SAGE Update - November 23, 2011

5th Grade SAGE
Over the last two weeks, each of the classes has been working to design and conduct an experiment that the entire class would use to determine the ranking of the 4 paper towel brands based on absorbency.  This is part of our  quest to evaluate the overall value of our 4 brands in order to recommend the brand to our friends and families.  


As we've discovered rather quickly, being good scientists takes a lot of hard work.  Each step in our experimentation has to be scrutinized for its effectiveness and for how it keeps to our standards for creating a fair and accurate test.  We've exercised perseverance, creativity, and problem solving skills to create tests that we'd confidently stand behind as people looked into our scientific methods.  Interestingly, no class has created "the perfect experiment" that would do away with every possible error, and no class has been able to perfectly control every one of our controlled variables.  We've decided that we'd need pretty sophisticated equipment to be able to do that.


Given our limitations, we're forging forward with our investigations.  As we go on, I will post pictures of each class's investigation, and will have the students from each class evaluate the different experiments for their effectiveness.  I'm looking forward to the experiments!

UPDATE:  Creekside's experimentation went pretty well, but in a quick check of our results, we realized we do not have a finding that we could confidently present to the public yet.  (You can find our data, and questions the Creekside students need to answer regarding the testing.)

(Here's Part of Creekside's Writeup)

 

4th Grade

In 4th grade, we're in the midst of our first 90 minutes of experimental building with our 6 polygons. One of  the best ways to enhance creativity is just to give someone the gift of time . . . Generally, the more time someone spends exploring and experimenting, the more creative they are in their investigation and in their productivity.  I discovered that the buildings students created was enhanced quite a bit by simply giving them time to try different ideas out.

At the same time, we're working as a class to determine the areas of each of our different polygons.  Squares and rectangles are fairly easy to deterine, but the three triangles and the regular pentagon present more of a challenge.  Once we determine the areas of each shape, we'll then be able to calculate the cost of each piece.  This will allow each student to begin to get a sense for how far $50,000 budget will take them in their process of building a home and a public building.

 

 

Partners determining the areas of each of the 6 polygons.

 



Each team records their finding for the area.  Eventually, we must all agree on the area of each piece based on "good math" and with precision.

 

3rd Grade

With the Thanksgiving break and with conferences, our 3rd grade classes have separated a bit in their progress through the Mr. Bear Unit. 

Creekside students were able to visit the "State Crime Lab" on Monday to do 10 different experiments related to the evidence found at the scene of the mystery.  Students gathered this newest information and compared it with the information they'd gathered through visiting the mystery scene and through tracking the account of what took place leading up to the mystery.  With all of the different pieces of information at hand, students entered the final stages of deciding who borrowed Mr. Bear.  In the upcoming weeks, they will be creating a memo to send to the Chief Investigator - me - to lay out their evidence for who they believed borrowed Mr. Bear.  At the end of the unit, they will read their memos to me and all their fellow investigators.  At that time, we will assess the investigative efforts of each member of the team.

Grand Ridge has not met for the last two weeks.  In our last two classes, we had been investigating fingerprints.  We've learned the three main types of fingerprints - loops, whorls, and arches.  And, we've discovered the "normal" percentages of each type that are found in the world.  After doing a check of fingerprints for each person in our class, with the help of jeweler's loupes, we took a gathered the data for our entire class.  Students finished up the investigation by analyzing their own fingerprint types to those of our entire class as well as to the overall percentages for the world.  Maybe you can get your fingerprints analyzed by your child!

<>

	 Creekside 3rd Grade visits the "State Crime Lab." 

SAGE Update - November 10, 2011

Google Sketch-up (CONTINUED ANOTHER WEEK)

Many students have begun to experiment with Google Sketch-up, the CAD program that allows users to create 3-D objects online.  Experimenting with Sketch-up is this week's optional activity for SAGE  students. 

Sketch-up can be used for activities as simple as creating a 3-D box, and for complex activities such as recreating 3-D depictions of historic buildings or streets scenes.  Some high school teachers are actually having their students create a building from their community's past as they learn state and local history. Amazingly, people who create the buildings can have them added to Google Earth.

You will need to download the application onto your computer.  If your children create drawings, they can e-mail me a picture of whatever they create. 

5th Grade

This week was a time for us to demonstrate our abilities as thinkers.  Our time was dominated by the demonstration and explanation of our first absorbency experiments to one another.  Each team took their turn to do a "dry run-through" of their experiment, with the rest of the class giving them feedback in the form of "Aha's," "Questions," and "Red Flags."  Here's what each of these entailed.  

