Friday, April 13th
Today in science: Students partook in a Citric Acid tasting lab today. Over the course of the lesson, students were invited to taste three different fresh citrus fruits–clementine (oranges), lemons, and limes–for the purpose of a) developing a ‘taste’ for citric acid, b) tasting the effect on citric acid when it is mixed with sugar, and c) seeing how both red/blue litmus and universal indicator papers can help us not only determine whether or not a liquid is an acid or a alkali (base), but also how strong a particular acid or alkali is relative to others.
Homework: Students were given 5 strips of red and 5 strips of blue litmus paper with which to test 10 substances of their choice at home (students were asked to cut each strip in half). This home lab is supported and guided by this PDF document, which the students received near the end of the lesson.
Thursday, April 12th
Today in science: Into their lab notebooks, students created a page containing the safety symbols commonly used in science laboratories and experiments. The symbols presented in class today included symbols for Harmful, Flammable, Toxic, Irritant, Explosive, Corrosive, Electric Shock, and Harmful to the Environment. For each safety symbol, written definitions and single words were provided. At the end of the period, there was a brief discussion about the fragile relationship between curiosity and harm/danger.
Homework: There is no science homework tonight.
Wednesday, April 11th
Today in science: After a brief description of the new Acids & Alkalis unit, during which Dr. Merritt told students a little bit about some of the experiments and investigations they will encounter in the coming weeks, each student received an “Acids and Alkalis” packet, which contains various assignments, resources, and exercises. Students were asked to complete only the first page in class, p. 177, which introduced them to two different safety symbols, as well as the terms corrosion and irritant, and three different types of acids (sulphuric, nitric, and hydrochloric).
Homework: There is no science homework tonight.
Tuesday, April 10th
Today in science: H period does not meet on Tuesdays.
Homework: —
Monday, April 9th
Today in science: As promised before the spring vacation, students began a new unit today. On a new (blank) page in their lab notebooks, students were asked to create a “What I (don’t) know” page in response to the following words and/or phrases:
ACID (acids, acidic)
ALKALI (alkalis, alkaline)
BASE (bases, basic)
NEURTAL (neutralize)
pH
This exercise involved free writing responses to each of the five key terms (in bold above), as well as to the 1-2 related terms included within the parentheses “( )”. At the end of class, Dr. Merritt spoke briefly to the entire class in order to model one way in which a scientist might speak ‘scientifically’ when using these key words.
Homework: There is no science homework tonight.
