How Does Your Ape Index Compare to Michael Phelps?

 

An ape index is a measure of the ratio of a person's arm span relative to their height. A typical ratio is 1.0   People with a ratio greater than 1.0 have a greater arm span than height.  A ratio less than one indicates a person who is taller than the distance between their outstretched arms.

While learning about the international system of measurements used by scientists, students found the ratio for everyone in the sixth grade class. The data was collected, (in centimeters of course), charted, and analyzed.  Student ratios fell in the range of .96 to 1.02. 

Michael Phelps, world-class swimmer and winner of 23 Olympic medals, has an index of 1.06.  His arm span is 12 cm. longer than his height. 

Nitrogen Cycle Animations

            The nitrogen cycle is the third ecological cycle the sixth graders have learned about this year.   They have completed a project in which they demonstrated the cycle in an animation. To make the project more "place based", students drew a picture of the tallgrass prairie which included wildflowers and forbs for their slide background. These prairie plants have bacteria in their roots that aid in nitrogen fixation.  The only other way that nitrogen can be converted into a usable form is through lightning. 

             After inserting their picture into powerpoint, they used the drawing  and animation tools to demonstrate the cycle. Nitrogen gas, N₂ is changed into a nitrate, NO_3, by the bacteria.  The plant is then able to utilize the nitrogen to grow and develop.  Animals receive nitrogen by eating the plants or other animals that have eaten the plants.  All living things must depend on this conversion to receive nitrogen even the though 78% of the atmosphere is made up of this gas. When the organisms die and return nitrates back to soil, it is converted to nitrogen gas by bacteria and released back into the atmosphere.

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Sixth Graders Stand and Deliver Illustrated Talks

Students presented illustrated talks on the Kansas or flyway bird they have researched this past month. This product represents the last step in the paraphrasing process that students have been practicing.  Students delivered their speeches without presenter notes, they were able to talk about their birds from memory over the things they have learned about it during this project. Most of the students included an uploaded jpeg of their drawing and sound files to enhance their presentations.  Each student was peer reviewed by all the members of his or her class according to the assessment rubric.  Videos can be accessed through Google classroom.

Paraphrasing Using Microsoft Word Tools

Sixth graders used the Cornell - "All About Birds" website to read information about the description, habitat, and special behaviors of birds that can be found in Kansas during the spring migration. They used the thesaurus from Microsoft Word to paraphrase the information.

The activity is coupled with a field investigation where students are collecting data on weather and comparing the results of temperature increases in air, soil, and water to the number of sightings of some of these birds in the outdoor classroom, as they make their way north during the spring migration.

The unique drawings added the A-Art into the STEM activity.

Water Quality Study

Sixth grade students have been working on a computer simulation program in science.  The program, ECOMUVE, has been developed at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and uses an immersive virtual environment to teach students about ecosystems and causal patterns.  The goal of the project is to help students develop a deeper understanding of ecosystems by using a 3-D virtual world that has a look and feel similar to a videogame.  The world recreates authentic ecological settings within which students explore and collect information.

Students used this program to identify organisms that might live in and around a pond.  The field guide gave hints on where organisms could be found.  Once found, students took a picture of the organisms and the picture was sent to the field guide and was used as evidence that the student was successful in finding the habitat of the organism.

During the second week of the project, students used the measurement tools to collect water quality data over a three, month period of time.  Toward the end of the third month, there was a large fish kill of the large mouth bass and the bluegill.  Students had to develop a theory on why the fish died and support the theory with data they had collected over amounts of dissolved oxygen, phosphates, nitrates, and microscopic organisms that were found in the water.  

Students then used Garage Band software to create a sound file explaining their theory, the results of their data collection, and a solution to the problem. 

Students were able to relate the simulation to a real life water quality problem that we have in Kansas. They learned ways to prevent the pollution and ways that the pollution can be filtered out of the water with grass filter strips. 

6th Grade Physical Science - The Particles of Matter

  

How can particles combine to produce a substance with different properties?   Sixth grade science students are using online simulations to discover the multiple answers to this question.  "Build an Atom" and "Build a Molecule" are two PHET simulations that allow students to manipulate protons, neutrons, and electrons to see how the mass and electrical charge of the elements change. They are using the NGSS crosscutting concepts of looking for patterns and finding cause and effect to observe the results of adding or removing a particle from the atom. It is taking a lot of concentration, but students are thinking like a proton and staying positive, or is that thinking like an electron ...

The Reasons for the Seasons

The essential questions that sixth graders are asking in Science this month are related to space science.  They are asking -  What is Earth's place in the universe?  What makes up our Solar System?  How does the motion of the Earth explain seasons and eclipses?

After reading their lessons and working with many models, students created the following explanations for why we have seasons in the temperate regions of the Earth.  The explanations were then turned into videos to demonstrate what they have learned and share it with their parents and friends.