesson 2 - Tue, Sep 16 (B) & Wed, Sep 17 (H)
Housekeeping: Revisit the Driving Question and emphasize the importance of getting smarter about types of “materials” (e.g., rocks, minerals, crystals, etc.) that get recycled and remade on (or in!) our planet.
1. Watch 18 minutes of the “Rocks and Minerals” video and take notes with the blank flow chart provided in the Google Science Classroom.
2. Watch the 3-minute “Why is it hot underground?” video to see an example of an interesting model of the interior of the Earth–a baked potato!–created by an important (now deceased) scientist.
Homework: There is no science homework tonight.
Lesson 3 - Wed, Sep 17 (B) & Thu, Sep 18 (H)
Housekeeping: Check in any newly purchased science notebooks. Show students how to log in to the online Exploring Science textbooks so that they can use this resource for any of their assignments either inside or outside of school.
1. Watch the 5-minute “Why does the Earth have layers?” video to see yet another example of a model of the interior of the Earth often used by scientists. This video, as well as the second video seen during Lesson 2, is meant to help students begin to build a mental model of the interior of the Earth, which is of critical importance when trying to answer our Driving Question.
2. RA4 (Hard-boiled Earth) – Assessing and evaluating a model of the Earth. This is assignment is in the Google Science Classroom and needed to be turned in by the end of Lesson 3.
3. DQ9 (Jigsaw Earth) & DQ10 (Where on Earth?) – These practice questions will help Dr. M better prepare for Lesson 4.
4. RA5 (Moving rock) – Explaining how earthquakes happen.
- Students have been asked to come to Lesson 4 with a completed paper (not digital) version of RA5. If students lose the paper version given to them in class they can find a digital (printable) version in the Google Science Classroom.
Homework: In the Lesson 3 science class, Dr. M asked students to answer two different (non-graded) practice questions by using their Exam.net iPad App at home. The Exam code for DQ11 (Rock slide) is uSqh1a. The Exam code for DQ12 (Tectonic plates) is hohUj6.
Lesson 4 - Thu, Sep 18 (B) & Fri, Sep 19 (H)
Housekeeping: After making sure each class had either submitted a completed (paper-based) RA5 OR committed to submitting it before next Tuesday’s science class, Dr. M also then made sure students had completed DQs 9, 10, 11, & 12 with Exam.net.
Grade 7 students then experienced their first Unit 7.1 synthesis activity–aka. “The Deep Dive”–in which they dedicated the rest of today’s science lesson to applying their recent learnings about key concepts such as rocks, minerals, crystals, and the structure of the Earth directly to our the Unit 7.1 Driving Question (see below).
To help guide and catalyze this activity, Dr. M asked students to pay extra close attention to a few key representations offered to them in two recently viewed videos:
It was from some impressive(!) representational ‘mining’ from these two videos–but also from the resulting, image-focused class discussions–that each period made a number of important breakthroughs with respect to our Driving Question. Students were asked to record these breakthroughs on the pages of their Science Notebooks.
Homework: As per the TASIS MS school homework policy, there is no weekend science homework (due on Monday).
Announcements...
The DRIVING QUESTION of our current unit is: How does the Earth recycle and remake the materials of our planet, from the deep core to the surface we walk on?
#1 - Students who could not produce an approved Science Notebook should acquire one as soon as possible.
#2 - Interim science grades will be issued on Wednesday, 24 Sep.