Great News and Peppermint Science

The best news arrived yesterday... my It is Rocket Science! donorschoose project was fully funded. Now, after our Science Fair in February, the middle school students will be creating and launching rockets!

In our last science class of 2015, the students designed and executed an experiment using peppermints. The experiment was three fold:
1. Designing an experiment using the scientific method prepares them for their science fair project when we return.
2. The sugar melts away, which connects to our current unit on weathering and erosion.
3. Its the last science class before winter break, so peppermints are wintery and fun!

Here are some photos from the experiments:

Acids, Bases and Batteries... oh my!

Science elective students built a battery using galvanized nails, copper wire and vinegar. They tested it with an led, but unfortunately it failed. Science is full of failures! It is how we learn. 

 Safety is first in science elective, so students adorned safety glasses and aprons to protect themselves from any chemical reactions.

 

Say science!

 Students also tore purple cabbage leaves to blend with water to extract the color in the food processor. Then they strained the pulp and poured the juice into test tubes. We expected the juice to be purple, but it was green. Another failure because the color did not change for our experiment. We experimented with acids and bases, which should have changed the color of the liquid. We tested milk, baking soda, baking powder, coffee, lemon juice, orange juice, laundry detergent, dish detergent, and alka seltzer.

Alka seltzer and cabbage juice

Help Save Fred!

Students worked in pairs to complete the task of saving their gummy worm Fred by getting him into the life saver. This is from: http://mastrianascience.wikispaces.com/file/view/Save+Fred%5B1%5D.pdf
and teaches them to be problem solvers and work together. After the activity, they created a flow chart and reflected on the process. Most groups rated the activity four or five stars on the enjoyment factor.

Acidity and Sour flavor

 In the Science elective, students brought in sour candy to test for acidity. Each student received one of each type of eleven different kids of sour candy. First they taste tested the sour level and ranked them from most sour to least. Then they made a solution with the candy and added baking soda to see it react with water and candy. They ranked the candies by which ones made the most bubbles or foam. Then they looked in the ingredients to see what chemical was reacting.