Physical Science

5/26 - Periods 2,4,5 Science Research Project

1. Friday, May 29th is the last day to hand in late work! I will be assigning work the first week of June, but I will not accept any old, late work after this Friday.

2. This assignment is due this Friday, May 29th.

3. Choose any topic, person or experiment in science and research it and present your research in a Google doc report or Slides presentation. See Google Classroom for project outline and rubric.

4. Please email questions if you have them. I have not planned any Google Meets times this week as I don't think this assignment requires us to meet. If you would like to meet, please email me and we can set up a time.

5/26 - Period 6 Physics Festival Background Research

1. Friday, May 29th is the last day to hand in late work! I will be assigning work the first week of June, but I will not accept any old late work after this Friday.

2. This assignment is due this Friday, May 29th.

3. On Friday, June 5th, 7th and 8th Grade GATE families have the unique experience to participate in the first USC Virtual Physics Festival. This is being organized and presented exclusively for the GATE families at AEW! The flyer for the event is included in the assignment. You will be researching the background of each scientist who is scheduled to present and creating questions for each scientist.

4. Please email questions if you have them. I have not planned any Google Meets times this week as I don't think this assignment requires us to meet. If you would like to meet, please email me and we can set up a time.

5/19 - Science of Shoe Design

This is a three day project. You have three days to complete the project but you may take four days. I will not assign anything new on Friday as that is 8th grade sign pick-up day.

2. Please read the directions carefully! You will need to choose FOUR science concepts from 8th grade science and incorporate them into a shoe design (my example only has three). You need to explain the science! (I left that part off of my design.) Use your science notes from the year and all of the TCI science textbooks for 8th grade to help you with the science explanations. You may use the science examples that are on my shoe if you want - but not all of them. Be creative!

3. You will hand in your shoe design on this assignment in the form of a picture of your design OR a computer drawing.

4. Please email me if you have any questions.

5/14 - Digital vs. Analog - Using Waves for Information Transfer

This is a three day project. It is due at the end of the day Monday.

In the past 50 years, the vast majority of analog devices have been replaced with digital equivalents. You will be researching digital and analog devices and creating a Google Slides presentation on what you learned. The project outline and rubric are found in Google Classroom.

This is a THREE DAY project. You have today, Friday, all weekend, and Monday to complete the assignment. It is due Monday afternoon. It is the culminating project of the Waves Unit.

Email if you have questions or attend Office Hours today from 1:00 - 1:20.

5/8 - EdPuzzle on How We See Color

Today you will be watching a Physics Girl, award winning video on how we see color. Let me know if you have any questions!

5/6 - Infrared Camera Lab

1. Read the lab first, including all the background information in the lab.

2. You will be watching the videos to get data for the lab. You will need to record the temperature of different items or surfaces (or animals - my dog Kiara makes an infrared appearance). I apologize for sometimes being obviously wrong in the videos about what objects were higher temperatures. Remember I'm looking through two cameras and there was a lot of glare (reflection of light) from the surface of the infrared camera screen. Looking at the videos now, it's much easier to read the temperatures on the video than it was for me, filming.

3. Remember to complete all of the lab questions and it helps if you use a different color.

4. Use data with units (in this lab the units are degrees C - use the circle sign, not the word degrees). Many of you are forgetting data and I am going to start taking off points for no data.

I'm sad that students are not doing this lab at school. The infrared cameras are really amazing. It's like seeing the world through different eyes. If anyone wants me to look at something different than I did, let me know and I will film a different video.

If you handed in a late EdPuzzle assignment, please let me know. Because about half the class does not submit their EdPuzzle assignments, it's impossible to tell if someone has turned in a late assignment unless I look for a specific name (this is the second reminder to do this).

5/5 - Video Lesson on Light Waves

Today you will be watching a video answering all of the questions generated at Friday's Google Meets. You will then write a summary of the content and ask any follow-up questions if you have them.

5/4 - EdPuzzle on the Electromagnetic Spectrum

Today you will be watching an EdPuzzle video on light and the electromagnetic spectrum. Pay attention so you can answer the questions correctly. You do not need to get 100%, but your grade should reflect a reasonable understanding of the material covered in the lesson.

