Science is Everywhere!

One of the best labs so far this year! Students loved seeing how much water diapers are capable of holding, all due to the hydrophilic polymers embedded inside. Math was involved as we calculated the cost per diaper and analyzed against our findings. Now, we know if buying name brand diapers are worth the extra cost. Ask your child what they found out!

Dissecting Diapers?

As we learn about how matter can be too small to be seen, we have begun to learn about polymers. First, by "growing" tiny animals in water and seeing how much they can absorb over many days. Next, we learned what is taking place and how these hydrophilic polymers absorb water in ways we can not see. Yesterday afternoon we moved into looking at polymers in diapers. We dissected diapers, removing the polymers and then adding water to see how they gel up. Today we test these polymers in name brand Huggies compared to the generic brand Parent's Choice to determine if the extra cost (and fewer diapers) is worth it when buying a the name brand.

Archaeology Dig

Today we excavated dig sites. Each team was an archaeologist and assigned to a dig site. Students used their hands or tools they brought in to dig through their site to uncover artifacts. We returned to the classroom and learned about some major civilizations and what is meant by culture. Monday, those artifacts they found will be analyzed and the team will try to hypothesize what type of culture (or perhaps more than one) the artifacts represent.

Stick Lab

Our first science lab involved a review of the scientific method with a focus on gathering and recording good observations. Students chose a simple stick from a bag to record observations on in their science lab book. Discussions took place, using observations students recorded to both review and teach good recording. The end product was a page or two filled with written observations, at least two drawn and colored pictures/diagrams of different angles, tables with measurements including weight to the nearest hundredth of a gram, and exact details (12 spots instead of many spots..). Their task involved turning in their stick and then finding it within all the other sticks, using their observations to prove it is there own. Then, after 24 hours, they had to find their stick again. Although it took longer, we were successful. The final task was to find someone else's stick using their notes with NO help. This demonstrated how important it is to recorded readable and understandable observations. A great first lab!