June 29 / Science Labs

Up to the second day at Roosevelt Univ. we have already done several lab experiences and demos. Just let me list them up:

- Soda can demonstration (float or sink?)

- Bess Beetle competition

- Egg Bungee Jump

- Mystery solutions

I must say that all of them are easy to carry out, except that of the beetles, because I don't really know how easy I could find the bugs. The rest of them don't have especial needs, so they would be easy to incorporate in class. But thinking about the interest for pupils, the profit they could get from it, and the motivation potential, I think the best would be the one of the egg bungee jump. Its competition atmosphere is very appealing to young students, and it looks also very useful to explain the transformation between different types of energy. Besides, it can be used to develop some scientific skills such as graphing, predicting, taking data, etc.

I've also liked the last activity about mystery solutions. Not exactly the same experience but its methodology. I think it can be useful not only for chemistry, to go into chemical reactions, but to explore the properties that different substances or materials have themselves: rocks, minerals, liquids... I agree with Pat's appreciation: it is very useful to practise written communication in English.

Later in the afternoon we were walking around Millenium Park to find outdoors resources for our sciences practice lessons. I wanna share one of my ideas with you all.

Parks are not usually seen as ecosystems by students, because they are not natural sites. My objective is to show students that they actually are ecosystems, and therefore, we can distinguish their typical different components: soil, flora, fauna (vertebrates/invertebrates; herbivores/carnivores...), etc. So, my suggestion is to take the students outside to the park, and to draw up a quick inventory of all the elements they can see, classifying them into the different components that an ecosystem have.

It's late, I'm going to bed. Good night!