I met Lu as a volunteer at my own kids middle school science magnet at John Adams Middle School. He had volunteered as an avid birder and shared with students in Santa Monica and I was eager to bring that kind of expertise to the students at Westside with the multitude of sea birds that flock to the beach and the Ballona creek and Lagoon right outside our school’s backyard. He enthusiastically said yes, and not only brings bags full of binoculars and freebies about the most common birds we see in Los Angeles, he brings his expertise and love of the environment that has infected the 7th graders at WGAM.
The great California Shake is just around the corner for all school children in California. Most people who die in an earthquake do so because of damage to buildings or structures falling on them. Just check out the recent earthquakes that happened just days apart in Napa Valley, CA and Yunnan Province, China in August 2014. Unreinforced masonry caused 619 deaths in China, while there was 0 deaths in Northern California.
Living in a fault zone, the safety of WGAM 6th graders got to think like engineers as they built 3 story structures.
Working on a lesson that covers Common Core skills and Next Generation Science Standards, 6th graders know that:
Earthquakes are sudden motions along breaks in the crust called faults and that volcanoes and fissures are locations where magma reaches the surface.
Major geologic events, such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and mountain building, result from plate motions.
How to Communicate the steps and results from an investigation in written reports and oral presentations.
Recognize whether evidence is consistent with a proposed explanation.
STUDENTS WERE GIVEN A BUDGET TO PLAN, DESIGN AND BUILD A 3 STORY MODEL (20 CM MINIMUM HEIGHT) THAT WITHSTANDS A SIMULATED 8.0 EARTHQUAKE & worked together for one week refining their skills with limited supplies.
The results were a mix of designs that fell over right away because they were not reinforced to the platform but were structurally sound otherwise. Other designs were stable but they did not have 3 stories, while others which used techniques like using shapes like triangles or reinforcing brackets with crossbars not only survived the earthquake, they had no damage at all. BRAVO WGAM! Future engineers may be amongst us.
There are two main types or categories of cells: prokaryotic cells and eukaryotic cells. Both of these types of cells have several things in common. All cells are surrounded by a plasma membrane, which is made of a double layer (a bilayer) of phospholipids. Within this membrane, is the cytoplasm which is composed of the fluid and organelles of the cell.
UNDERSTANDING the cell is difficult and the parts are so tiny that most can not even be seen with a light microscope. Seventh graders at WGAM made some great 3-D models to grasp what each part does. Next week, they start to explore how disease affects the cell and how our bodies protect themselves or get sick.
Ms. Geshke's Science Hub 