Culture Bags

This was a wonderul idea shared by one mof my colleagues. 

We had studentts work together in partners to create Culture Bags for the individuals involved in the discovery of DNA.

We provided students with a lunch bag and the names of the scientists invovled in the "Race for the Double Helix".

Students were told to decorate the exterior of the bag and then fill the bag with items that represented that individual: Who? What? When? Where? Significance? Partners? and How?

Students could find images online, create their own or insert items to represent the individual and their contributions to the Discovery of DNA.

The list of scientists included:

Frederick Griffith

Oswald Avery

Alfred Hershey & Martha Chase

Sir Lawrence Bragg

Erwin Chargaff

Francis Crick

Rosalind Franklin

Linus Pauling

James Watson

Maurice Wilkins.

Students were then asked to present their Culture Bags to the class.  Explaining the significance of their individual scientists and the ways in which they represented that in the bags. 

We provided students with a blank chart for information about the scientists to fill in as these presentations were made.  

It was quite exciting to see how students used their imaginations and creativity to capture the essence of each of these individuals and their contributions. 

The beauty of this type of excercise is the cross curricular aspects that the students were able to see as they realized the historical, political and scientific ramifications of this discovery.  They also became very aware of the collaborative and competitive nature of science.

This type of excercise could be used in any subject and in a wide variety of topics.

Predation and Survival of the Fittest

Whether you teach Biology and Darwinian Evolution, or Environmental Science and you need to explain Predation, or even an Economics course where you need to explain Survival of the Fittest, you need to utilize "The Battle of Kruger" video available on You Tube.

This real life battle of survival between Water Buffalo and Lions is a tremendous piece of real life Biology.
And, don't be surprised when the Crocodile gets in to the act.  I'll let the video, speak for itself.

Who Killed the Electric Car

Chris Paine's documentary "Who Killed the Electric Car" is an excellent film to get students to understand the problems faced when trying to initiate ecological change vs. cultural, economic and political pressures.

The analysis of who is to blame for stopping the electrical vehicles in the 1990's forces students to understand that all parties must be involved in bringing about environmental change.

From consumers to oil companies, from the technology to the government, students must understand that the process of change begins with their own choices. That their power lies in the choices they make as a consumer. 

I look forward to Chris Paine's follow-up "Revenge of the Electric Car."

Apple - Earth - Water Analogy

All the water that will ever be is, right now.

                                            - National Geographic, October 1993 -

Water Apple Analogy

Pretend that an apple is planet Earth, round, beautiful, and full of good things. Notice it's skin, hugging and protecting the surface. Water covers approximately 70% of its surface.  Cut the apple into quarters. Toss one quarter (25%) away. This one quarter you just removed represents dry land. What is left (75%) represents how much of the earth is covered with water – oceans, lakes, rivers, and streams.
Remove the peel from one of the three remaining quarters. This represents 3% of water on earth that is freshwater. The remaining pieces represent the saltwater of the oceans. Cut the peel into three equal pieces. Set two pieces aside. The remaining piece represents 1% of the freshwater not frozen in the polar ice caps (2%). Of this remaining 1%, not all of it is potable – some is contaminated by pollution.

Should the Human Bill of Rights include an ammendment to provide

potable water to every person?

Who owns the water? 

Should corporations be able to manipulate and control the water?

Who are the watchdogs for this very valuable, precious, non-renewable resource?

If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water.

                                                    - LORAN EISELY -

Movie Favorites - FLOW

Who owns the Water?

The documentary FLOW by Irena Salina is an excellent introduction to the manipulation of nature's resources. The movie focuses on the damage and social injustice caused through the ongoing privitization of water. Flow provides an opportunity to get students to link about the limited availability of drinkable water and how control of this "natural resource" may soon become possibly the most valuable substance on Earth.

The FLOW website offers an abundance of information about water and a series of links to help students take action.  

Click here for the  Movie Sheets link for a accompanying handout for the movie

I Love When Students Get It.

I really enjoy getting an email from a former student containing a lesson, a link or video from their college course work that reminded them of my classroom. 

For me it is validation that they got it!!!

I recently recieved this You Tube connection from one of my former
Environmental Science students.

It is a wonderful message about the life cycle of STUFF and
our ongoing pursuit of STUFF.

Arcadia Water Fest 2011 - October 15

The Arcadia Water Fest returns Saturday, October 15, 2011 to Arcadia County Park from 9:00am to 2:00pm.

