One of the exciting new changes here at Westminster is that we have adopted the Australian Science Curriculum. This curriculum challenges students to use inquiry, problem-solving, and anayzaing perspectives in order to understand and scientific concepts related to physical, earth and space, chemical, and biological sciences. You can explore the year 7 (6th Grade) curriculum here: http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/Year7
Unit
Currently we have started a unit based on POWER! Yes, power...like what things have the power to move other things, or what things have the power to stop another object's motion. In this first part of the unit we will study:
A change to an object’s motion is caused by unbalanced forces acting on the object. We will be:
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investigating the effects of applying different forces to familiar objects
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investigating Newton's Laws of Motion
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investigating common situations where forces are balanced, such as stationary objects, and unbalanced, such as falling objects
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looking at the law of conservation of energy - kinetic and potential energy
Current Project
Here are some links of what we have been working with in class: Our current science project is on the physics of ROLLERCOASTERS! In groups of 3-4, students must create a working rollercoaster that could be built at Six Flags Darien Lake. Their car is a marble and they must follow all the rules. Students will be graded on four parts of their project: their rollercoaster design, their rollercoaster calculations, their presentation, and their building journal (independent).
Here are links to the assignment rules, rubrics, and journal.
On May 2nd, we watched a video about Centripetal force. We watched the video and completed the questions. Here is the link to the video and the questions.
Our last unit was based on Innovation. Students learned about photosnthesis, diffusion, and how plants grow and survive in hydroponic systems. Here are our starting systems:
Here are our systems now!!
