Kendra's Elementary Science Methods 2 Blog

                           What did you do in lab today? We looked into why earthquakes and volcanoes take place on boundaries, like in Iowa.  Fracking in the United States has led to an increase in earthquakes around the US.   We also experimented with rice cakes, graham crackers, and whipped cream to make different plate boundaries. We made divergent, transform, and two different kinds of convergent plate boundaries.  What was the big question? What can form at the three types of plate boundaries?  What did you learn in Thursday’s discussion? At the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, the plates are moving apart from one another. As you move from the middle of the Atlantic toward the African coastline, it's getting older. Read chapter 10 of the textbook. What did you learn? The crust Made of rocks like basalt and granite, and is very thin compared to the other layers  The crust is broken into 2 types o...

  What did you do in lab today? Composite - can often explode out of their sides Cinder cone - often explodes out of the top; the most well-known example of a volcano  Shield - slow flow with huge, sloping sides  What was the big question? How are earthquakes and volcanoes related to plate tectonics?  What did you learn in Thursday’s discussion? Most earthquakes and volcanoes occur on coastlines and fault lines  Fault lines: locations where tectonic plates are broken  Read chapter 9 of the textbook.  What did you learn? I learned that volcanoes are found on every continent, and even on other planets and the moon.  There are also two different kinds of volcanic eruption: explosive and effusive. Explosive eruptions are when magma is fiercely magmented and rapidly expelled from the volcano. Effusive eruptions are when lava flows steadily out of a volcano and onto the ground.  Forming of volcanoes  Convergent plates The oceanic plate converg...

  What did you do in lab today? Today in lab, we investigated sand. We looked at its characteristics and where we thought it came from. Characteristics of sand: Sand #1 Size: small  Shape: smoother edges  Color: looks gold/yellow and clear   Sand #2 Size: smaller than the first one  Shape: looks like Pop Rocks or Nerds Color: orange and yellow Sand #3 Size:  Shape:  Color: black and shiny  Sand #4 Size: big and small chunks  Shape: Color: white and clear  with black specks  Sand #5  Size:  Shape: Color: lots of colors, pink and clear and blue and red  Sand #6  Size: all similar in size  Shape: Color: yellowy/clearish Sand #7 Size: varying in size  Shape:  Color: looks like rocks with mixed colors  Sand #8  Size:  Shape: Color: orange, clear, yellowy  Sand #11  Size:  Shape: round/circleish, smooth  Color: white/cream  What was the big question? Where doe...

  What did you do in lab today? Today in lab, we first talked about assessment and how it can be beneficial in knowing where to start a lesson. A formative assessment is a great way to start to know what information the students already know. We then moved on to figuring out a curve for the test we took last Thursday. After each group had made a curve, we moved on to an experiment. In the experiment, we were tasked with making different kinds of rocks using starburst and heat. We melted starbursts together, and we also just rolled two different color starbursts in our hands to make a metamorphic rock. This was a fun experiment and helped us decipher and notice the differences in the kinds of rocks.  What was the big question? How can you tell which geode is the most hollow?  What did you learn in Thursday’s discussion? We looked at the rock cycle  Metamorphic rock Needs heat (not enough to melt) and pressure  Big change  Sedimentary rock Sand  Sediment...