This free program provided by the City of Arcadia, the Upper San Gabriel Municipal Water District is a wonderful  opportunity for teachers to expose students to the importance of water, to our community. 

The Fence

"The Fence" is a very short video clip that offers a great starting point for discussion topics of man vs. nature. 

In choosing an agriculturist (taker) and eventually an industrialist lifestyle, man has positioned himself first as an enemy of nature and then the defender of nature.

How soon though, will either nature completely disappear or decide to strike back?

Discussion Themes:

Hunter Gatherer to Agriculturalist

Man vs. Nature

Takers vs. Leaver

Man as enemy of Nature

Man's control of the Earth

Endangered Earth

Progress vs. The Environment

etc...etc...etc...



Visiting the Past with Billy Joel

"Those who do not learn from history,
are doomed to repeat it."

                                            - George Santyana - 

Although there is a tendancy to think that connections to the past take place in only in history or religion classes, making connections to the present and the future is something that
can be done in any class.

One way to do this in regards to 20th century history is to explore the last half of the century
using Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start the Fire". 

Reviewing all of the historical references allows both teacher and students to create
historical, political, social, entertainment and sports connections from the decades
of the forties through the eighties.  

Getting students to look at them from a six degrees of separation point of view helps them to see that nothing in this world is a stand alone. 

I complete the assignment by having students continue the song by writing verses for the decade of the nineties and the first decade of the new century.

Since I use this primarily in my environmental science class, I mandate that there must be line references within the verses about science and enviromental topics.

It is an eye opener, to see where students take this, what they focus on as important and where they make connections throughout the recent past and their present.  

We Didn't Start the Fire

(by Billy Joel )

Harry Truman, Doris Day, Red China, Johnnie Ray
South Pacific, Walter Winchell, Joe DiMaggio
Joe McCarthy, Richard Nixon, Studebaker, television
North Korea, South Korea, Marilyn Monroe
Rosenbergs, H-Bomb, Sugar Ray, Panmunjom
Brando, "The King and I", and "The Catcher in the Rye"
Eisenhower, vaccine, England's got a new queen
Marciano, Liberace, Santayana goodbye

We didn't start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No we didn't light it
But we tried to fight it

Josef Stalin, Malenkov, Nasser and Prokofiev
Rockefeller, Campanella, Communist Bloc
Roy Cohn, Juan Peron, Toscanini, Dacron
Dien Bien Phu Falls, Rock Around the Clock
Einstein, James Dean, Brooklyn's got a winning team
Davy Crockett, Peter Pan, Elvis Presley, Disneyland
Bardot, Budapest, Alabama, Khrushchev
Princess Grace, Peyton Place, Trouble in the Suez

We didn't start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No we didn't light it
But we tried to fight it

Little Rock, Pasternak, Mickey Mantle, Kerouac
Sputnik, Zhou Enlai, Bridge On The River Kwai
Lebanon, Charles de Gaulle, California Baseball,
Starkweather homicide, Children of Thalidomide
Buddy Holly, Ben Hur, Space Monkey, Mafia
Hula Hoops, Castro, Edsel is a no-go
U2, Syngman Rhee, payola and Kennedy
Chubby Checker, Psycho, Belgians in the Congo

We didn't start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No we didn't light it
But we tried to fight it

Hemingway, Eichmann, Stranger in a Strange Land,
Dylan, Berlin, Bay of Pigs invasion
Lawrence of Arabia, British Beatlemania
Ole Miss, John Glenn, Liston beats Patterson
Pope Paul, Malcolm X, British Politician sex
J.F.K. blown away, what else do I have to say

We didn't start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No we didn't light it
But we tried to fight it

Birth control, Ho Chi Minh, Richard Nixon back again
Moonshot, Woodstock, Watergate, punk rock
Begin, Reagan, Palestine, Terror on the airline
Ayatollah's in Iran, Russians in Afghanistan
Wheel of Fortune, Sally Ride, heavy metal suicide
Foreign debts, homeless Vets, AIDS, Crack, Bernie Goetz
Hypodermics on the shores, China's under martial law
Rock and Roller cola wars, I can't take it anymore

We didn't start the fire
It was always burning since the world's been turning.
We didn't start the fire
But when we are gone
It will still burn on, and on, and on, and on...

We didn't start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No we didn't light it
But we tried to fight it ........

Greenwashing - The Seven Sins

If you paint it GREEN, does it become environmentally sound.

Are there any products on the market that do not claim to to be GREEN?

Green plastic, Green water, Eco-cleaners, Organic Fruits, Recycled products.

Basically, GREEN has become the marketing boom of the new century. 

