Welcome to the wonderful
world of middle school science!! We are kicking the year off with Chapter 1:
Introduction to Life Science. Throughout this chapter we will review many of
the science process skills including: Observing, Inferring, Predicting,
Classifying, and Graphing. Once we have reviewed these skills
students will apply the processes in a variety of labs. Next we will
review The Scientific Inquiry(Process), students will practice writing
hypotheses and drawing conclusions from data. This chapter will also
cover how science and technology work together to improve our lives.
Chapter One: Introduction
to Life Science
Section One - What is
Science?
Students will begin the
year by learning and practicing the process skills scientists use to learn
about the world around them.
Observing is the first skill students will experiment
with. Students will all participate in the lab "Are Two Ears Better Than
One?". One student will sit blindfolded in the middle of the room while 8
others stand around the room and bounce tennis balls. The blindfolded student
can only use their sense of hearing to help them determine where the noise is
coming from. After 16 trials the blindfolded student has to place an earplug in
one of their ears to further challenge their sense of hearing. The second lab
that students practice their skills of observation in is the "Reaction
Test Lab". Students will test their reaction time in grabbing a ruler
while doing three different tasks: concentrating on the ruler, reciting
multiplication facts, and only using peripheral vision. Students will use their
results to relate how being distracted while driving could create a problem.
Inferring, students will be shown a scene of a step by
step interaction of animal foot prints. Students will record observations and
inferences for what they believe occurred section by section. Students will
then use their skills of observation to infer what office materials could be
hidden in 6 mystery tins.
Predicting, students will practice their predicting skills
by trying to guess how many drops of water will fit on a penny, nickel, dime,
and quarter.
Graphing, students will learn about the differences
between bar graphs and line graphs and what Mrs. Nydle's expectations are for
creating and turning in any graph in science:-).
Section Two - Scientific
Inquiry
Students will learn what
scientific inquiry involves including the six step method that we will follow
for the 7th grade Science Fair. While learning the steps of the method students
will focus on a few key steps of writing a science report including: variables,
operational definitions, and writing hypotheses.
Hypotheses, 7th grade students will learn that a
hypothesis is a prediction on what they think will happen in an experiment.
They will also learn that hypotheses are written in an if/then/because form.
Variables, students will
practice identifying at least 4 different variables that could be manipulated
in a variety of different experiments. Students will then learn about three
specific types of variables used in scientific experiments: Manipulated(Independent),
Responding(Dependent), and Controlled variables. Students will then practice
picking out these variables in a number of experiments.
Operational Definitions,
students will learn what an operational definition is and why it is important
to be very specific when creating your definition so that other scientists can
repeat your experiment exactly.
Section 3 -
Understanding Technology
Students will be
introduced to how science and technology are different from each other as well
as how technology effects society. Students will also learn the major goal of
technology in society.
Section 4 - Lab Safety
As a class we will
actually begin the chapter with a review of laboratory symbols and their
meanings. Students will look at a number a different situations in a lab and
try to decide what is wrong or unsafe.
