Whiteboarding

Whiteboarding

White Boards provide an opportunity for students to engage in collaborative learning, clear communication and to reinforce their learning by teaching each other.  

The white boards are large enough for two students to work simultaneously on a problem.  

Teachers can easily view the work and use the process as formative assessment. 

Students can share their work in small groups or display to the entire class. 

SOCRATIC - Science and Math Tutorials at Their Finest

SOCRATIC

I am very impressed with a relatively new start up web site called SOCRATIC. 

The site offers access to video tutorials for Biology, Chemistry, Organic Chemistry, Physics and Calculus.  Each subject is organized into a separate page with the topics for each subject organized by into sections, each section provides a series of videos from educators who have been invited to share their material.  

The Socratic site is clean and easy to navigate. All of the videos that I have viewed have been extremely helpful and well made. The lead educator is Tyler DeWitt. Who does an outstanding job of presenting material in a clear and a concise manner. He breaks the material down in such a way that it is   logical and easy to understand.  Some of you may have seen his TED Talk - Hey Science Teachers --- Make It Fun. 

Currently for Chemistry, Socratic provides the opportunity for students to post questions for the Socratic team of educators to provide explanations or solutions. 

I have incorporated videos from the site as support and reinforcement for my owned flipped lessons.

Here are some links to examples of the Socratic site.

http://socratic.org/chemistry/the-behavior-of-gases/ideal-gas-law

http://socratic.org/biology/introduction-to-biology/the-characteristics-of-living-things

http://socratic.org/physics/forces-and-newtons-laws/defining-force/videos

http://socratic.org/calculus/limits/finding-limits-algebraically/videos

A Fluorescent Engagement in Learning

I believe as long as there have been desktops there has been a constant battle to keep students from writing on the desk. 

But, what if there were a way to allow students to write on the desk in order to engage them in the learning process.

That is where fluorescent markers and black lab tables have found a happy marriage in my classroom.

Using the Expo Fluorescent markers students can write on their desktops to their hearts content, as long as they are working on chemistry. 

Ideas For the Classroom 

• Pre-written PODs as students come into the classroom.
• Homework review.  Students share specific problems from their homework. 
• Students teach each other. To both assist others and to reinforce their own learning. 
• Students work through problem solving before transferring work into their notes.
• Brainstorming.
• Writing out lab procedures. 
• Recording data, before transferring it to their lab notebook. 
• Flow charts for work. 
• Recording discussion notes for sharing with class. 
• Museum walks of completed work. 
• Thought questions or quotes to prompt discussion.
• Whatever your mind can imagine.    

I Have Opened My Teachers Pay Teacher Store

While at the CSTA Conference in San Jose in October, I was encouraged to put my SMART Notebook Lessons, Study Guides and Graphic Organizers, that I have developed over the years, on the Teachers Pay Teachers and website. 

In November I opened my Store and now have 30 items available for teachers to access.  

  http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Smarterteacher

Please review the items in my TPT Store and let me know if there are any SMART Notebook lessons that you might be interested in having access.

smarterteacher@gmail.com

La Salle Science Teachers Present at CSTA Conference

La Salle Science Teachers Present at CSTA Conference

As I made my way over to the San Jose Convention Center to prepare for my presentation “Low Budget Manipulatives to Improve Teaching Stoichiometry”, I received a text from my daughter,  with a quote from a keynote speaker at a conference she was attending on health reform in New Orleans.  The quote read, “Teachers touch eternity through their students.”

How appropriate that she would send me this quote when I was about to embark on sharing my teaching with a group of teachers who would then hopefully go on to teach their students, thereby allowing me to touch thousands of students through this opportunity.

Over the weekend of October 18^th through the 21^st, La Salle Science teachers attended and presented at the California Science Teachers Association Annual Conference.  The  2012 Conference centered on The Common Core Standards (CCS), Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), Literacy and STEM to Career. 

More than 1,450 workshops were presented for review and 180 were selected for the conference.  For the science teachers at La Salle to present three of the workshops is truly an honor for our department.

Physics teachers Chija Bauer and Kjersti Housman co-presented two workshops: “Inquiry Based Physics Classroom and Standards Based Grading” and “Global Warming Cumulative Project in Physics”  Chemistry teacher Brian Miller and Anthony Ferenades, co-presented “Low Budget Manipulatives to Improve Teaching Stoichiometry”.

