The S.T.E.M and Arts blog by Aurelius Raines II

The S.T.E.M and Arts blog by Aurelius Raines II
"Producers, not Consumers"

Saturday, December 8, 2012

Engineering

This week, the dialectic classes prepared for their Unit 2 test by creating an invention. They got together in groups and found a problem to solve. They spent the week designing and prototyping their projects. After our unit test, they presented the inventions to the class. We had everything from a super-safe to a winter-proof car. 

We are also working on creating e-books. These will be interactive books that we will publish online. 

Next week, students will be doing Lesson 2 of Unit 3. We will learn how we analyze data during the engineering process. They will be asked to read Lesson 3 on Monday evening. Later that week we will be doing the Lesson Review. I always give tests on Fridays. 


Students will also be asked to turn in an idea for a science experiment this week. I prefer that students find their own experiments rather than copying them from the internet. We have spent a lot of time learning about the scientific process. I always suggest a trip to the American Science and Surplus store for some scientific inspiration. 

The sixth-graders learned about earthquakes and volcanoes  Did you know there are 3 types of volcano. Ask your child about them. We did a lab were we designed and tested homes and office buildings on our "earthquake tables". We then examined the qualities that made a building earthquake-proof. (see pictures below this post).


Next week we will be learning about rocks and their varieties. We will also learn how to identify rocks using a game called Master Mines. It can be found on the Filament Games web site (a link in the parent resource center).

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