21st-Century Topics and Tools

The specific area of physical science that I selected was Energy. The most powerful web addresses that I found were as follows:

 http://www.getintoenergy.com/  

 http://www.ferc.gov/students/index.htm

I think that these tools will help my students in becoming scientifically literate students because offers students great resources, interaction and background knowledge on the different careers available in energy. The get in to energy website has videos that describe different carriers in the energy field. It also has interactive games that that relate to a specific job in the energy industry. It also provides students with great background knowledge and various resources that they can use to find out more information about energy. It also list contest that students can participate in which will allow them to share information that they gather for their activity.  One of the websites that I researched gave a great lesson on that I could implement in my classroom along with utilizing the get into energy website. The lesson covers the different forms of energy, energy transformation and the flow of energy in a system. When students are finished with the various stations, I would have them view the videos on the get into energy website. They would then have to identify the career that they found most interesting and explain why they would venture into that career. These tools would help students stay engaged in the activity because the tools are interactive and  student friendly.

Here are some other websites that found to be interesting:

http://www.energyquest.ca.gov/links/index.php?pagetype=energyed#energy

http://www.energy.gov/sciencetech/workforcedev.htm

http://www.need.org/needhopdf/Science%20of%20Energy.pdf

http://www.thegateway.org/

http://www.ferc.gov/careers/why-ferc.asp

http://www.uwsp.edu/cnr/wcee/keep/StudentInvolvement/EnergyCareers/career.htm

http://www.getwise.org/

http://www.energyhog.org/

http://www.ferc.gov/students/index.htm

http://www1.eere.energy.gov/kids/

http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=kids.kids_index

Exploring Heat Transfer

     

The materials I selected to test in this experiment were aluminum foil, a face cloth, construction paper and cardboard. I hypothesized that the cardboard would be the best insulator because it is thicker than the other materials being tested. I believe that the thickness of the cardboard will cause it to trap the heat in the cup and allow the water to stay hot the longest.          After allowing the hot water to remain in each cup for thirty minutes, I checked the temperature in each cup and realized that my hypothesis was wrong the material that served as the best insulator was the face cloth.

            If I were to do this experiment with my fifth grade students I would definitely complete it in a whole group setting. Allowing my students to work with boiling hot water would cause some safety issues. To prevent my students from being injured I would conduct the experiment and allow my students to watch, ask and answer questions.

             Other items that I could test would be hot chocolate, pudding or oatmeal. I think that solid substances will stay hotter longer than liquids because the particles in solids are closely packed which will cause the heat to stay in the substance longer.

            I would want my students to learn that certain materials insulates heat better that others. The type of material that they select to store hot chocolate will affect how long the hot chocolate stays hot. I also want them to make connections about how insulators are used in their homes, clothing and other materials that they use in their daily lives.