Floatin' Boats

Eighth grade students had the opportunity to build boats out of tin foil, straws, and tape.  After their boats were completed, they added pennies to see how much weight their boats could hold.  Next time I do this activity, I will give students less tin foil because some boats were very successful and we almost ran out of pennies!  This activity really helped students understand how density, buoyancy, and surface area affect an object's ability to float.  You might notice that one boat has a balloon inside it.  A couple groups wanted to model their boat off canoes.  We discussed how some canoes have hollow areas to help it float.

Electrical Circuits & Jitterbugs

Eighth graders have been studying electricity and for the first time, I have the material (very few) to have student create their own series and parallel circuits.  First the class watched a video about how they are set up and the differences between the two.  Then, after being assigned a reading, students worked in a small group to build their own series and parallel circuits.  This made it so much more meaningful for the students.

Now, we are working on Jitterbugs.  I will post the link to the lesson plan and of course post pictures of our final products!

The Jitterbugs went well this year; this class was very creative.  The only thing was this year we used motors with wires and leads already connected.  At first I thought this would be a good thing because students wouldn't have to strip the wires of the alligator clips.  However, it was not a good thing when it came to our Jitterbug competition.  After all the Jitterbugs were completed, we had a contest to see which bug jittered the longest, farthest, etc.  Since these Jitterbugs didn't have the clips to simply clip on  and off the motor, students had to tape the leads onto the batteries.  This was not ideal, but the competition went well and the kids enjoyed it!  Here is the link I used to help with this project: Jitterbugs

Changes in State

Eighth graders were studying states of matter and changes in state.  I allowed each student to randomly choose a change in state and they were responsible for creating a cartoon that illustrated the change in state.  To give them some guidance, I told them the main characters in their comic should be the particles in each state of matter.  In their comic, they would personify the atoms to help explain how their behavior adjusts as the matter changes.  Once the comics were completed, I put students in a group to teach their peers about their specific change in state.  I made sure that each group had at least one student with each change in state.  After each student had the opportunity to teach their group, I split the groups in half and they took a group quiz about what their classmates had just taught them.  This was such a beneficial learning experience because students had the responsibility to teach their peers and they had to listen to their classmates and ask questions in order to be prepared for the quiz that followed.

Illinois State Standards:
12.C.3a. Explain interactions of energy with matter including changes of state and conservation of mass and energy.
12.C.3b. Model and describe the chemical and physical characteristics of matter (e.g., atoms, molecules, elements, compounds, mixtures).

Objectives:
Students will:
-illustrate a change in state through a comic
-collaborate with peers through teaching and questioning

Assessment:
Students were informally assessed through observation and questioning during interactions with their groups.  Furthermore, students' understanding was assessed using the group quiz.

Roller Coasters

In my 8th grade science class, students designed and constructed roller coasters to enhance their understanding of kinetic and potential energy.  The lesson was fun and all we needed was foam pipe insulator, tape, marbles, and plenty of space in the classroom!