It is a wonderful experience to attend association conferences and share ideas and gain new insights into teaching our students.  However, it is a tremendous validation for what we do each and everyday here at La Salle in experiencing the enthusiasm of peers in science education who are excited about we the information we shared and are hopefully energized to carry those methods and concepts back to their own classrooms. 

How great an opportunity to touch the hearts of our own students but also to touch the hearts of those students who will be guided by the teachers who we were fortunate to enough to share our workshops?

Zoetropes - Animated Science

PHYSICS MOVIES

OLD FASHIONED ZOETROPES

I have my physics students make zoetropes as a means of solidifying their understanding of topics in phyiscs.

A zoetrope is a device that produces the illusion of motion from a rapid succession of static pictures. The term zoetrope is from the  Greek words (zoe), meaning "alive, active", and  (trope), meaning "turn". "Zoetrope" taken to mean "active turn".

The zoetrope consists of a cylinder with slits cut vertically in the sides. On the inner surface of the cylinder is a band with images from a set of sequenced pictures. As the cylinder spins, the user looks through the slits at the pictures across. The scanning of the slits keeps the pictures from simply blurring together, and the user sees a rapid succession of images, producing the illusion of motion.

Materials

Plastic Tub

Foam Board Circle 6” Diameter

6” Diameter Circle on White Paper with Center Point

Poster Board Strip  3.25” x 20”

Nail

Cork

2 1” squares od HDPE

Pre-made animation strip

Scissors

Glue

Tape

Making the Zoetrope

Glue the white circle to the foam board circle.

Stick the nail through the center of the disc and wiggle it until the disc spins freely on the nail.

Carefully cut out the two animation strips. Do not cut out the slits. Carefully glue them end to end to the poster board. Leave 1” exposed at one end.

Curl the poster board with the animation strip inside. Overlap and glue the 1” in tab.

When the glue is dry, cut out the slits along the movie strip.

Tape the cylinder (slits up), securely to the foam board circle (white circle up).Do not allow tape to cover the slits.

Push the nail through a piece of HDPE, then through the foam disc, then through another piece of HDPE.  Put the nail into the hole in the tub and secure it with the cork.

Use the cork to spin the cylinder. Make sure the cylinder spins freely.

Your Zoetrope is Complete!!!!

View the animation by spinning the cylinder as you look through the slits.

This animations depicts the fusion of a 4 Hydrogen nuclei fusing to form Helium.

Helium contains 2 protons and 2 neutrons. Lightning bolts represent energy given off.  

Zoetrope Instructions
Zoetrope Strips  Sample Animation and Blanks

   

Drawing Your Own Animation

You will design two (2) animation strips to represent any two (2) physics concepts

You will be provided pre-formatted blank animation strips.

Begin with a plan.

Organize your diagram to fit the 12 box format.

Begin with pencil sketches until you are sure about your concept layout.

Use black ink to outline the diagram.

Use color to enhance your animation.

The more vibrant the colors the better the movement pattern will appear.

You can create depth to images by layering materials like construction paper cutouts, string, beads etc… to represent objects in the animation.

Because the 12 pictures pass by very quickly, the animated sequence should not by overly complex.

You do not need to be a great artist.  As you saw in the sample animation, the drawing can be simplistic, circles, squares and lines. Just use your imagination.

Animation Ideas

Falling Objects

Collisions

Molecular Motion

Phase Changes

Vectors

Displacement

Momentum

Energy

Simple Machines

Rotational Motion

Reflection in a Mirror

Refraction of Light

Circuits

ETC…ETC…ETC…

The Wonder of It All

 Robin Ince: Science versus wonder?

Have you ever examined the human skeleton and truly tried to understand the engineering behind this amazing piece of machinary that we each depend upon?

This is a constant theme in my classroom. 

Science does not kill the magic, it only enhances it.

The example I use in my anatomy class is the structure of our forearms. 

How amazing is the design mechanism between the ulna and the radius?

How perfectly the crown like head of the radius fits neatly into the radial notch on the ulna

at the crux of the elbow.