How do you tell which product is environmentally authentic?  Which companies have truly green policies.  What is the value to the environment of your purchasing power?

In my Environemntal Science class we explore the current trend of greenwashing by utilizing a website from TerraChoice, The Sins of Greenwashing.   

The website offers definitions and examples of each of the seven sins of the greenwashing trend, including vagueness, no proof, trade-offs, false labels, lesser of evils, irrelevance and outright fibbing. 

The site also provides annual reports of the environmental and greenwashing histories of the companies and products that are most guilty of these sins. 

The TerraChoice website include interactive games and reviews as well as links to social media and activists sites to encourage understanding and involvement.

I send my students out to find their own evidence of this greenwashing phenomenon.  Students are ask to take pictures of billboards, ads, products, packaging that evidence these seven sins. As part of the assignment thay must research the companies environmental history and current environemntal policies. Students must find a minimum of three examples and explain the how their photo evidence and the companies policies demonstrate and invalidate the products claims. 

Creating awareness is the first step in understanding.    

Why We Need to Know Chemistry - DHMO

When am I ever going to use this in real life?
The war cry of the uninformed.

In response to this I share with my students the organization DHMO.org.

A group that explains the ever present danger of Dihydrogen Monoxide.

I also share with my students the hoax played on the City Council of Aliso Viejo when overzealous council members voted to ban this dangerous substance from the city based upon an overwhelming amount of literature touting the very real dangers of this substance. Fortunately, before any reals laws could go into effect, wiser heads prevailed.

The dangerous substance, Dihydrogen Monoxide is of course Water (H2O, Di  2 Hydrogens and Mono for 1 Oxygen). 

DHMO FAQ

For my students the lesson is very clear. That a basic knowledge of as much as possible, is of great value.  You never know when this information will become necessary.

The website and the accompanying data, information and materials outlines the truth of this substance:  can cause burns, is a component in bombs, leads to swelling, excess inhalation can cause death, causes hurricanes, erosion and floods.  The information is accurate and only misleading in the way any information can be manipulated. 

Next time a student begins to whine about when they will ever need to know this, the answer may just be to ask a member of the Aliso Viejo City Council.

 

Movie Favorites - Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

~ Dad always used to say the only causes worth fighting for were the lost causes.~

 

The story of Jefferson Smith, an idealistic young man from an unnamed state who is a local hero for having organized various boys’ camps while helping run the “Boy Rangers.” The Rangers are an educational,

outdoors and sports organization that is similar to the Boy Scouts of today.

After one of his state’s two Senators dies, Jeff is appointed to be the temporary replacement Senator by the state’s Governor. Soon, Jeff takes off for Washington in the company of the states other Senator, Joe Paine, who is a hero of Jeff’s and was a friend of his father. Jeff has high hopes, and is just grateful to be able to serve in the city he associates with the democratic ideals of Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln. Yet soon after arriving, Jeff quickly realizes that Washington is a mean-spirited and often corrupt town, and that in fact, Senator Paine is one of the most corrupt people there.

After trying to write a law that would set aside some land at Wilet Creek for a national boy’s camp, Jeff accidentally discovers that this land has been secretly bought by Taylor and his political machine. He does this so that he can make a huge amount of money when he sells the land to the state after convincing it to

build a dam there. Yet rather than stay quiet , Jeff decides to fight both Senator Paine and Taylor in order to save the land for his camp and to expose the horrible corruption of his state’s politicians. Soon, the entire Taylor machine sets out to destroy Jeff and his reputation, but with the help of Clarissa Saunders, Jeff

fights back against long odds. He does so in order to save both his own reputation and to live up to the original ideals of American democracy.  (http://www.eslnotes.com/)

Although this movie is best suited to a US History or Civics class, I will show excerpts from this film in my science classes especially environmental science courses.  The movie provides great insight into the difficulties faced by individuals and groups who desire to create positive change against a political machine that serves special interests and individual greed.  However, the idea of the power of one man speaking out against such corruption is also a valuable lesson for students to understand.  That an idea married to passion can promote great response. That an idea concieved and believed in can be achieved.  

Civics and History teachers will find that the film provides tremendous insight into the inner working of the US Senate, The process of passing a bill, special interest groups, committees, the election process, succession and many others. 

The film also provides a look at Washington DC through the innocent eyes of an individual who still holds the basic ideals of this country as the most important principles upon which to base one'e life, Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.

