May 24: Solar Ovens & Oil Spills

It snowed on Monday (the weatherman forgot to consult me - I really was hoping to have my 2nd period 9th graders cooking with their solar ovens that day). Instead, they worked on analyzing political cartoons that discuss environmental issues. Tuesday was the complete opposite - sunny and warm. 6th and 7th period 9th graders were able to use their solar ovens to make s'mores at the least (some groups even brought cookie dough and hotdogs to try. I was impressed with their creativity and ingenuity. Maybe they can use what they learned over the summer and make some treats at home. 6th and 7th periods will be doing the political cartoon analysis on Thursday (and hopefully it will be sunny for 2nd period to do solar ovens that day as well).

We've also been discussing the recent oil spill since we've been talking about renewable and nonrenewable energy over the last few weeks. Students will read some articles, we'll do a little oil spill clean up lab, and will look at the biological devastation oill spills produce.