Likewise, the ulnar notch on the radius fits snugly on the curved head of the ulna at the wrist.

Due to this marvelous piece of engineering genius we can rotate our wrists, unlike every other non-primate on earth.  How many simple actions do we accomplish each day beacause we can rotate our wrists, brushing our teeh and hair (hopefully with different brushes), flipping pancakes, tying our shoes, etc... etc...

Not to mention the amazing feats we can accomplish on the athletic field,

in art and music studios or on stage. 

  

  

Imagine going through an entire day without being able to rotate your wrist. What would our lives look like? This all but taken for granted piece of the amazing design of our human machine is only a minute example of the wonder of all of the universe. 

It is through the magic of science that the wonder and awe only becomes that much more amazing.

Chaos Towers Revisited

The Conceptual Physics class worked on chaos towers to demonstrate concepts of Physics, Mechanics, Falling Objects, Newton's Law, Potential and Kinetic Energy.

CHAOS WORLD OF MOTION

Teaching Physics Toy - Construction Toy Equipment - Child Construction Toy - Educational Learning Toy

http://www.chaostoy.com/  

Students work in three groups to construct the chaos towers. They then draw vector diagrams representing velocity of the marble through the track.  Students then identify five concepts from first semester physics and explain how they are represented on the chaos tower.  Lastly, they evaluate each member of their group against the Three C's: collaboration, communication and critical thinking. 

This year one of my students put together a quick video of the chaos towers in action. 

 

Why Do Students Hate Word Problems?

If you surveyed your classroom, how many students would say they like word problems?

20%? 10%? 5%? 

I actually did this in my science classes the other day.  Out of eighty-nine students over three class periods, representing sophomores through seniors, I had six students who claimed to like word problems and another three who did the half arm extension of, they kind of like word problems.  Let us give those students the benefit of the doubt and go with all nine students who claim to like word problems. Nine out of eighty-nine is a whopping 10.1%.  This is just about right for classes in a typical high school, when it comes to their desire to do word problems.

Why is there such a disdain for word problems?  Why do many students even balk at attempting word problems?  Why do word problems provoke fear in the hearts of the adolescent scholar?

As a science teacher, it is an absolute necessity that students work through the process of solving word problems.  I do not have the luxury of simply giving worksheets of repetitious, rote equation based problems.
Whether it is stoichiometry and gas law problems in chemistry or projectile motion or density problems in physics, students must be able to read a word problem, extract the necessary values and determine a method for solving for the unknown?

Over the years I have discussed this dilemma of word problems with the students who have made their way through my classroom. After years of gathering this anecdotal evidence, I have come up with three basic reasons that students avoid, dislike, or fear word problems: The Battle of the Left and Right Brain, The Language Barrier and The Lack of a Plan.

• The Battle of the Left and Right Brain
• Most students are dominant on one side of the brain.  They are either linear, numeric and organized on the leftt side of the brain or they are, artistic, verbal and feeling on the right side of the brain.  Word problems demand that students use both sides of the brain. Heaven forbid, that students use the left side for numbers and the right side for words simultaneously. They might blow a fuse. 
• For a word problem determining how far a person traveling on a plane for a certian period of time would travel at a given rate, students dominant on the left want to know the numbers, the formula and how to find an answer.  Students dominant on the right side of the brain want to know where they are going, what are they wearing and what movie is on the plane.
• Students on the left side of the brain can draw out the numbers but may confuse their significanance because the wording does not make sense.  Students on the right side, can decipher the words but do not necessarily have a purpose for the numbers.  
• A bridge needs to be created to bring the two sides together.  Left sided individuals need to create charts to transfer the numeric values into an organized meaningful process.  Right sided individuals can use diagrams to transfer the words into a meaningful mathematical purpose
• The Language Barrier
• How many word problems have just too much information. Most students get overwhelmed by the sheer wordiness of the word problems.  If their is general discomfort with the math that is only increased by superfluous wording and unfamiliar vocabulary. 
• For example: Johnny walks his shih tzu around his neighborhood every afternoon.  The evening constitutional usually takes about forty five minutes for the two of them to cover the five block trek through the neighborhood.  If the walk consists of one and a half miles, what is the average speed that they walk?
• There are forty nine words in this word problem.  The majority of them are not necessary to solve the problem. Many students would have difficulty with several of the words, shih tzu, constitutional and trek. While it is important to increase vocabulary and integrate science and language, students who have difficulty with word problems will simply avoid this type of  word problem due the seemingly imposing amount of words. 
• Students  must be given the opportunity to develop a sense of success with solving word problems gradually.  With time and greater success, students learn to identify the necessary information and filter out the wording that is unecessary to their problem solving. 
•  The Lack of a Plan
• Students need a problem solving plan.  Not a recipe, but an actual problem solving plan that is generic to all types of problems. 
• I believe the best example of a plan for Problem Solving comes from Rafe Esquith in his book, Teach Like Your Hair is On Fire:

 I have always appreciated the simplicity of this approach, wheter it is for Esquith's grammar school students or AP Calculus students the plan holds true.  I also love the "Put Down Your Pencil" reminder for the brainstorming portion.  Too many students never get started because they don't know where they are going.  This plan forces students to truly develop a means for determining where to start, where to end and the path to choose.  

By providing the proper approach, diffusing their fear and providing a concise plan to solve word problems, most teachers can give students the opportunity to develop success in solving word problems.  They may not ever like them, but they most definitely won't avoid them.

  

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 -

Science Quotes and Images

This is a simple video clip of Science Quotes and Images that I show periodically in my classroom. The images certainly capture the student's imagination and will quite often lead to them actually reading the quotes.

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.

Aluminum Foil and Cupric Chloride Labette

The reaction between cupric chloride solution and aluminum foil is a very quick and simple labette to introduce a variety of topics in chemistry.

The reaction provides a very distinct set of observations that allow students to understand evidence that shows a chemical reaction is taking place.  The reaction gives off heat (exothermic reactions), obvious color changes, release of gas (bubbling and condensation), deterioration of the aluminum as it recombines.

The chemical activity is quite unique as there are several reactions taking place.   First the cupric chloride ionizes in the water producing the nice blue color from the copper inons in solution. Most aluminum foil has a layer of aluminum dioxide which reacts with chloride ion to liberate the oxygen and create aluminum chloride. The copper ion reacts with water to form copper hydroxide and release hydrogen. The bubbling is caused by the both hydrogen and oxygen gas which recombine to condense on the cooler surface of the mouth of the test tube. 

I have the students complete this labette multiple times throughout the year as a common thread tying together many different topics in the chemistry curriculum.

Do Your Students Memorize the Periodic Table?

Every truth has four corners: as a teacher I give you one corner, and it is for you to find the other three.

- Confucius -

Frequently, when I mention the fact that I teach chemistry, the first question in response is, "Do you still have them memorize the periodic table?"  This of course is followed by an explanation of how they remember having to memorize all of the elements, the names, the symbols and of course the masses, and how they can no longer remember any of it.

My first inclination is to break into a tirade about my theory of teaching, the Three C's and building a culture of learning.  And, how I do not believe memorization is learning.  How if you memorize something, this does not mean you know what it is or how to utilize it. I would continue that I do not sit down and memorize the recipies in order to cook a meal.  But if I cook the meal well enough a number of times the recipie becomes a part of my knowledge base.  And, that the more times I cook the meal, the less often I need to refer to the recipie.

That is why I give all of my students a periodic table that I have created. I gathered ideas from the other chemistry teachers I work with as well as using information found on the various periodic tables available online and through science distributors like Fisher and Flinn and of courseI looked at a variety of periodic tables in textbooks.  From all of this I designed a periodic table that is a tool that can be used by the students to successfully navigate their year of chemistry.

I allow my students to use their periodic table during all of their work throughout the year, including in class work, quizzes, tests, homework, online assignments, the entire workload for the year.  Invaribly if the students use a this tool enough, the information on the periodic table will become part of their knowledge base and eventually they will use the most repetitive information without referring to the table as the year progresses. Of course, the elements that are used most often like oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen sodium and chlorine, are the elements that become part of the students knowledge base.  How often, really, do we use Praseodynium [59 Pr - 140.91amu] or Erbium [ 68 Er - 167.26amu] or in the course of our lives?

