Eggs...
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A chance for those who teach science to share ideas... Iron Chef style!
This blog is no longer being maintained. Check out the new adventure at Science Matters.
Keep in Touch!
If you'd like notification when the site has been updated in any way, please send an email to adventures.in.science@gmail.com. You'll receive, at most, one email per day letting you know what's happened and where. If nothing's happened, you won't get an email that day. Fair enough?
How It Works:
Every week (typically on Thursday) I post a new mystery object.
If you have a science lesson that uses the object (in any capacity), please post it as a comment. It could be a lab, it could be an intro activity, it could be an assessment. It could be a multi-day experience, it could be a five minute zinger.
When you post, please make sure you do your best to give credit to the source of your idea.
How To Post:
At the bottom of the original post, you'll find the word 'Comments' (usually preceded by a number). Click on 'Comments' and you will be taken to a page where you can read what everyone else has had to say, as well as add your own suggestion.
Questions?
Email me at adventures.in.science@gmail.com
If you have a science lesson that uses the object (in any capacity), please post it as a comment. It could be a lab, it could be an intro activity, it could be an assessment. It could be a multi-day experience, it could be a five minute zinger.
When you post, please make sure you do your best to give credit to the source of your idea.
How To Post:
At the bottom of the original post, you'll find the word 'Comments' (usually preceded by a number). Click on 'Comments' and you will be taken to a page where you can read what everyone else has had to say, as well as add your own suggestion.
Questions?
Email me at adventures.in.science@gmail.com
How this came to be:
Before taking time off from teaching to spend with my son, I taught 6th grade earth science, 7th grade life science, 8th grade physical science, and a 4th grade hands-on lab (actually, I taught 3 of those courses at a time...). In a mere four years in the science classroom, I accumulated boxes and boxes and boxes filled with binders, books, and assembled activities.
Now that I am at home with my son, I feel the need to put all those materials to good use, in order to justify the time I spent gathering it all and the physical space they now take up in my house (not to mention the work required to move them from one residence to another).
I was going to be an "Independent Science Education Consultant" - a title I thought I made up, but it seems that it isn't entirely unheard of! My name's out there... at least in this region of upstate New York I now call home... but no hits yet. If you're reading this and you're interested in my services... email me... PLEASE! I'll travel!
I was going to write a book. Turns out, most of the great things I do in my classroom have been borrowed (or stolen) from great teachers and aren't actually mine to publish!
I recently learned the San Francisco Exploratorium holds an Iron Science Teacher competition for local science teachers and those who attend their Summer Institutes. So cool, but I don't live in San Fran and even if I could afford to spend several weeks in California, I don't think the young boy would look so favorably on the idea.
So here I am, creating my own virtual version. It's not live, it's not a competition, but it should result in a great community of sharing and some fantastic ideas for us all to share. Please consider participating!
Now that I am at home with my son, I feel the need to put all those materials to good use, in order to justify the time I spent gathering it all and the physical space they now take up in my house (not to mention the work required to move them from one residence to another).
I was going to be an "Independent Science Education Consultant" - a title I thought I made up, but it seems that it isn't entirely unheard of! My name's out there... at least in this region of upstate New York I now call home... but no hits yet. If you're reading this and you're interested in my services... email me... PLEASE! I'll travel!
I was going to write a book. Turns out, most of the great things I do in my classroom have been borrowed (or stolen) from great teachers and aren't actually mine to publish!
I recently learned the San Francisco Exploratorium holds an Iron Science Teacher competition for local science teachers and those who attend their Summer Institutes. So cool, but I don't live in San Fran and even if I could afford to spend several weeks in California, I don't think the young boy would look so favorably on the idea.
So here I am, creating my own virtual version. It's not live, it's not a competition, but it should result in a great community of sharing and some fantastic ideas for us all to share. Please consider participating!
Blog Archive
6 comments:
Tooth Care
Just in time for Dental Health Month (February)...
Soak some eggs (raw or hard-boiled will work, though taking the time to hard-boil is probably worth it!) in tea/coffee/soda. Give the kids toothbrushes (dollar store) and several different kinds of toothpaste (any samples you can collect...). Let them see which toothpaste and/or technique gets the egg the cleanest.
Also great for a health lesson on one of the effects of those beverages.
Osmosis/Diffusion
A classic...
Have groups of students measure an egg, then place it in vinegar for a couple of days. The vinegar will dissolve the shell, and leave you with a semi-permeable membrane. The egg will also change in size. After this initial step, I like to have my students soak the egg in colored water for one night and then in corn syrup for another night. You can also use plain water and salt water, though if you do all of them, it becomes a very long lab.
Kids can measure all kinds of things... horizontal circumference, vertical circumference, amount of water in or out, etc. Can then add in a graphing component if you'd like.
Be warned, some of the eggs will break... be prepared with some anti-bacterial cleaner. I like to start with fairly small groups, so that as we lose an egg here or there I can divide those kids up into the other groups. You can also do this as a demonstration to save time and/or money.
Egg in a Bottle - Air Pressure
Another classic, that you can learn more about by searching "egg in bottle".
You'll need a hard boiled egg (peeled) and a glass bottle/flask with an opening slightly smaller than the egg. The object is to get the egg into the bottle without harming/breaking it.
Light a small strip of paper on fire and place it in the bottom of the bottle, then place the egg on the opening. The fire will extinguish and the egg will be sucked/pushed in.
You're supposed to be able to get the egg back out at the end (do a google search), but I've never been very successful on that account.
Layers of the Earth
You can use a hard boiled egg to model the layers of the earth... particularly the thinness of the crust in relation to the rest of the planet.
I haven't researched the distances/thicknesses to see how accurate of a model this is, but I've seen references to it in numerous places.
I think you could also use the model of the egg shell to demonstrate how thin the Earth's atmosphere is compared to the size of the planet.
Eye Safety
This is a good one... it can be found in "Demo A Day" (sorry, I know it should be underlined, but I'm not 'allowed').
Draw an eye on the bottom of a petri dish using permanent marker (you can skip this part, but it adds to the effect). Place an egg white in the petri dish and place on an overhead projector. Tell students you have a protein that resembles that which makes up your eyes in the dish. Then tell them you are going to show them what can happen if you get acid in your eye. Place a few drops of an acid onto the egg white... the acid causes the protein to coagulate and become opaque (which shows up as dark spots on your projection). You can then show students that this reaction can't be undone - you can try to flush the protein with water, you can even add a few drops of a basic solution (if someone brings up that acids and bases neutralize each other).
It's a poignant demonstration of why it's important to wear goggles... and it's easy enough to repeat throughout the year if students start to get lax.
Easter Egg Genetics
This actually has nothing to do with Easter, but it uses the plastic eggs you can only get this time of year. Check out the link: http://www.accessexcellence.org/AE/ATG/data/released/0256-AnneBuchanan/index.html
If for some reason the link doesn't work, you can google 'easter egg genetics' and it should be the first link.
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