Erica Tillotson - Elementary Science Methods Blog

  The big question addressed in lab, and a description of what you did. The question that was addressed in lab was, how big is the solar system? We physically built a scale model of the solar system that included the sun, the earth, and the four inner planets. We started by figuring out our scale, which we had used 375 mm for our scale. We started by creating the sun, and then going off of the math website created our earth and planets out of play do. Using the measuring tape we spaced them out to scale as well. This showed us how big the sun truly was compared to every other planet in our solar system. We also watched a video comparing all the planet sizes to see how truly large our solar system is, and how big the sun is.  A description of what you learned in Thursday's lecture. One thing that I learned in lecture was that some scientists believe that the moon could have possibly been formed somewhere else. However once it was formed near another planet it got pulled by Eart...

What did you do in lab today? What was the big question? How do the phases of the moon occur?  The earth moves around the sun, and the sun is shining light differently on the earth, therefore the moon is being shown differently according to the position of the earth in relation to the sun.  What causes the seasons?  The earth gets closer and further away from the sun, so it is getting hotter and colder as it moves further and closer.  What causes a lunar eclipse?  When the sun and the moon are in the same position in relation to looking at it from the earth.  The big question that was addressed in lab today was where are the moon, sun, and earth in relation to one another. We also talked about the position of the sun. Another thing that we had talked about and addressed in lab was about the different moon phases. I learned that the earth is in the middle of the solar system.     What did you learn in Thursday’s discussion? In Thursday’s lectu...

The big question addressed in lab, and a description of what you did. Why do we need to push a child to keep them going on a swing? The way that we tested this theory was by dropping an egg one meter and testing to see if it broke or not. The way my group tested this was by creating a surface made up of sand, woodchips, hay and saran wrap to design a surface that would be safe for an egg to land on without breaking. The first time we dropped it it broke so we readjusted our bowl by removing sand and adding saran wrap, which then the second test, it did not crack. This passed for one and two meter tests. 

The big question addressed in lab, and a description of what you did. The big question of what was addressed in lab was what affects how long it takes a swing to go back and forth? The way that we tested this was by testing if the weight of the rider affects the swing. We tested this by using two different washers of different weight, and seeing how many times they swung back and forth during a ten second period. After testing we came to the conclusion that weight does not affect how long it takes to go back and forth.  A description of what you learned in Thursday's lecture. In lecture we learned about Newton's second law, which was F=ma, and larger masses are harder to accelerate. We also went over the results of all the different tests that different groups ran in class for testing swings. I also learned that energy manifests in many different ways and can be transferred from one system to another.  Answer questions about the weekly textbook reading: What did you learn? I l...

  The big question addressed in lab, and a description of what you did. The big question that we addressed in lab was what affects a rider's speed down the slide. We came up with a list of different factors that affect the speed down a slide. After coming up with a list, in our groups, we tested one of these factors. My group decided to test how the slope of the slide impacts the speed of a rider. We rolled the car down the stick and found the average speed of five different slope points.  A description of what you learned in Thursday's lecture. Velocity is different from speed, it describes how fast and in what direction different to speed. We can represent forces as arrows (vectors). Absent air drag, all falling objects accelerate at the same rate. Gravity pulls on you more the more mass you have. We also learned about forces and how these impact riders down a slide, in which weight didn’t actually have much of an impact when tested in lab.  Answer questions about the w...