Check Aeries and make up work. I am going to wait a few days to grade late work. That way more students have time to submit work and I can grade it in one sitting. It is not easy to grade late work in Google Classroom. I am definitely missing paper assignments!

Thank you to all who attended the Google Meets last Friday! It was great to see you! I will hold a couple of shorter Meets times this week. Look for announcements or the class calendar for more information.

Have a great day!

5/1 - Office Hours

From 1-2 pm today, I will be live at the Google Meets. This is an optional meeting as I know many of you may have another Zoom or Google meeting to be in. This time is for questions or just to say hello. It can be a time to tell me what kinds of lessons are working for you in science and what kinds of lessons you would like going forward. I hope to see you today!

4/30 - How Does Sunlight Interact with Different Colors?

This is not a long lab, but I am giving you two days to do it. There will not be a separate assignment tomorrow! This with hopefully give some of you a chance to catch up and do a couple of late assignments. I will not be able to do a Zoom meeting every class tomorrow. I have another scheduled meeting during 4th period. I will try to do "office hours" tomorrow where anyone can drop in during that time. If I am able to, I will send an invite and it won't be mandatory.

Today you will be completing a lab on Absorption and Reflection. I did the lab at home and filmed it in a series of 4 videos because you will have to take data every 5 minutes. Make sure you read the lab and watch the videos in order. I do not expect you to have lab like materials at home. I went to school and brought stuff home to do the labs so you can see sort of what you would have been doing at school. Please email if you have questions. If you want a Zoom or Google Meets one-on-one conversation, let me know.

1. Read the lab so you are aware of what the videos will be showing.

2. Start with Video 1. Get your starting temperature data.

3. Watch Video 2 to get 5 minute data. I think I got the camera positioned so you can read the thermometers. The sun was bright and it was difficult to see if the camera was focused. If you can't see exactly, estimate based on what you can see.

4. Watch Video 3 to get 10 minute data.

5. Watch Video 4 to get 15 minute data.

6. Answer the conclusion question using the terms Absorption and Reflection since these terms are the focus of this lab.

Let me know if there are any issues!

4/29 - Behavior of Light Lab - Please read all the instructions!

1. Yesterday you read about the basic behaviors of light as it interacts with other substances. The way light interacts with the substances helps explain what you see. Does it reflect back at you? Does light go all the way through a substance (like glass)? Does light bend? All those things will affect how an object looks to your eyes. (All waves do these things, not just light waves.)

2. In today's lab you will be watching a video of me doing a lab in the YouTube video below. Pause along the way to give yourself time to write down data.

Remember there is an extra credit assignment for people that want to raise their grade. This would be for anyone who has less than an A in class or those who didn't get an A on their test and want to have a higher grade. I watched the School Board meeting last night (that went until 10PM!!) and they decided to keep grades as normal. So if you do not do work, your grade can go down. Make sure you are keeping up with your work and reach out to teachers for help if you need it.

I am available for Zoom/Google Meets meetings if you want them. This can just be to talk. You are not wasting my time or bothering me! Some of you may have questions about high school science or what high school looks like for distance learning.

My plan for doing Google Meets during normal class times on Friday is cancelled because I was asked to sit in on a Zoom meeting for school during 4th period Friday. Instead I will try to do open office hours on Friday morning instead.

4/28 - TCI Light Reading on the Behavior of Light Waves

Today you will be doing a TCI reading assignment and answering questions. Do all of the work directly IN TCI. There is no separate question sheet. You do not need to save work or submit work in TCI, it automatically saves it (like Google Docs). Do all of the questions pages 76-79 on Waves.

1. Go to the "Waves" book.

2. Choose "Light Waves" Unit 2.

3. Go to "Text with Notes."

4. Starting on page 76 where is says "2. Light Rays," read and do all the activities at the bottom of each page. MAKE SURE YOU SCROLL DOWN TO THE BOTTOM OF EACH PAGE AND GET ALL THE QUESTIONS!

5. Finish at the bottom of page 79 (the questions under the picture of the guy in a wetsuit looking for his keys).

All of this information will help you with the lab you are going to do tomorrow.

