Who knew science was so much fun?

It's not an easy thing to see....electricity.

Even though it is not something to play with, using the Plasma Ball allowed the students a chance to imagine that they had the power to control, or at least manipulate electricity.

There was a smile on every face...

as they watched the changes right before their eyes!

The challenge with this whole project has been making the information relevant to the children's lives and experiences, and then to find materials that they would manipulate on their own. Boreal Science was the source for these great little motors, that gave the students a better understanding of turbines.

Step by step directions were clear, but the perfecting of the motor so that it would run was more than a little tricky!

Not everyone got theirs to work...

but the huge smiles...

..and squeals, certainly let us all know when there was SUCCESS!

Dam Building Challenge pictures.....

Working in pairs, the students created a plan on how they were going to use the sticks and modelling clay to keep the water on one side of their shoebox, essentially creating a dam.

One of the aspects of our science curriculum is to have the students understand about creating a 'fair test', and with this challenge, those words came up time and time again.

There were no further instructions from me.  It can be hard to relinquish control but I kept thinking that this challenge was about the students' learning, and that made it easier!

Ten groups of two and no one created a dam like any other!

The second part of this activity was to record their work in progress.  They used an app called PicCollage, took photos using the criteria that we all agreed on and then put the collage together including words.  

They were so enjoying the aspect of creating a collage of their learning as it was happening.

Today, the partners put the finishing touches on their dams.  They were deciding which side they would be adding the water to.

I was so impressed with their inventiveness!

We set up criteria for a fair way to add the water, ensuring that each dam would receive the same amount and in the same manner.  We were all excited as we added water to the first dam!

It held the water.....but wait, was that water seeping through?

 I loved the comment of one of the girls "That water is so sneaky!  It will find any little hole to get through!"  Such a powerful learning moment!

This one reminded us of a beaver dam, as we had looked at some online.

As the dams held the water and then did not, the students offered theories and talked about design principles....though they didn't even know that was what they were saying!

The conversation was so interesting, as the students made predictions about why a certain design would or would not work.  They were complementary to their fellow engineers saying things like "Well we can see that you really tried hard." or "Next time you need to make sure that your dam is taller!"

Finally one dam was absolutely successful.  This design did not allow even a smidgeon of water to creep to the other side!

Some of the students reminded me that when we had looked at photos of real dams, there was water on both sides...high water and low water (spillways).  That will be part of our next conversation....how important is it to control the water?  How does that control assist in making electricity?

Dam Building Challenge

After exploring these questions:

What is electricity? Where does electricity come from? 

What makes electricity? Can we make more of it?

through independent searching using iPads, class discussions, use of power points on the SMARTBoard, and viewing of YOUTube videos, the students are going to take on this challenge next week.  They will work in pairs, which they choose based on who they felt they could work with.

The materials are all ready to go!  Let the challenge begin!

Success!

Ask the students in my classroom and they will tell you that they are twenty first century learners.

When you ask them what that means they will explain that all of them were born in the 21st Century, with birthdays after the year 2001.  They will tell you that they are being educated in a manner that is different than their parents and their grandparents, because our world is different than when their family members were in school.  They will tell you that they don't wait for a teacher to tell them the answer, that they are learning how to problem solve on their own!

It does my heart good to know that I will help them know that they can succeed.  It also challenges me, who started teaching before computers were ever in any school!  They are kind and gentle and never laugh when I don't know how to do something that they do.  Instead they say things like "Would you like me to show you how to take a screen shot?" (like I know what a screen shot is!!)

But here's the best part....that's exactly what 21st century learners are supposed to do.  It's not about learning in isolation.  It's not cheating when you talk and help and support your peer.  Problems are easier to solve when more people put their heads together.

Here's the next step in our learning...the reports are done and now, the students are taking movies with the iPads of a peer reading their report.  The plan is to upload the movies to a secure location 'in the clouds' (??!!) and then create QR codes so that people in the school community can use their device with a QR reader to scan and then see the movie.  Won't that be cool?!!!!