~ I wouldn't give you two cents for all your fancy rules if, behind them, they didn't have a little bit of plain,

ordinary, everyday kindness and a little looking out

for the other fella, too.~

The Lorax Message Still Familiar 40 Years Later

It is not uncommon to find Dr. Seuss books in a kindergarten and elementary classroom.  These books have been a staple of reading for more than fifty years.  Whether students learned colors and numbers from One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish or the alphabet with the Dr. Seuss Dictionary, Theodore Giesel has been a soldier for literacy in education world wide.  How often though do we revisit this master of education throughout the years.  Do we explore the possibilities of following our dreams in Oh, The Places You Will Go?   Do we use The Sneetches, to discuss social justice issues?  I have used The Lorax in my environmental science courses for more than a half dozen years.  It is amazing how many ideas and discussion points on the environment are encapsulated in this story. And, high school students truly enjoy using this piece of their childhood to begin the exploration of this course.

In 1971 Dr. Seuss (Theodore Giesel) published "The Lorax" one year after the first Earth Day.

The Lorax speaks out for the Truffula Trees that are being exploited by The Onceler in the production of Thneeds.  Thneeds of course become the latest greatest of the can do everything product that of course everyone needs.   The Onceler's overproduction of Thneeds, leads to overpopulation, urbanization, urban blight, water and air pollution, endangering species and many of the same environmental issues we are still dealing with today.

I utilize the  Google Video of the Lorax as an introduction to the frustration we still deal with in trying to overcome environmental issues.  I ask students to identify the environmental issues presented in the Lorax story and compare them to how those issues are still manifested today.  A major discussion point centers around why these problems never seem to gt solved.  What are the roadblocks that we face in reversing the problems of the environment.  After viewing the video students are asked to write an essay responding to the prompt, "Why we have not learned in forty years."

In summation the basic idea is to get students to answer the following throughout the semester and the remainder of their lives. How are they going to respond to the UNLESS!!!

I Am Not a Math and Science Person!!!

"Science is a way of thinking, much more
than it is a body of knowledge."

                                                                                    -Carl Sagan-

According to a recent recent test of 250,000 fifteen year olds from forty-one industrialized nations the United States ranks 27th in science skills.  The country responsible for light bulbs, television, putting a man on the moon, microwave ovens, the computer revolution and the clapper, is in a free fall from the top of the pedestal of scientific discovery.

My science colleagues and I have had a long running joke about providing badges of honor to the teachers we meet who proudly claim that they are not math and science people.  And yet, heaven forbid a science teacher who does not know what a sonnet is (a 14 line poem based upon a single thought or expression in one or more rhyming schemes), or when the War of the Roses was fought (the civil wars of England fought from 1455-1485). 

Too often in today's educational landscape science education suffers because the foundations are not set early in the elementary or junior high levels.  Typically, because the grammar school teachers are liberal arts majors who have little or no background in the field of science and therefore transmit their discomfort to their students.  Now don't get me wrong. There some amazing science teachers and science programs throughout the country.  But after music and art are diminished due to budget cuts, and PE is decreased so that more time can be spent preparing students for standardized tests, the next subject to suffer, is science.  Funding issues, lab materials, complexity of lab set up, and teacher discomfort lead to Science becoming a perfunctory exercise in reading the text and answering the questions at the end of the chapter. 

I have volunteered my time during the last four years to assist middle school and junior high teachers in developing a more hands on science curriculum.  These teachers have a desire to enhance their curriculum with more labs and activities.  Their classrooms are equipped with wonderful science kits paid for by the district to coordinate with their text.  However, they are paralyzed by the fear of the unfamiliar and doing something wrong. I do not blame these teachers. Teacher preparation and crriculum development programs are usually lacking in opportunities to experience the intricacies of teaching science. 

When these students leave their junior high schools they are fortunate if they have used a microscope or experienced a dissection. Science learning has been narrowed down to a series of handouts and rote memorization.  The process of science is not one of critical thinking about the possibilities of investigation but simply finding a correct answer.  They have not experienced the joy of putting something together and making it work successfully or the even greater moment of something not working and figuring out how to make it work.

Just as educators should allow students to experience failure as a means of growth and learning, teachers too, should be willing to fail and make mistakes.  In fact what better way for students to value the process of learning from mistakes than to experience that process alongside a teacher.

Have fun, tinker, experience, build-destroy-rebuild, do, plan, make, mix, join, break, fix, play, understand, work, learn, guess, error, guess again, adjust, adapt, see, discover.

"Science is built up of facts, as a house is built of stones; but an accumulation of facts is no more a science than a heap of stones is a house."

