The Heat Is On!

In my inquiry, I selected a fifteen centimeter piece of square craft felt, a fifteen centimeter piece of a cotton shirt, a fifteen centimeter piece of aluminum foil, and a fifteen centimeter piece cut from a quart-sized plastic bag as my manipulated variables. I poured eight ounces (240 mL) of boiling water into five identical ceramic mugs. The fifth mug remained uncovered as a control. I then covered each mug with one of the selected materials and secured the materials with rubber bands. After thirty minutes, I uncovered each mug and measured its temperature. I recorded my results on a chart and repeated the experiment two additional times to ensure my results were accurate and reliable. As I analyzed my materials to my hypothesis, I was surprised by what my results revealed. On average, all of the water temperatures were reduced by forty-eight to sixty-nine percent. The aluminum foil that I believed would be the best insulator did not provide the best insulation (see appendix). The results of this experiment were extremely unexpected. The plastic bag conserved heat the most efficiently. This surprised me because I would never think to cover a hot dish with a plastic bag or plastic wrap. I never imagined that it would be a practical insulator. The plastic bag’s water temperature was six degrees higher than the aluminum foil. The unanticipated outcome provides insight regarding heat transfer and insulators.

The insight that I have gained from conducting this lesson is that less dense materials are better insulators (Kurtus, 2006). This explains my results; the plastic bag was definitely the least dense material that I chose. Kurtus justifies this reasoning by explaining that the denser the material, the closer its atoms are together. The closer the atoms are together, the faster the transfer of energy takes place (2006).

When I conduct this inquiry with my students, I will ask them to bring in items from their house. I will give them examples such as cotton cloth, potholders, tissue paper, and towels. I will also provide materials from my classroom such as aluminum foil, napkins, paper plates, books, and plastic bags. I will give the students opportunity to choose from a variety of hot and cold liquids to test. I will provide tea, coffee, hot chocolate, cold soda, cold juice, hot and ice water. I will make this inquiry more relevant to the students’by showing them different travel mugs and discussing the propose and what they are made of.

Reference

Kurtus, R. (2006). Thermal insulation Prevents Heat From escaping. Author. Retrieved January

            26, 2011, from http://www.school-for-champions.com/science/thermal_insulation.htm

Appendix

Type of Material	Trial 1	Trial 2	Trial 3	Average
Felt	32°C	35°C	33°C	33°C
Cotton T-Shirt	39°C	40°C	41°C	40°C
Aluminum Foil	47°C	46°C	46°C	46°C
Plastic Sandwich bag	52°C	52°C	53°C	52°C
Uncovered (Control)	31°C	31°C	31°C	31°C

Inquiry-Based Learning

Question: Which pendulum will come to rest more quickly—a lighter pendulum or heavier pendulum?

I tied a string with a washer to the end of a ruler to set-up my pendulum.  I taped the ruler to the edge of a table.  I released the washer and timed the swings until the pendulum came to a stop.  I used three different size washers and repeated my trials three times.  Before starting my investigation, I conducted research on pendulums.  My research indicated that the length of string was more important than how heavy the object.  I still made a prediction that the lighter pendulum would come to rest more quickly.  I sat on the floor with a stopwatch and timed the pendulum until I believed it to be stopped. 

My results surprised me because I thought the times would be fairly similar, but instead there was a vast difference.  My results made question my experiment.  I believe my challenge was in determining the precise moment when the pendulum stopped.  I sat down until I perceived the pendulum motionless, but this observation was very subjective. 

Washer size	Average time to stop
Large	6min 36sec
Medium	5min 31sec
Small	4min 29sec

The set-up of my pendulum worked extremely well.  I students would be able to recreate my pendulum easily.  Timing the pendulum did not work well.  I wonder if any of my students would find a solution to this problem. 

The one modification would be to make this inquiry activity about variables.  I would supply my students with different size washers, different length of string, and various materials to create their pendulum.  This inquiry lesson will help students understand they are only allowed to change one variable at a time. 

Inherited Traits



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 My structured inquiry lesson was on inherited traits. My students were able to discover their own inherited traits and how common those traits were among the students in their class. The students are exploring their own inherited traits in pictures 1 and 2,so they could complete the activity sheet shown in picture 5. The students enjoyed observing who could roll their tongues or who had a hitchhiker’s thumb. The students had an opportunity to create a family tree using the description from a skit about a horse. They used a chart to organize the details about each horse in the skit (pictures 3 &6). After the students organized the information, they received a cut out that they needed to color. Once they colored their mystery horse the students needed describe the horse so that other could identify the name of the horse. The student than added their horse to the family tree chart on the board. The students needed to use logic to decide what the horse looked like and where the horse got its traits. I used an online program called Gizmos to assessment the students understanding of the lesson. Gizmo is a program that lets the students interactive with different situations at normally could happen in the classroom. In this case, the students were creating offspring of aliens.



Inquiry!

The Melting Iceberg Experiment was very interesting. This is a simple hands-on activity that will be a great way to introduce environmental concerns. I enjoyed the step by step directions this type of inquiry provides. This experiment is the first level of inquiry, the confirmation level. Students use a provided question, procedure, and results to reinforce a concept (Banchi & Bell, 2008).

As a student, I am able to focus on the skill and not whether the experiment is completed correctly. I believe that this is important to students who are not accustom to conducting experiments. I tell my students that we will take baby steps until they feel comfortable with labs. I start with guided inquiry, like this one, to group experiments where they discover on their own.

I like the questions, the research and the Venn diagram at the end of the experiment. When my students are conducting an experiment I walk around and ask higher-level questions to my students, but I know my weakness is whole group conclusion. When the experiment is over making sure I have time to recap and write or complete a graphic organizer would only improve the experience. The experiment and reading for this week has reminded me of the importance of high-quality inquiry.

Banchi, H., & Bell, R. (2008). The many levels of inquiry. Science and Children, 26-29.

STEM lesson

I had a difficult time finding a lesson that encompasses the STEM. I do not know if I was over analyzing this weeks assignment or looking in the wrong places. I was lucky that I had a Science Leadership meeting this week. This gave me an opportunity to collaborate with other science teachers in my county.

I am in a unique situation this year. I have half of the fifth graders the first three months of school and I teach scientific thinking and physical science. After Thanksgiving, I am getting the second half of the fifth graders to teach them the same concepts that the first half just got. The other science teacher will be teaching earth/space and life science. In March, we will switch back and review for the April state test. Typically as a school our students score the lowest in the two areas that I am teaching. I know that I wanted to find a lesson that will enhance what I am teaching, so I focused on physical science. As we were looked at our benchmark labs, we encounter a lesson on speed.

This lesson has the students calculating speed, which is an extremely complex topic for them. They have problems understanding that science and math are related. This lesson will have the students collect data, calculate speed and draw a conclusion. I will incorporate this activity will my new students.