4/27 - Light Inquiry - Please read everything. Important announcements!

1. I loved your band names! Many appear to be tired, bored and eating a lot of Cheez-Its. (Maybe eating a lot of processed cheese products may lead to those feelings? Something to consider.)

2. We are moving from Sound Waves into a discussion about Light Waves. Today you will be doing an inquiry activity where you tell me what you notice in a picture and what you wonder about the picture. This is followed by a short reading activity. Follow the directions on the question sheet and email me if something is confusing.

If you need to talk to me or you need help getting started or doing your work, we can do a zoom meeting, google meets, or Facetime if you have an iphone. Whatever is easiest for you and most helpful. Email me if this is something that you want to do.

I would like to have a Google Meets meeting during normal class time on Friday. Maybe about 20-30 minutes per class. I know I can't make it mandatory because some of you are taking care of younger siblings, but join us if you can. I'm giving you lots of warning so you can plan that into your day. (This is the only day I can meet as a class. I have Zoom meetings during at least one class M-Th.)

Finally, I have had a few people ask about extra credit. I don't really like the idea of extra credit but I have been planning on giving you the option of an assignment to improve your test score if that is something you need to do. Because we were put on quarantine the week after the only test, you guys did not have the opportunity to retake the test to try to raise your score. I am not going to put the assignment on Google Classroom since it is optional and only for periods 2,4, and 5. It is only for people who scored less than a 95% on the test. People who scored less than 95% can earn up to a 95% by completing the assignment. If you are interested, email me and I will copy you on the assignment documents.

4/21 - How Does Changing the Medium Affect Sound Waves?

Today you will be doing a sound experiment inside your home. You can go outside too if that is easy for you. You will choose four substances/objects around your house like a table and a window. You will knock on each with your ear away from the object and then your ear right up against the object. I want you to record the differences in sound heard through the air vs. sound heard through an object. I also want you to notice how changing the object or substance (wood vs. glass vs. carpet) changes the quality of the sound.

Email me if you have any questions.

Note: A few people were concerned that their polite (but wrong to me) answers on the EdPuzzle yesterday would lower their grade. As long as your grade is reasonable for the difficulty of the questions, you will not lose points.

4/20 - Wave Review EdPuzzle Video with Questions

Welcome back from Spring Break! I hope you all got rest and that you and your family are doing well. Today you will be completing another EdPuzzle video with questions. This is a video of me reviewing all of the major concepts in the Waves unit so far. Don't laugh too hard. Especially at the thumbnail. Youtube didn't give me a choice of thumbnails and instead of re-filming, I thought you could use a little humor. There are questions embedded in the EdPuzzle video just like before. Hopefully they are in a pretty logical place in the video. If there are any problems with the video or the questions, let me know.

Update: Your grade will not go down on the EdPuzzle video for being polite to me and saying I was prepared and/or not thinking I have to smile. On EdPuzzle videos, as long as your grade is reasonable and you finish the video, you will get 100%. Those questions were me making fun of myself. Making videos is awkward.

4/7 - EdPuzzle Video on Sound Waves

I'm going to try something different today. If it doesn't work I will quickly assign a similar assignment through Google Classroom with the same video. A few of your classmates do my assignments quickly in the morning, so I should know by 9-9:30 if the EdPuzzle video is working. If I haven't switched the assignment by 9:30, it's working. Period 2 early risers, let me know if things aren't working!

In EdPuzzle, you watch a video and answer questions in the video. The questions in this video are very easy but you need to watch the video to answer. There is a math section in the video but there are no math questions. At the end of the video, EdPuzzle reports that you have watched the video and how many questions you got right.

I am planning to do YouTube videos to answer the frequently asked questions on waves, but I don't have materials at home that I need to film. I ordered a light and phone holder so I can film more easily. I will post the videos once I get better equipment.

3/30 - Kinetic Energy and Biomechanics in Sports

1. I have added a due date to this assignment as teachers are now taking attendance. If you don't complete an assignment, I have to mark you absent.