                                                                                                -Henri Poincar-

Designing Games for the Three C's

One on the best projects I have found to incorporate all of the Three C's (Thinking Critically, Communicate Clearly and Work Collaboratively) is to have students work in groups to design a game to teach one of the topics we are learning.

I use this assignment primarily in my Anatomy and Environmental Science course, but it could be adapted for any subject.  In Anatomy I have students work in groups of three or four to create a game to teach the anatomy and physiology of the Digestive System from the mouth to the Anus and all of the organs and processes in between.  The Environmental Science students design games to teach a Cycle of Nature: water, carbon, nitrogen, food webs from various biomes.  I teach in a three block schedule of ninety five minunte classes.  I provide students with 30 minutes each day to work with their groups on their games.  Students typically have about three weeks to complete the games, about six class periods.   

Think Critically

Students are asked to design a game with specific rules and an ultimate goal of winning, while focusing on the development of a game that is a teaching and learning tool. Students need to understand the vocabulary, structures, inputs, processes and outcomes of the systems involved. The game must be fun to create a desire to play in order to create the repetition necessary for others to learn from the game play. Students must think critically about how to create a game that will be enjoyable so tha people will want to play it repetitively to increasethe effect of the game as a learning tool.  I encourage students to create games that have variations so that the game can be adapted for various levels of students as a means of introducing the subject, reinforcing learned material or in review for an exam.

Communicate Clearly

Students struggle with the creation of a clear and concise set of rules for their games. They need to communicate their vision for the game in directions and rules that must be prepared for an unknown audience. Most students have little difficulty in verbally explaining how to play a game, but ask them to write the rules and explanations out in a cohesive manner and this can be a cause for great angst for many students.

Working Collaboratively

Coming to a consensus on the game design, delegating responsibilities and producing a finished product demands nothing but a collaborative buy in from the members of the group. Then each student must trust that all aspects of the game come together on Game Day, board, cards, pieces and rules in class and on time.

Game day takes place in our dining hall.  Groups set up their own games and play them for 10 minutes to make sure  games are functional and everything is in place.  They then move about the room playing the other games and grading them.  Students grade the games based upon the effectiveness of the game itself, the effectiveness of the game as a learning tool, and the production quality of the game.  Once students begin playing other games, they are not allowed to return to their own game for any reason. I encourage students to play the games with members of the other groups to maintain perspective and avoid comparisons to only their own games. 

Students will play and score between four and six games during a one hour period.

During the debriefing at the end of the day, I am always amazed at how many students want to be given the opportunity to improve their own game after seeing what others have done and what they might have done to enhance their own.  That is when I see the real learning take place as students evaluate their own work against the work of the peers and demonstrate an honest desire to improve upon their end product.  I typically also see a more focused production quality of the work that is turned in following these projects in both courses.

Field Trips Without Disruptions

Field trips are a great way to provide learning experiences for students outside of the classroom.  But field trips come with a variety of baggage, finding chaperones, planning transportation and cost to the students.  However, for most high schools, field trips also pose the problems of students missing other classes and prepping sub work for classes missed by the teacher. School administrations will admit the importance of having students engage in experiential education through field trips but worry about how students and the other teachers are affected by the missed class time.

With a little research and planning it is possible to provide tremendous learning experiences with mini field trips involving sites close to the school.  The school I teach at has a three period block schedule with ninety-five minute classes.  The middle period of the day is sandwiched between a twenty minute break and a thirty-five minute lunch.  This provides a two and a half hour block for mini field trips. 

I take students on field trips almost every semester in Anatomy, Biology and Environmental Science utilizing sites within a half hour of the school and organizing ninety minute visits that provide students with experiential learning outside of the classroom.

Students in my anatomy courses have experienced the cadaver labs at local chiropractic schools, to bring to life (no pun intended) to hands on anatomical study.   They have also visited the Body Worlds exhibit each time it has been at the local Science Museum. Biology students have trained for their field study projects by visiting the local canyon near the school and practicing observation techniques. Environmental Science students have visited the John T. Lyle Center at Cal Poly Pomona to tour the Environmental Graduate Center and view graduate projects in sustainability.  They have also toured local LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) buildings to understand the guidelines and possibilities for green building under LEED specifications.  

All of these field trips take place within the two and a half hour time frame of the middle block of the day.  Students do not miss any class time, and I do not have to miss my other classes.  These local field trips are brief but provide great experiential learning for the students without disrupting the educational process of other classes, teachers and students at the school. 

