Tuesday, June 29

Questions about reading: Book excerpt "Who Eats Whom?" from The 10-Minute Ecologist.

~Are there any questions or thoughts that arose while reading the chapter?

~p. 36 “Producers don’t produce energy, they produce and store only an accessible form of energy. That form is a green plant.” How do you interpret this statement in light of what we discussed yesterday?

~Aside from how food is packaged and sold, can our dietary decisions affect energy efficiency in a food chain? Explain.

~Coal is often described as being “stored solar energy.” What does this mean, and do you agree or disagree with this statement?

Discussion of how to use Diagnoser.

~Please feel free to contact Linda at any time if you have questions about how to use the website.

Powerpoints on Newtons Laws and Vectors attached below:

~Some of you indicated that you would be interested in seeing these to continue developing your understanding of forces.

Article: Using everyday language to teach science may help students learn

Individual or small group curriculum planning:

Select one of your science units and identify possible energy scenarios. Consider how you might use energy theater and/or the Action to Writing sheets to emphasize the energy standards in the unit. When you have prepared an energy activity, be prepared to share with the group as a whole. Life science EALRs for 4/5 can be found below. Other EALR documents can be found on last week's pages.

Energy Jeopardy:

The powerpoint attached below is from Energy and Society by Project Learning Tree (c) American Forest Foundation.

Energy Art Poster Assignment and Energy Art Poster Gallery

Energy Sources and Renewable Energy

Brainstorm a list of energy resources. Which of those resources are renewable? Examples:

Sun, Oil, Coal, Water/Hydro, Wind, Nuclear, Electricity, Biomass, Natural Gas, Ethanol, Bio-diesel, geothermal, horses, tidal, wood, food, etc.

Here is a "real life" example of a possible complex energy transfer diagram for energy usage in the US [Side note: what does "lost energy" mean in that diagram?] (and here is the corresponding article).

Reflection prompts for Tuesday, June 29:

• How do you envision what you have learned today will impact your classroom teaching and/or learning?

• What strategies that the instructional staff has modeled or that you have participated in do you see using in your classroom? How might you use them?

• What evidence did you gather from the activities today that support or refute an idea or model of energy that you had?