Weekly Objectives for 2/3/15 - 2/6/15

Overview - Wow!! Time is flying by.  We are now only 8 working days away from the Science Fair Presentations.  The groups are working feverishly to complete their projects.  This week the groups were learn how to draft hypothesis, procedures, variables, material lists, and purposes.  They are also responsible for acquiring the materials for the experiments, along with getting permission from the people involved in the experiment.  They must also fill out the proper forms to use certain parts of the school: gymnasium, arena, etc...

Tuesday - 2/3/15 - 
       Today in class, the groups were educated on drafting a purpose for their experiment.  The students must justify why the experiment is beneficial to our community or the larger society. After this, they learned about drafting three sets of variables: independent, dependent, and controlled.  The students had to clearly state each variable and identify how each was going to be measured.

Wednesday - 2/4/15 - 
       We are moving along at a feverish pace.  There are still some groups that are finishing their reports, but most groups are moving along quite well.  Mr. Bish's lesson today focused on drafting their hypothesis and creating a materials list.  In the hypothesis, the students must create an "if something is done, then this will happen," statement.  In other words, they must predict what the expected outcome will be from the background research they conducted. Surprisingly, the students really caught on quickly.  Once that was taught, we also showed the groups how to create their materials list needed for conducting the experiment.

Thursday - 2/5/15 - 
       Today's lesson focused on building students' observational and data collection charts.  Students were instructed on how to collect their information during the experiment.  Some data is collected by visual observation, so the students must understand how to take proper observational notes.  The other type of data collection is through measurement, and their is a whole other type of chart that needs to be created.  We are super busy, thus this lesson plan is quite short.  Remember, the Science Fair is on February 26th.  Time is precious.