Therefore, my answer is a resounding NO!!!! I do not have my students memorize the periodic table.  I do however, expect them to master the use of the periodic table as a problem solving tool throughout their year in chemistry and beyond.

Summer Read - The Disappearing Spoon

This summer I read The Disappearing Spoon (And Other True Tales of Madness Love and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements), by Sam. Kean.

Kean provides a wonderful new viewpoint of the elements of the periodic table through many different parameters.  He groups the elements in such a way that the reader can easily understand the format concept of the periodic table. Kean introduces the elements of greed Gold, Silver and Platinum as well as those used as weapons of war Bromine, Tungsten and Molybdenum to allow the reader to understand the chemical characteristics, similarities and differences that make these elements functional for each purpose. The book provides enough background of the development of the periodic table from Mendeleev to Seaborg. 

However, one of the better portions of the text involves the explanation of the Big Bang, the lives of stars and how "stuff" gets produced.  Kean's explanation of of "How we are all Star Stuff" and the process of this understanding offers a wonderful bridge for the link between Physics and Chemistry.   

For any science teacher The Disappearing Spoon provides those stories that will help to capture the attention and imagination of students at any level of science. Kean brings such an enthusiasm for the material that the reader is drawn in to reading more and more.  He makes chemistry real by tying the usually vague ideas of elements to very real historical events and people. Kean does an outstanding job of blending the history and science of the elements in everyday language. 

Alien Juice Bar - Acids and Bases

The Alien Juice Bar tutorial provides a simple and fun way to introduce the characteristics of Acids and Bases including the concepts of pH, pOH, neutralization.

Whether students are killing off aliens by serving them acidic or basic drinks that their constitutions cannot deal with, or they are sorting drinks by their characteristics, students can learn or review the main points of acids and bases.  This tutorial created through UC Berkeley is simplistic enough for middle school while intriguing enough to capture the attention of most high school students.

There are three parts of the tutorial. Part one allows students to learn about pH and pOH by identifying them using cabbage juice.  Phase two allows students to determine which drinks are safe to serve aliens based upon the acidic or basic composition of the monster.  Aliens die when their pH levels are altered. The third phase guides students through the neutralization of pH by mixing acids and bases.

This tutorial is best used on an interactive white board (SMART Board) to involve the entire class in the process of protecting or destroying aliens with basic acidic knowledge.

Rubrics Can Kill Creativity

Teaching to the Multiple Intelligences is difficult enough.
Today's educational system is so guided by rubrics for every assignment that we are taking away the opportunitiy for students to explore their talents, use their imaginations and utilize their strengths. Students are no longer asked to think, they are simply told to follow the directions, complete what is in the rubric and you will get your 'A'.

One of my favorite projects for Biology is a cells processes project where students are asked to create anything that proves their knowledge of cells, cells structure and function or cell processes.  I provide as little guidance as possible except for the outlawing of a term paper as the product. I want students use their talents and think outside the box.

Of course I deal with the questions of How much? How long? How many? What do I want? What is the answer? What do I need to do for an A? etc...etc...

This type of assignment tends to make students nervous due to the lack of guidelines and parameters, but once they allow themselves to process the possibilities, some amazing things happen. 

I have recieved songs about the organelles of cells, beautiful painting of cell mitosis, games about protein synthesis, I have heard poems about meiosis and puppet shows about osmosis, diffusion and filtration.

Overcoming the fear of meeting expectations and possibly being wrong, allows students to let their talents really shine.

I provide the students with the following basic description of the assignment and allow them to figure it out.

Cell Processes Project

Use your talents to demonstrate your understanding of one of the following topics:

    1.  Cell Structures and Functions

   2.   Comparison of Plant and Animal Cells

   3.    Photosynthesis

   4.    DNA and RNA

   4.    Protein Synthesis

   5.    Mitosis

   6.     Cellular Respiration

           

You may create anything that clearly demonstrates your knowledge of the subject matter.  You may accomplish this by:

creating a work of art,

composing a song,

writing a skit or play,

creating a model,

making visual aid posters,

developing a game,

or anything that you can do to creatively demonstrate your comprehension of the topic material, vocabulary and processes. 

You must have clear instructions, as you will not be presenting these projects.  You may work independently or you may work with a partner.  This partner must be from the same period biology class. 