2. Please make sure you are completing old work. I am starting to archive old assignments.

3. For today's assignment you will need to read the TCI textbook. So a) go to TCI, b)Choose "Forces and Energy," c) Choose "Kinetic and Potential Energy," d) Choose Unit 8 "Measuring Kinetic Energy," e) Read pages 129 -138 note that there are not that many real pages to read. You'll notice the numbering skips pages. DO NOT ANSWER THE QUESTIONS IN TCI unless you want to. f) Complete the question sheet on Google Classroom. You will need to read the TCI textbook to have context for the assignment.

4. Email me if you have questions. Look below to find examples of RG machines built by your classmates!

3/ 27: Shared Rube Goldberg Machines

I have had many requests to share some of the RG videos. It is not easy to share the videos on my website and I have to make the images really large to view. If you see your video and would like me to take it down, just let me know. I will post the videos below. Really amazing work!!

Friday 3/27 - Kinetic Energy and Mass

Before I get to today's assignment, I want to tell you how amazing your Rube Goldberg machines are! I have just started to look as some of the videos and you are all so creative! If you are not in a place where you can make a Rube Goldberg, pretend. Describe an imaginary RG machine and then explain the types of energy exchanged in your imaginary machine.

I am trying to follow labs with an easier day. Today you do not need anything but the question sheet and your own experience. Try to keep up with assignments! Some people are getting really far behind and teachers have to start taking attendance on Monday. Attendance most likely will be taken based on work completion.

For today, just answer the questions in Google Classroom and submit. Thank you to those people who are answering in a different color or font. It definitely makes it easier to read.

Thursday 3/26 - Rube Goldberg Machine

1. Make a simple Rube Goldberg machine at home. Film it or take a picture and attach in Classroom if you can. On the lab sheet, describe the materials you used and, most importantly, the types of energy that were exchanged as one item triggered the next item. To find examples of the specific forms of potential and kinetic energy, see the notes on 3/25 and 3/11. Let me know if you have any questions. A few students have emailed saying they are in a situation where they can't do the lab. Just describe what you would have done and the types of energy that would have been exchanged. Just pretend if you can't do it for real.

2. Do your best. I know doing labs at home can be difficult if you don't have a lot of random stuff lying around. Unfortunately we are not doing this at school where I have a kit of materials for you. This is one of my favorite labs so I'm sad to be missing it at school.

Tuesday 3/24 - Online Lab Phet Energy Skate Park or Coaster Creator

1. Today's lab is online. You have a choice of two labs. DO ONE!!! Unless you want to do both. Coaster Creator is an old lab so it requires Flash. I like this lab better but not all computers will run Flash. Try switching to Safari if it's not running on Chrome. The link on the lab sheet might be wrong. Here is the correct link: assets.jason.org/resource_assets/4851/8673/coaster.html but there are instructions on the lab sheet how to use Google to get to the lab. If this is not working, Energy Skate Park should. I did both labs in class last year and was able to get all students on both labs with their Acers so I hope at least one works. Let me know if there are issues.

Energy Skate Park is an OLD lab (original typed in Word). For some reason, Google Classroom will not let me choose "Make a Student Copy" for old labs that originated in Word. So you will have to make a copy, edit your copy, and attach your copy in Google Classroom using the little paper clip.

2. Instructions and lab sheets are in Classroom. I also discuss due dates as many have had a question about when things are due.

Have a good day! If it's sunny, make sure to get outside for a few minutes.

Saturday 3/21 and Sunday 3/22 - OPTIONAL Weekend Science.

I shared an optional activity if you are bored at home. Paper chromatography is a technique used to separate out mixtures. Watch my YouTube video to see how to do this at home. www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8PCkvEGvvU

Thursday 3/19 - Important reminders and answers to FAQs:

1. You still have lots of time to complete the pendulum lab assignment from 3/18. I am posting this so students can start working early if they want to.

2. Remember to READ DIRECTIONS!! When I assign videos with a lab, they are supposed to help with the science but also help you see how to set up your experiment. Make sure you read and watch everything before asking me how to do a lab. If you have a question, make sure it's specific. "I don't get it" questions don't tell me where my instructions or lessons are breaking down. For all labs that aren't online labs through PHeT, just be creative and do the best you can. I'm sure many of you made shoelace pendulums! It's OK to do the best with what you have around the house.

