There are many online resources available for today’s teachers. The plethora of available resources can make finding valuable, useful resources a time consuming challenge. That is why I not only search on my own but rely on other teachers to find valuable resources. In designing a unit on electricity for my enrichment class I was able to borrow from veteran science teachers as well as find several online resources that will help to make this unit fun and exciting for my students.
The website that I found to be the most exciting is the Internet Plasma Physics Education Experience (IPPEX) website. IPPEX is a site that has online interactive physics modules. These modules can help students gain a stronger understanding of physics concepts while utilizing technology and saving money on resources. IPPEX can be found at http://ippex.pppl.gov/interactive/electricity/. Another website that can use in my classroom is the BBC Schools website. This site can be found at http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ks2bitesize/ and is a great site for elementary and middle school students. This site provides educational games and simulations that help students grasp and practice scientific concepts.
Both of these sites are valuable resources that I can use in my classroom to help my students experience science concepts in ways that we would otherwise not be able to do in our classroom setting. These sites are among many that I can use to create online learning experiences for my students. I like to periodically use online learning experiences to help my students become better researchers and more technology literate.
Being able to search and research online is a necessary skill for today’s students. With the large number of websites out there students need to be able to determine whether a site is useful and students need to be able to find and take information from these sites. The two sites that I have chosen for this exercise provide the opportunity for students to become better researchers, but also provide them with opportunities to become 21st-century scientifically literate citizens. Both of these sites have modules that lead students through a discovery process. When used in conjunction with other sites and classroom experiences students will gain a firm understanding of the scientific concepts being studied. These sites also allow students to use and practice their problem solving skills through scientific inquiry.
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Exploring Heat Transfer
Exploring heat transfer in mugs leads me to think about a dilemma that I have every year as a teacher which is my coffee or tea getting cold before I can get it drank. I chose to solve this dilemma by purchasing a coffee mug warmer, but I also could have explored using a lid of some sort to help keep my beverage warm. When choosing materials to top my mug and act as an insulator I naturally think about materials that are often used to hold or contain beverages or as insulators in the kitchen. I chose paper, corrugated cardboard, foil, and Styrofoam as the tops for my mugs.
I naturally expected the Styrofoam to act as the best insulator followed by the corrugated cardboard, then the foil and the paper to act as the worst. In conducting this experiment I found that I was mostly correct in my hypothesis of which topper would act as the better insulator. The Styrofoam was by far the best insulator and the paper was the worst. Where I was wrong was that the foil was a better insulator than the corrugated cardboard. I believed that the corrugated cardboard would act as a better insulator than the foil due to having more air pockets. They were very close in temperature, but the foil mug was warmer. This may have been due to the fact that the steam from the hot water built up on the corrugated cardboard causing it to become soggy. These results may also have been due what I feel was a flaw in the experiment. The mug with the foil was poured last and the mug topped with the cardboard was poured first. The small difference in time may account for the results. If I were to conduct this experiment again I would take an initial temperature for each mug and measure the change in temperature rather than just the end result. This would allow me to have more accurate results in measuring the change in temperature from the time the water enters each individual mug.
One way that I try to make this concept relevant to student lives is by having them explore why hot fudge sundaes come in plastic containers, milk shakes in Styrofoam, and blizzards in paper. The students then design and construct their own experiments to answer this question. Students may not care why their hot fudge sundae is in plastic, but who doesn't like to experiment with ice cream! In the end they are rewarded with ice cream!
I naturally expected the Styrofoam to act as the best insulator followed by the corrugated cardboard, then the foil and the paper to act as the worst. In conducting this experiment I found that I was mostly correct in my hypothesis of which topper would act as the better insulator. The Styrofoam was by far the best insulator and the paper was the worst. Where I was wrong was that the foil was a better insulator than the corrugated cardboard. I believed that the corrugated cardboard would act as a better insulator than the foil due to having more air pockets. They were very close in temperature, but the foil mug was warmer. This may have been due to the fact that the steam from the hot water built up on the corrugated cardboard causing it to become soggy. These results may also have been due what I feel was a flaw in the experiment. The mug with the foil was poured last and the mug topped with the cardboard was poured first. The small difference in time may account for the results. If I were to conduct this experiment again I would take an initial temperature for each mug and measure the change in temperature rather than just the end result. This would allow me to have more accurate results in measuring the change in temperature from the time the water enters each individual mug.
One way that I try to make this concept relevant to student lives is by having them explore why hot fudge sundaes come in plastic containers, milk shakes in Styrofoam, and blizzards in paper. The students then design and construct their own experiments to answer this question. Students may not care why their hot fudge sundae is in plastic, but who doesn't like to experiment with ice cream! In the end they are rewarded with ice cream!
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