Be creative.

Do not just copy work from your text or notes.  Repeating the information given or making some applications (e.g. cell models, reports) usually ensures an average grade. 

One of my favorite outcomes of this project  was
The Mitosis Blues, written and performed by a pair of students more than 10 years ago. In their honor, I still use my best Elvis Presley when I sing it to my Biology classes. 

 Mitosis Blues

Interphase, o oh yeah

Prophase, o oh yeah

Metaphase, Anaphase, Telophase and all of those daughter cells, o oh yeah

That’s the way mitosis reproduces all our new cells, o oh yeah

In interphase the cell grows and organelles duplicate.

The cell continues functioning, holding metabolic rate.

The chromosomes replicate and centrioles migrate, o oh yeah.

In prophase the nuclear membrane disappears.

The centrioles reach the poles of the biosphere.

The spindle fibers shoot out and grab those centromeres, o oh yeah.

Interphase, o oh yeah

Prophase, o oh yeah

Metaphase, Anaphase, Telophase and all of those daughter cells, o oh yeah

That’s the way mitosis reproduces all our new cells, o oh yeah

[Spoken]

You see the cells of the human body have forty-six chromosomes.

Made up of coils of Dan called chromatin and held together by centromeres.

Mitosis guarantees that when the cells divide that each new cell

will have the exact same genetic information as the parent cells.

Interphase, o oh yeah

Prophase, o oh yeah

Metaphase, Anaphase, Telophase and all of those daughter cells, o oh yeah

That’s the way mitosis reproduces all our new cells, o oh yeah

I metaphase the fibers push and pull those chromosomes.

Trying to create an equator of autosomes.

Cause, when the centromeres snap we’ll get double chromosomes, o oh yeah.

In  anaphase the membrane begins to make two spheres.

The centrioles duplicate and start to reappear.

The chromosomes are pulled in to separate hemispheres, o oh yeah.

Interphase, o oh yeah

Prophase, o oh yeah

Metaphase, Anaphase, Telophase and all of those daughter cells, o oh yeah

That’s the way mitosis reproduces all our new cells, o oh yeah

[Spoken]

Daughter cells are the outcome of these steps of mitosis.

These daughter cells must return to interphase to regain the size and organelle number that will guarantee the continuance of those specific cells.

These specialized somatic cells will continue to reproduce within your body.

Interphase, o oh yeah

Prophase, o oh yeah

Metaphase, Anaphase, Telophase and all of those daughter cells, o oh yeah

That’s the way mitosis reproduces all our new cells, o oh yeah

Sing this a couple of times to a class and you'd be surprised how many of them remember the phases of the cell cycle, without a hitch.

The point is to utilize rubrics that are clear enough to provide direction, without eliminating the opportunity for students explore the learning process by utilizing their imaginations and creativity.  Anyone can follow a recipie, but the food seems to always taste better when love is one of the ingredients. Don't allow rubrics to take the passio out of the learning process.

Science Quote Resource

Science Teachers! Do you need that great quote to complete a SMART presentation or Powerpoint.
You can remember the quote but can't remember who to give credit too.
The Dictionary of Science Quotes is a great online resource to access quotes about a vast array of sceince topics and ideas.  The site includes a search tool for This Day in Science History and links to alibrary of online Science Stories.

http://www.todayinsci.com/Quotations/QuotationsIndex.htm

Buoyancy Tutorial

McGraw Hill provides a wonderful tutorial for teaching concepts of buoyancy.  This tutorial provides opportunities for students to experiment with the buoyancy of a cargo craft.  The craft can be adjusted to varying widths in order to demonstrate the effects of surface area on the displacement of the fluid. 

 

The craft can be set afloat in water, alcohol or mercury so that students can understand the effects of visocity and fluid density on the buoyancy of the object.  Students can add cargo in varying incremental units and witness the displacement of the fluid.  A graduated overflow allows students to measure the volume of fluid displaced and data tables provide a comparision of volumes, mass and density of the fluid and objects.

There is also an option in the tutorial to add force vectors of the fluid, craft and cargo increments to assist students in incorporating free body diagrams to compare buoyant and gravitational forces.

Guided practice for the Buoyancy Tutorial (Word Document).