3. To turn in late work, take a picture and email it to me if you can. If you can't do that, let me know. You will not be able to revise work from now on. Just do your best the first time and I will also grade knowing that you can't revise.

4. Thank you to all those that helped me with Google Classroom as I was trying to figure out how to make it work. I'm sure there will still be problems. Just politely let me know. For some reason, Google Classroom did not let me create a separate doc for each student. You should not have to make a copy today. You should be able to type directly into the document I share with you. I hope. Let me know if it's not working.

5. Grading in the TCI program is not easy. If I can, I will give you a Google Doc to fill out with the reading instead of answering directly into the TCI program. That is what I'm doing today. So read in TCI, answer questions in the Google Doc. Don't answer in the TCI program.

6. If you did not get the email with your Google Classroom code, check spam email. The code is also on Aeries next to your grade for this class. It is also easy for me to send you and invite if you email me from your student email.

Assignment for Thursday: You will not be able to view until 8 AM 3/19.

1. Check Google Classroom. You will have a reading assignment on "Tracing Energy in a System" and "Law of Conservation of Energy." The instructions and the answer sheet are in Google Classroom. Please let me know if there are any issues.

**If you did not do the Friday 3/13 TCI assignment (or you did the wrong assignment), scroll down to 3/13 and finish the assignment. It is reading and questions that you answer IN TCI (Answering IN TCI is for the old Friday 3/13 assignment only. Today there is a Google Doc.). There is not a separate Google Doc. Check Aeries. If you have a red box you need to complete the work. A few students did the wrong section so check and make sure you completed the correct work in the correct TCI book!

Wednesday 3/18 - PLEASE MAKE SURE TO READ ALL THE DIRECTIONS AND WATCH THE VIDEOS. YOU WILL NEED TO MAKE A COPY OF THE LAB AS A GOOGLE DOC, DO THE LAB AND THEN SUBMIT THE LAB AS AN ATTACHMENT. THIS IS WORKING WELL SO FAR FOR THE STUDENTS WHO HAVE ALREADY COMPLETED THE LAB. IF YOU NEED HELP WITH HOW TO MAKE A COPY OF THE DOC YOU CAN EMAIL ME OR TEXT A FRIEND.

I have assigned two videos and a lab in Google Classroom. Please check your email or parent email for the code to join your class. Your Google Classroom code is also available on Aeries next to the website link. Please let me know if this doesn't work or if there are any issues. Google Classroom is new to me so be polite if there are any issues. I am used to completing labs in person and never thought I would have to switch to an online lab format. Please note that teachers are supposed to grade work. This is different information from the information I had on Friday.

I have put a due date of Thursday midnight on Wednesday's lab. I will be assigning another lab for Thursday and I will have a Friday midnight deadline for that lab. I am giving extra time for labs because you will need the time to find materials, build and test.

I am available via email if you have questions or if something isn't working.

Friday 3/13/20 - TCI Classroom Lesson

Instructions:

1. Go to Google "Waffle" and scroll down to TCI

2. Choose "Forces and Energy"

3. Choose "Kinetic and Potential Energy" Unit 3

4. Choose "Text with Notes" from the left side menu (purple side bar).

5. Read pages 115-116 and answer questions #1-3. Read Page 118 and do "Check for Understanding" and answer questions #1 and 2.

Your work should automatically submit to me. If you are having trouble loading TCI, restart your computer and/or sign out and back into Google.

Absences

8th Grade Science is a lab based class. It is impossible to make up what we do in class. If you are absent I am not concerned about what homework you missed. I am concerned that you missed a lab, a discussion, a chance to work on a model, etc... Please do not be absent. There are no make-ups for labs and the missed class time will impact your grade at a certain point.

If you are absent you should:

1. Check the website.
2. Check with your lab group to see if there is any data you can get from them to complete the lab.
3. Discuss what happened in class with your lab group and other friends.
4. Do your best to replicate and complete what happened in class. Most likely this is something you will have to complete in your free time at lunch. You can always have people text you pictures of the experiment and the data to complete at home.

Answer Key for CAST. www.caaspp.org/rsc/resources/CAST.practice-scoring-guide-gr8.2018-19.pdf