• Aha's – Something you saw or learned that you'd like to add to your own experiment (ing.)
• Questions – Something you'd like to ask the presenters about. It could be a "why" question, a "how" question, a "what would you do" question, or a "did you think about" question.
• Red Flags – This is a "caution" or "warning" you have about some aspect of the experiment. It respectfully points out an error in written procedure or in the experimenting itself.

The beauty of the feedback was this:  since our objective as a class was to see what we could take away from these experiments that would help us be better scientists, we were all learning from each other.  And, as we watched each group, we found take-aways that led us to some general rules.  For instance, Monday's class at Creekside realized that it was important to always have accurate tools for measuring - whether it was measuring the time a towel soaked, or the amount of liquid being poured onto the paper towel, or even the amount of water that wasn't absorbed by the paper towel, exactness of measurement was crucial in finding reliable results.  

Next week, we'll pool all of our knowledge and wisdom to create one experiment for the entire class to perform that we believe will help us to accurately determine the absorbency ability of each paper towel brand.

Anish and Ashley explain their absorbency experiment.

Sammy and Angela share their experiment with the Thursday class.

 


Aliya and Zoe listen to a question a student has about their experiment.





 

4th Grade

The 4th graders at Creekside worked to determine theirclass's top 30 buildings.  They made it through their top 25 so far. Here's their results.  (Grand Ridge will be working next week to do the same thing, since Friday was a holiday this week. What do you think of our list?  Are there any buildings you can think of that should be there that aren't?

Creekside 4th grade top 30 buildings (so far.)

3rd Grade

Along with the Mr. Bear activities this week, our 3rd Graders are learning the value of PERSISTENCE and CREATIVITY as they tackle a tough set of Toothpick Puzzles.  These puzzles exercise their spatial problem solving "muscles" by asking them to rearrange a set of toothpicks to certain specified designs. The persistence comes in with the "fish problem" when the students realize that the obvious strategy for rearranging them doesn't work.  Most students find this very disheartening and a huge obstacle to overcome.  (Many of them are used to things coming to them easily, and it's not a fun experience when a problem doesn't.)

Here's the fish problem.  PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE don't help your students solve it.  You'll take away the main part of the challenge that the problem represents for them.  (If you'd like to give it a try yourself, make sure he or she isn't around to peek.  They're very tempted to peek at others' solutions for this one!

SAGE UPDATE November 4, 2011

Google Sketch-up

Google Sketch-up allows users to create 3-D objects online.  It can be used for activities as simple as creating a 3-D box, and for complex activities such as recreating 3-D depictions of historic buildings or streets scenes.  Some high school teachers are actually having their students create a building from their community's past as they learn state and local history. Amazingly, people who create the buildings can have them added to Google Earth.

Experimenting with Sketch-up is this week's optional activity for SAGE  students.  You will need to download the application onto your computer.  If your children create drawings, they can e-mail me a picture of whatever they create. 




Max was the first to send in a creation. Here's his building.



Eric created a chair.  You can see how versitile the program is.

5th Grade

Teams of 5th graders began their initial experiments to assist us in determining the best quality paper towel brand of our four mystery brands.  Three of the brands are "leading brands" -- you can take my word on that -- and, one is a store brand. This go-around, we're testing for absorbency.  In a few weeks, we'll begin testing the wet strength of each product.  Along the way, students will learn how to design and conduct an experiment using the scientific method.  In addition, students will learn the value of using the scientific method.  

At the same time, our students are bouncing around the idea of creating different videos to get the idea of "Caveat Emptor" out to their schoolmates. Some are thinking of superhero sketches, while others are toying with the idea of a newscast.  We'll see if we can put our creative and technical powers together to come up with some video productions over the next few months.

  

Students at Grand Ridge conducting the initial absorbency experiments.



 

4th Grade

This week, teams finalized their lists of the top 30 buildings, and at Grand Ridge we began our process to determine the class's top 30 by compiling our scores into one large spreadsheet. 

In addtion to the work to determine the buildings in our community, we continued to talk about our BIG 4 questions for the year.  This week's focus was on:  "What makes a successful community?"  That might be an interesting subject for a car ride this week.  It would be great for your son or daughter to hear what you think about the issue.


 

Members of our Creekside class working on their "Top 30" list.

  

Grand Ridge students discuss the attributes of one of the 6 Polyhedraville basic polygons during their gallery walk.



















3rd Grade Students in 3rd grade explored the world of fingerprints this week.  Students paired up to learn about the 3 general types of fingerprints, and then examined their own prints to determine the types for each of the 10 prints. What type of prints did your child have?  Were they all the same type?  Did their prediction about the type(s) they have hit the mark?  All these questions were discovered this week. 

Determining her thumb print.

Students learned about the types of prints and then predicted the type(s) they'd have before examining their prints.  Here, the student is entering his prediction.