Epcor visits our classroom

We had the nicest man come to visit our classroom yesterday.  He works for EPCOR and presented a power point for the students that he had made.

I think he was able to impress upon the students that "energy cannot be created nor destroyed" which is an important scientific concept.

Because our nearby city is not near a powerful river nor a large lake, our electrical energy is not generated through hydroelectric dams.  Instead, coal is burned, to heat water in a boiler, creating steam that then turns a turbine, allowing a gigantic magnet to spin inside of copper wire, which then generates electricity.  We learned the names of many different types of energy and that there are many different types of engineers who work through this process.  Perhaps someday, some of these students will become engineers!

Great session!  Great guy!  Lots of learning!  Made for a wonderful day!

Lego dams and new learning

One of the best parts of this investigation is the fact that I am learning as much as the students.  Even though I have been using iPads in the classroom for a few years, they were used in specific ways which did not challenge me in learning more.  One of the things I needed to be able to do with this investigation was to find a way for the students to send me their work.  The students do not have access to e-mail accounts on the iPads, so the obvious solution did not work BUT, the iPads have the Google Drive app installed and each student has a google drive account, as do I.  After they finished with their PicCollage (to be created with the co-constructed criteria that we had agreed upon) the pairs sent me their work.  You'll see 6 out of the 10, because 4 groups added their names.  My personal policy is not to reveal the names of my students on the internet.  

The ten dam designs seem much more similar because there were specific criteria that the students were following as they created the dams.  As well, they had more experience, had viewed more actual photographs of dams and understood the purpose of the dam more with this challenge.

The hole that they were to open after the water was held back by the dam, represented the channel that the water would be forced through to turn the turbines and create electricity,

 (in the very simplest of understandings).

I have been more than happy with their growth as learners and their willingness to be problem solvers!

Lego Dam Challenge

Before we left for Spring Break, the students knew that they were going to have the chance to create a second dam.  Now they understand that a dam holds back the water, and a small opening allows the water through to turn the turbines (electromagnetic) and this process creates electricity.  They also learned that the placement of the hole in the dam is important to allow the water to move through with enough force (pressure) to make those turbines work.

The first step, of course, to get the dam to hold the water!

We have completely new materials....new buckets and

lots and lots of lego of various shapes and sizes!

To start with, the students met with their partner and drew and labelled their plan.

It was pretty exciting to get to choose what type of lego would be used.

There was a great deal of debate about this step!

I think my favourite part is hearing the students talk about what their plan of attack will be.  They are focused and interested and very willing to work to real their goal.

As well, they share their thinking on paper including what they learned from the first challenge that will help them with this one, what part of the challenge they expect to give them difficulties and what the science involved with this challenge is.

What do you think of this plan?