Catching up

Hi All,

We have been busy on a variety of tasks. As we prepare to head out in the field next week, here is the status of 6th grade science:

DENSITY
Students have been working on models displaying concepts of density. They drew models of why cylinders of aluminum and copper have different masses. We when looked at models of density showing glasses with the same volume of wooden balls and glass marbles (of the same size) with different masses. One of the biggest concepts so far is the concept of the difference between the space between particles at the atomic level and air, and that the space within atoms are not nearly big enough to accommodate air molecules. Of key importance also is the idea that density is an intensive relationship between volume and mass. We will continue to work on this after field week, and tie it into some of the geology concepts that we have studied.

LAB REPORTS
Students have reached the point of analyzing the data that we all gathered related to the growth of sunflowers in various soil types. Ultimately, their data analyses will include well-written descriptive paragraphs and the integration of a least on computer-generated graph. We will finish these, and begin our conclusions after field week.

EDUCATION POSTERS
Students have also begun developing posters to educate the TBS community about Spike the Bearded Dragon, the newly-arrived chickens, and the habitat benefits of numerous plants in the TBS Butterfly Garden. This work will be finalized after field week, as well.

SYSTEMS
As we continue our work to understand systems, we have been learning about the importance of pollinators ecologically, and for our food supply. We are also in the middle of viewing Food, Inc., looking at the effects of industrialization of the food system. Look for us to be out in the field at least once in May to study more local ecosystems.

Approaching Spring Break

Hi All,

As Spring Break arrives, I hope that you all have a fun one! Here is where we are in science:

This week, pairs worked effectively to use a jumbo Koppen climate map to analyze different types of climates around the world and to think about how and why topsoil is produced and accessible in some areas of the planet, while not in others.

We continued our measurement of the sunflowers planted in various soil types. We will continue to test those hypotheses for at least one more week after spring break. We will continue to graph various components of the data after the break to consider various ways to analyze out findings.

After break we will (finally) do some activities around density and spend the remainder of the year studying connections within local ecological systems.