Science Grade 7 Astronomy Simulation about Age and Distance Between Stars

Using Raisin Crème Cakes for simulation activity in Astronomy

Another quick post about an activity with 7th graders that occurred about 2-3 months ago when learning about stars, what their colors signify about their age and their distance. 

The Holt module text teacher edition had an activity suggestion that sparked my thoughts about using Little Debbie's Raisin Crème Cakes to measure distances of raisins as the stars.

100% engagement!!! Students used notebook paper or copy paper to trace a circle around the perimeter of their crème cake. They also needed to draw accurate sizes and locations for each raisin/star that was on the surface of the top part. They were instructed to identify a starting point and label each raisin star with a letter of the alphabet.

Next came the measuring and recording of distances between stars. Because this was 7th grade level working in a 40-45 minute class period, I had them do the measuring from A to B, C to D, E to F, etc. If I remember correctly, maybe 2 or 3 added some extra distances. An accommodation for IEP students were that a minimum of 7 measurements were to be part of their recording sheet.

Students could only eat their crème cake after I deemed that all the required data was completed.

Living in land-locked central Illinois, this was a great hands-on laboratory type activity to be included in our lessons about astronomy. A month before this they had to pick a star to study for a diorama presentation titled "A Star is Born". Learning about white dwarf, red dwarf, blue, and yellow stars became a bit easier with the cake portion representing the sky/outer space and the raisins as stars. Traveling to a planetarium wasn't possible. Looking at NASA website helped. Looking at some marvelous paintings by my talented cousin trying to capture the night sky helped. Plotting and measuring the distances of raisins definitely helped the 7th graders conceptualize the significances of color and age in stars.

Teaching and learning in the USA heartland,

Becca S

aka Mrs. S or Mrs. Sadler

Life Science Grade 6 simulation for slime molds

Using oobleck to simulate texture of slime molds

About 2 months ago in 6th grade science the module textbook about Microorganisms-Fungi-Plants, identifying slime molds was part of a section included with bacteria, molds, and viruses. I thought using oobleck has a simulation activity for the texture would be helpful for this age of student.

At the time student desks were arranged in pods. This class has 18 students so the room has 3 sets of 4 desks and then 2 sets of three. Each pod received a bowl with cornstarch, a beaker with water, and a plastic spoon for each container (with strict orders not to mix the spoons up and 'contaminate' their supplies). Each student received paper towels to protect their desk, a clear cup, a spoon for mixing and stirring.

Food coloring was distributed about midway to make sure the students got their basic oobleck made.

Some students because of their hand size being too big, ended up cutting off the top half of their cups in order to use their fingers to get ahold of the mix better. 100% engagement with this activity. On my end, I was leading a discussion and asking questions about how this reminded them of photos seen in textbook and online about slime molds. 

Students' comments were interesting and they understood the analogy. 

Here are two pics taken during the activity:

I found a form online that goes through the steps and cautions students to use a little bit of water when adding to the cornstarch. That was read before supplies were distributed. 

Overall, this was a great opportunity for the students to have a hands-on and safe activity for their chapter and it also led to discussion about how this would work for other science topics (physical and chemical changes). 

Teaching and learning in the USA heartland,

Becca S

aka Mrs. S/Mrs. Sadler

Earth Science Grade 7 simulation for surface mining

Digging out chocolate chips with a toothpick

Yes, what a fun engaging way to have 100% participation! Students quickly picked up on the analogies and the application and analysis of this simulation proved to be easy and effective! Recall for the chapter test a week later proved again with effectiveness because no one missed the questions related to this!

Chocolate chips = rocks

Cookie part = soil/Earth's crust

toothpick = mining tool

Students are encouraged to not pick out chips with their fingernails. They are to use their provided tool for their digging. They were asked to draw a circle on their paper towel around each cookie so that at the end they were to reclaim the soil. They were given 2 different manufacturers' product in order to simulate the idea of variances in soil types.

Terms bandied about were surface mining, strip mining, reclamation, equipment, environment, etc. 

Photos are with the 7th grade. To be honest, I used this earlier in the quarter with 6th grade when their environmental science module text (by Holt) discussed fossil fuels of coal's negative impact on the environment. The term reclamation was a key word for their application process, too. 8th grade later on, had a similar section in their Forces-Motion-Energy module text (again by Holt) about fossil fuels, pollution, and impacts on environment.

Here are some photos of several students' hands-on work:

 

This activity is modified from an original I read about 30 years ago from the U. S. Mining office in Colorado (long before internet usage they had an advertisement in a teacher magazine encouraging teachers to write for a resource packet to be sent to them.) The full 'game' they prepared involved economics, business, finance aspects with Monopoly-like money for students to use to buy their 'land' and their 'equipment'. Metal paperclips were $10 each and round or flat toothpicks were $5 each. I forget what the cookie prices were but they encouraged teachers to have 3 different types available: soft, chewy, and a hard. If you have block scheduling this method would be better for the longer time needed. If you have 40-45 minute class periods, the money and purchases would need to be distributed for a day 1 activity period and the actual digging and any subsequent purchasing to occur on day 2. Another aspect for this economic version is for the teacher to act as a coal buyer and to determine pricing for buying back their tiny chips or whole 'nuggets'. This gives them the opportunity to add income. Having a spread sheet or some type of financial worksheet for debits and credits would be helpful for students to easily track their money. 

Teaching and learning in the USA heartland,

Becca S (Mrs. S.) :)

Science Grades 6 to 8 from USA Heartland blog