This semester we are planning a field trip to spend two hours cleaning up the local river beds after the spring rains in the Arroyo Seco.   

Allow Students to Tinker - Lou-Vee Air Cars

"I never teach my pupils; I only attempt to

provide conditions in which they can learn."

                              - Albert Einstein-

Today is a pre-fab world. A world where it is no longer necessary to put things together yourself. From computers to toys and even chocolate cookies, we could "make" them ourselves and not even need to be able to decipher directions.

Have you put together a desktop computer recently? Unless you are colorblind or failed at putting the shapes into the correct slot when you were two, it is almost impossible to fail at putting the computer together. If a toy does not already come assembled, the most difficult part of putting it together, is deconstructing the packaging without damaging the toy.  Even Toll House cookies come in pre-fab slabs scored into cubes for the perfect size cookie.

Do most kids today understand the satisfaction of making something from scratch?  Building a model of the Apollo rocket from two hundred pieces, including the lunar lander, and sixty authentic decals.  Paint optional.  Even with gaps between the rocket panels, wispy strings of model glue and creases in the decal strips, displaying it lovingly on the shelf for all to see.

Most kids today are not very often given the chance to be creators.  They are manipulators of a touch screen world.  They can format a movie from a plug and play system on the computer.   They can put together a playlist from iTunes and add music to their PowerPoint. But, how often are they asked to actually create something from scratch?  How often do we as teachers create a rubric so detailed that it is impossible for students to make a mistake?

Heck, the last time I was at Michael’s, There was an aisle completely dedicated to pre-fab California Mission projects with everything necessary to create the perfect styrofoam mission complete with friars, indians, animals, trees, bushes, brick walls, animals and crops all pre-packaged for ultimate success.

I have found that most students are very uncomfortable with creating anything that does not turn out perfect and will avoid trying to create anything that they are not certain will meet all expectations.  Teachers also create rubrics that are so detailed it is impossible for a student to make a mistake.

But, how valuable are those experiences,when students are allowed to struggle through a process and try to figure out what works and what doesn’t?  How valuable is that experience that allows our students to make the mistakes that provide opportunities to learn.

One of my favorite in-class projects is to build Lou-vee Air Cars. 

Lou-vee Air Cars are composed of file folders, drinking straws, paper clips, rubber bands, and masking tape.

They provide an opportunity for students to discover their capacity to create a car that moves utilizing everyday objects.   I provide students with a set of directions and a schmatic diagram. I provide all of the supplies and tools necessary and I give them three bocks (95 minute periods) to create their car. And Then on day four we have Lou-vee Air Races.

Instructions for the Lou-vee Air Car

The first day I allow the students to work through the process and I provide very little guidance. On the second day, I build my own Lou-vee Air Car.  First to show them that it can work, and second to give them a model as a guide. The third day I offer suggestions and do some troubleshooting.

It is interesting to watch the dynamics that take place in the classroom as students interact with the process and each other.  Even though each student needs to create their own car, it does become a very collaborative process.  In some cases there is a natural division of labor that occurs. Those that are good at straightening paper clips take on that role for others.  Those who cut well start manufacturing wheels that are smooth. It is wonderful to see the fear dissipate as students assist each other and try to help each other succeed.

The project is graded in two parts.

Part I, is to produce a Lou-vee Air Car

We set up a Lou-vee Air raceway in the dining hall divided into five foot sections. A fully built car at the starting line earns a student a 14 point score. (14/20 = a C grade) A car can earn two points for every portion of five feet it travels. ( 7 ft = 4 points)  Students can earn up to 24 points if they can get their car to travel more than 20 feet. (4 bonus points) 

Part II, is a write up that includes a series of questions about the process. 

What did they learn about themself?  What were they most proud of? What would they do different?

What worked? What didn't?  etc...

The write up also includes a section for students to explain three topics in physics that are demonstrated through the Lou-vee Air Car.  I typically due this project the first three class periods after the Christmas Holiday break.  This allows students to review the concepts of motion, Newton's Laws and Friction covered before the break.

I am always pleased to hear from students that they appreciate the project even though their car may not have worked as well as they had hoped.  They are usually most proud that they were able to get a car to the starting line.  They often mention a greater appreciation for following directions and reading carefully.  But. most often they write about how the process helped them to see the value in making mistakes and correcting them, thinking through  a process and using knowledge to create their own success. 

It is so important in a world that becomes less and less demanding of our students to figure things out by trial and error to provide those opportunities in a manner that allows students the ability to make mistakes and find solutions in a safe environment.