An Hour of Code

 Engineers from Google, Microsoft, Facebook, and Twitter joined forces to present a tutorial on how to write code for students during Computer Science Education Week.  Sixth grade students were challenged to spend one hour of the week learning about computer programming using a visual language program known as, "Blockly". During the course, students were exposed to the foundations of computer science. According to the program, these skills are used anywhere from making apps to controlling the Mars rover.  After completing the hour of code, students were challenged to work their way through a self paced course where they have the opportunity to play the role of a computer scientist.  The program encourages problem solving and computational thinking.  Kade Coon is shown working with the program. Try it out by clicking on the button found in the right hand menu bar.

Toulmin’s Argument Model

     Stephen Toulmin was an English philosopher who identified the basic elements of a persuasive argument.  He believed that an argument should start with a claim.  A claim is a statement that you are asking another person to accept.  The second step to creating a good argument is to support the claim with evidence.  The evidence is made up of data,  hard facts, and the reasoning that is used to support the claim.   The third step is to use qualifiers.  These are words like "most", "usually", "always", or "sometimes".  They are used to indicate the limits of the claim.  The final step is my personal favorite because it requires the students to seek to understand the opposite point of view.  Once the other viewpoint is understood, students work on the final step, which is known as the rebuttal.  This is when you give reasons why you still think you are right and the other point of view is wrong. :)

     The sixth graders are working together to create interviews that share information they have researched over water.  The essential questions that were answered were:  What is water?  What is the water cycle?  Why is water important? What are some problems the world is facing with freshwater supplies?

     As you might guess, the last question is the one that is leading to the most controversy.  Students are learning the meaning of the words mitigate and compromise.

    Below are pictures of 6A working together on their interviews.   The interviews will be videoed using the iPads and uploaded into student google drive accounts.   

Groundwater Models

After testing different types of substances for their permeability, sixth graders made groundwater models to show how the permeability affects the movement of water underground.   The models were constructed using layers of clay soil, sand, and gravel.  A layer of carbon was added to topsoil to complete the model.   The carbon represented the decayed remains of plants and animals, known as humus.

            Once the models were complete, students tested how well the ground removes pollutants from water by pouring a solution of cocoa, pepper, and food coloring over the topsoil.   This solution represented pollution made up of different particle sizes.

            As the water soaked into the ground, students noticed how quickly each material absorbed the water and where the water flowed once it reached a saturation point.  Students also watched for the pollutants to see if they appeared in the water that was pumped from the bottom of the aquifer. 

            Students then injected food coloring below the topsoil between two impermeable layers of clay.  They found that the food coloring would travel downhill toward the water well through the more permeable layer of sand.

            In conclusion, students decided that the earth did a great job of filtering the water.  They also decided that pollutants injected into the interior of the earth could travel a long way from the injection site because of the differences in permeability of the earth’s substances.

A real life application of the experiment is seen in the outdoor classroom wetland area.  Run off is allowed to filter through the ground which is the earth’s way of keeping the water clean for future uses.