I’m working on our GriffinScience Textbook for next “year” (not sure why we call them school years…) and it’s coming together nicely.

We aren’t going to be using a standard textbook. Instead, I’m writing everything (along with student work during the “year” of course). All of the excerpts in the book are from primary texts by scientists and either licensed under Creative Commons, Academic Publishing Standards or not copyrighted at all.

So, if you click above, you’ll see the html outline that you can expand.

Here is text file with the outline you can download:

> GriffinScience TextsBook.txt

And here is an .rtf file you can open in Word or Pages or OpenOffice:

> GriffinScience TextsBook.rtf

I’m also wrapping up on an mp3 version as well as an iPod/iPad/iTouch app (and hopefully Android as soon as I get my Developer license from Google). I’ll keep you posted on when those are in the App Store.

More soon!

Today we started our last unit of study… the fascinating world of quantum mechanics.

The basics I hope you all gathered from our conversation today involves 1) Einstein’s objections to the developments of the quantum model and 2) the 4 forces of nature.

We’ll go more in depth on these two areas this week.

In the meantime, here’s the video we watched featuring the “Double Slit Experiment:”

… and here’s a fascinating lecture by a Professor from Fermilab (research facility similar to the LHC):

Enjoy and I’ll see you tomorrow!

Today we continued our studies of electricity by taking a peek inside batteries. You can find the basic information in your textbook’s chapter 20.

We’ll be working on circuits tomorrow, so read over 20.4 if you’d like to get a jump on our investigations.

Remember, we have a HUGE TEST on Electromagnetism next FRIDAY APRIL 23!

8.2:

- Pressure Activity (4 questions, 2 Points)
- 11.1 Questions on Page 378 (#’s 1-5)

We’ll get caught up to 8.1 and 8.3 tomorrow.

8.1 and 8.3:

- 11.2 Questions on Page 385 (#’s 1-2)
- Quiz Tomorrow on Buoyancy

It’s always odd to be here at school with no students around.

However, I really missed you all today because there’s so much I want to share with you about Einstein, Newton and forces. Plus, it’s fun to be on a crazy middle school hall.

So, I’m reminded today why I’m a Middle School Science Teacher…it’s the best job in the world.

Thank you all for being great students.

I can’t wait to see you all tomorrow!

Dearest 8th Graders-

Tomorrow (Monday), I want you to work on your balloon racers.

**So, please make sure you have materials you need to work on your balloon racers!**

BTW, could you make sure our substitute (Mr. Omler) knows that Design Tech needs to work on their country presentations in the computer lab? Thanks.

I’ll be back in class on Tuesday.

See you then!

Here are a few things we’ll be covering for the rest of our (sadly short) time left before you move on to the Upper School:

Forces
Title: Newton v Einstein
Unit Question: Who is right? Newton or Einstein?
Area of Interaction: Human Ingenuity
Culminating Task: Newton v Einstein Court Case
Assessment: Knowledge and Understanding (Criterion C)

Energy
Title: Knock ‘em Down
Unit Question: What does oatmeal have to do with bowling?
Area of Interaction: Health and Social Interaction
Culminating Task: Wii bowling tournament
Assessment: Communication in Science (Criterion B)

Work and Machines
Title: Archimedes’ Claw and the 1st Presbyterian Soup Kitchen
Unit Question: How can we use the works of Archimedes to help our work at the soup kitchen?
Area of Interaction: Community and Service
Culminating Task: Demonstration of simple machines and understanding of efficiency by moving items at the soup kitchen during Humanitas Day
Assessment: One World (Criterion A)

Waves
Title: Verse Chorus Verse
Unit Question: Do you study better in a well lit quiet room or a dark and noisy room? What about your earbuds?
Area of Interaction: Environments
Culminating Task: Collection of data related to personal or group study habits with reflection on personal preferences/needs based on science of light and sound.
Assessment: Processing Data (Criterion D)

Should be fun!

Nice (stick around for the ending)…

Newton’s Set of Laws! The Song

Formulas:

F = ma
a = Change in V / Change in T
v = Change in d / Change in T
s = positive movement

Units:

F = Newton (1 N = 1 kgxm/s2)
a = m/s2
v = m/s
S = forward movement… no t

Tomorrow we’ll do more labs using these as well as build on our knowledge (no homework!).

Here is the calendar of due dates for the Journal of Middle School Science we are working on for the next two weeks.

You can view the calendar by month (default), week or Agenda (handy).

I’ll be adding all future assignments to this calendar as well. So, you can add this calendar to your own SDS calendar and stay up to date (see me if you need help on this). The calendar will always be available in the “Cal” tab up in the menu bar at the top.

Let me know if you need any help figuring this out as it will be really helpful for you since we all have our SDS Google accounts now!