Sept 28-30: Quiz & Star Cycle

Students - we're going to have our first "Big Quiz - or Small Test" on Tuesday. It will cover some of the theories and technologies that you did research on, and will have a significant portion of questions on the Doppler Effect and red-shift, blue-shift. We will review on Monday so that you will be prepared. If I were you, I would use the weekend to review a few things - teach your family about the Doppler Effect, explain how it relates to starlight, etc.

On Wednesday we will start talking about the star cycle and how stars change during their lifespan with some notes.

Remember that the weekly check-in will count for both last week and this week, so get it in to me by Wednesday.

Sept 21-24: Red Shift Blue Shift

This week we will be doing activities based on understanding the Doppler Effect and how it relates to the expansion of the universe. We'll start with a slinky lab, a wet lab, and a buzzer lab to illustrate how the Doppler Effect works on waves. Then we be narrow down our focus to how the Doppler Effect works with light - specifically star light, by looking more closely at the visible spectrum of light given off by different elements.

We will have a formal quiz on the Doppler Effect and Red Shift/ Blue Shift on Thursday.

Please remember to do your weekly check-in with your student - especially this week with Student-Led Conferences coming up. I welcome all of you to come visit with me for a short time during the "Drop-in Time" during conferences. Thanks!

Sept 14-18 : Cosmology Theories & Doppler Effect

This week we will be finishing our work on the different theories surrounding the formation of the universe and the technologies used to study it. Students have been researching different theories about the beginning of the universe, ancient ideas about how the solar system was organized, and the technological advancements that have helped mankind to better understand space. The students are working with a partner (or in some cases, a few partners) to research their topic and to create a presentation for the rest of the class. On Monday this week students will be creating their poster for presentation and then they will present during class on Tuesday and Wednesday.

***Students, please remember to look at the table on the back of the presentation assignment sheet to see how you will be graded***

At the end of the week we will do a lab on the Doppler Effect which is a needed preliminary activity to looking at star spectra and to understanding the evidence for the Big Bang Theory (not the TV show... apparently there's a TV show with that name... although I haven't seen it, I'm pretty sure it has nothing to do with how the universe began).

Grading Notebooks

This week I started grading notebooks for my 9th grade classes. You will soon be seeing the scores on Skyward for everything that we've done up to Labor Day. It wasn't long, but there was a surprising amount of work done! Most students who received scores lower than the maximum simply did not finish the assignment and left parts blank. Others have zeros for things that I know they did, but that are not in the notebook in the correct place (it will take me a million years to grade everyone's notebooks if I have to go searching through them for each document). This is easily remideed however, they just need to put it in the right place and have me recheck it for full points. This disorganization is by no means all their fault - it's been hard to get as many documents as I would like printed and hole punched (never buy a three-hole punch from Wal-mart). I'll try to do better - and I'm sure they will too. Thanks!

Sept. 8 - 11 : Intro to the Universe

This week we will be finishing up learning about variables and the scientific method. We will be having a quiz on this during the week. We will also be adding some more papers to their science notebooks for the next few weeks.

Next week we will be doing some intro activities to what Earth Systems Science is. First we will be looking at how a bicycle models what a system is and then relate it to the Earth. Next we will start an activity working on a model for the Big Bang - we will not finish this during the week because of scheduling conflicts, but we will finish next week. Then we will be starting a research project that focuses on differing theories on the formation of the universe and the scientific tools we use to study the universe. This project is likely to take a few days, and will go into the next week as well.

Parents - a special note to you. If you have not yet signed the Safety Contract (see the link to the left), please do so ASAP so that your student can participate in our labs coming up. Secondly, please help your student remember to have a 10-15min. chat with you about their grades and about what we're doing in science class each week. They will have a blue sheet for you to sign each week, which will be due on Fridays (also to the left in the "Useful Links" section, if you need it). I hope that by checking in with your student each week, you'll have a better feel for where they are at and for what we've been doing in my class.

If you have any questions, please email me at:

katie.groneman@fortherriman.org

Thanks!

Aug 31- Sept 4 : Scientific Method

This week we have been reviewing and applying the scientific method. Although there are a lot of different steps taught for the scientific method, these are the ones we'll be using this year:

Purpose (question, observation, problem)
Research
Hypothesis (If...,then...)
Experiment (Materials & Procedures)
Analysis
Conclusion

The students applied the scientific method with a helicopter lab where they designed their own experiment to test variables affecting descent time. We also took some notes on the scientific method, controls, variables, etc. and students practiced identifying them using invented, but more relevant scenarios.

9th graders also spent one morning reviewing the school RATTLE rules and how they apply in various places in the school (auditorium, halls, library, etc.)

Next week we will start talking about the formation of the universe.