Snack Tectonics

        SNACK TECTONICS       

Materials: 

Graham Crackers (broken in half for each student)

Two 3" squares of fruit roll up

Cup of water

Frosting

Sheet of Wax Paper

Plastic Knife or spoon

Purpose of this Lesson is to teach Earth Science in a way that students can relate to. In this activity, food is used as an educational tool for students to learn about different plate boundaries, the lithosphere (earth's crust), asthenosphere (frosting used to represent the semi-fluid layer), Oceanic crust plates (represented by the thin yet dense fruit roll up), Continental Crust plates (represented by the Graham cracker that is thick but less dense than the oceanic crust/fruit roll up). This activity teaches students about the world they live in and what occurs on earth's surface, as well as ties it into things they eat and understand to relate the activity to them personally to help make that connection to their lives. I really appreciate this activity as most students don't tend to get wrapped up in things they feel they either cant relate to, or don't directly see or get affected by.

TPE's Addressed: 2: Monitoring Student Learning through instruction, 3:Interpretation and use of assessments, 4: Making content accessible, 5: Student Engagement

This Activity can be a successful one and a memorable one, as students can not only relate to the objects that are used to represent the earth's different surfaces, but as well eat the items after the lesson has been taught.

               Basic Fingerprint                

Materials:

Paper, Pencil, Tape, and your hand

Students can learn about the eight types of patterns (better known as the Henry system)..provided below.

Purpose: An educational way to get students interested in their own uniqueness and about the different types of patterns in fingerprints. This is a very inexpensive lesson that can be taught to students of practically any age. This type of experience can really be memorable to students as they are the focus of the activity, and what is more interesting than learning about yourself?

TPE's Addressed: 2:Monitoring student learning during instruction; 3: Interpretation and use of assessments; 4: making content accessible; 5: Student engagement; 6: developmentally appropriate teaching practices

Owl Pellet Dissection

Materials:

• Heat treated owl pellets wrapped in foil for every pair of students
• wood sticks to punch through the pellet and dissect

Owls eat their food whole like other birds who do not have teeth to chew it. They are able to accomplish this task through the use of their strong beaks to rip their prey apart and swallow it whole. The owls digestive system is able to separate the meat (soft matter) from the bones (the hard matter), and it regurgitates the indigestible matter (fur, feathers, and bones in the form of a pellet). (shown below)

Purpose: to understand how an owl's digestive system cannot break down another critters bones and therefore regurgitates them in a form of a pellet from its mouth. (heat treated for the sake of eliminating bacteria for students to dissect and use as an educational tool). This activity incorporates working with other students, and items in tangible form rather than simply reading about them. I cannot stress it enough how important it is to allow students to experience science and learning in general first-hand through their own experiences with it. This was the first time I had done this, and I know it will forever be engrained in my mind how and owl eats, and what it can and cannot digest. I want to be the teacher that thought outside the box and brought something that students could take with them forever relevant to academics and their involvement with it.

Addresses TPE: (4=Making Content Accessible; 5=Student Engagement; 6=developmentally appropriate teaching practices; 2=Monitoring student learning during instruction; 3=interpretation and use of assessments) 

Closed Circuits

Closed Circuit Materials:

1D Cell Battery

1 Paper Clip

1 with threads, not the kind you pop in

Journal for each 

               

• in small groups:
• have them practice using the 3 objects to cause an electric reaction (lighting up of the light bulb)
• have them identify different ways to make this occur and explain what happens when an object is removed from the equation...If you remove 1 object, none of it works.

Identify the safety concerns: 

1. the objects may get very hot
2. broken glass from a reaction to the heat
3. paper clip may be used incorrectly (as a weapon)

Addresses TPE: (4=Making Content Accessible; 5=Student Engagement; 6=developmentally appropriate teaching practices; 2=Monitoring student learning during instruction; 3=interpretation and use of assessments)

Purpose of this activity is to firmly grasp the concept of a closed circuit and the parts that are required for it to work as a cohesive unit comprised of varied independent items. This promotes working with others to accomplish as well as the hands on experience required for the kinesthetic learner. This type of application allows for students to firmly grasp the concept of what makes things work and how exactly it occurs before their eyes, making it a teachable moment that they may carry for a lifetime.

Egg Putty

 

Egg Putty-Hands on Science

1. 3ml of Elmers glue + 1tsp of water + 2 drops of food coloring= color change and water sits at top
2. add 15 ml of prepared base solution (one tsp of borax to 10ml of water solution)= dingy looking water
3. mix together and stir rapidly until homogenous mass is obtained and knead by had for 5-10 minutes until liquid solidifies...

What and why does this occur?...

• glue contains polymer (long chain molecule)
• Physical and chemical reaction occur when water was added as well as when borax was added.
• Borax is cross linker, and it ties together long strands
• Plyvinyl acetate interferes with the ability of flow which aid in making it stiffer (solid)

Addresses: TPE (4=Making Content Accessible; 5=Student engagement; 10= Instructional Time)

Purpose of this activity is for students to understand through the process of doing about different physical and chemical reactions based on long and short chain molecule strands. (this type of instruction serves as a powerful learning tool for diverse learning modalities, especially for the kinesthetic).