21st-Century Topics and Tools

Powerful leaning Tools:

http://www.thirteen.org/edonline/concept2class/coopcollab/index.html

This site is very beneficial providing examples and answering questions that you may have about collaborative learning. The site www.thirteen.org offers tons of educational concepts for the classroom.

Collaborative Learning –

http://www.thirteen.org/edonline/concept2class/coopcollab/index.html

Inquiry Based Learning –

http://www.thirteen.org/edonline/concept2class/inquiry/index.html

This site goes into detail about all of the 21^st century learning tools. It goes beyond the basic definition of the ideas and moves into the individual components of the practices. It provides explanations, demonstrations, explorations, and implementation of these ideas. It is like a class. 

Week 4 “The Heat is On”

·         What other materials might you choose if you were to repeat the experiment? Which of these do you believe would be the best insulators? Why?

For this experiment I chose: a washcloth, aluminum foil, parchment paper, and a coffee filter. I had low expectations for the coffee filter since it is designed to allow things to flow through. I was unsure how the parchment paper would do and it did only slightly better than the coffee filter. I was torn between the washcloth and the foil. But the end result proved the aluminum foil to be the best insulator out of the item I chose.

However if I conducted this experiment again I would like to use a piece of Styrofoam which I think would do well.  

What other items might you like to test, other than water? For example, do you think spaghetti or hot dogs might react the same as or differently than hot water? Why might these items cool faster or stay hot longer?

Due to my research on solar power towers during week 3, I would like to heat salt and test it. Judging from my reading last week I think the salt would stay warmer longer than water.

·       

  How might you set up this or a similar experiment for students in your classroom? How could you make this experiment more fun, interesting, or engaging for your students? How might you design this experiment so that it is relevant to students’ lives?

I think the design of the experiment is good. I would set it up as a teacher demonstration. I would also allow students to choose from ten different insulation options. To make this experiment relevant to their lives I would do a lesson on home insulation and options available. This could be connected to natural resource preservation. 

Engaging in Guided Inquiry

Actual Scientific Inquiry

Question:

How do different surfaces affect the momentum of marbles?

Hypothesis:

A marble that measures one inch in diameter will roll faster on concrete than asphalt.

Experiment:

·         Materials – 1 3inch marble, a ramp, stop watch, chalk, measuring tape

·         Controlled variables – ramp and marble

·         Manipulated variable – concrete and asphalt

Process:

1.)    Select two level surfaces, one concrete and one asphalt

2.)    Set up ramp (I used a wedge that had a grove down the middle with a 30degree incline.

3.)    Draw a finish line fifteen feet away from the base of the ramp. (Use tape measure.)

4.)    Position marble at the top of the ramp and release.

5.)    Start timer as the marble reaches the bottom

6.)    Stop timer as the marble crosses the finishes line

Data:

	Trial One	Trial Two	Trail Three	Average Time
Concrete Trials	11.1seconds	10.7seconds	9.56seconds	10.45seconds
Asphalt Trials	9.85seconds	10.9seconds	9.23seconds	9.99seconds

Conclusions:

After averaging the data I found that the marble rolled faster on the asphalt than the concrete.

In all everything went well. I only had blue and purple chalk on hand so my finish line was not as visible as I would have liked. Other than the chalk I would not make any design changes. Though, I could use different size marble to see if the results are the same. To do this with my students I could create it on a larger scale and many different types of balls like playground balls, base balls, and golf balls, with two ramps set up. They would really enjoy this.

I would like my students to understand that mass and friction effect momentum.