Exploring Our Fluid Earth

I really liked how this activity allowed students to look at the interplay of 3 variables in one small, tight, manageable activity. My ELL student's very limited reading skills usually make textual density & information overload such an issue that the real impact of a variable often gets lost in the shuffle. The FDA panel on the backs of the cans made choosing 3 variables quick & easy (identical panel format is a HUGE help) while maintaining data reliability. Very accessible!!!!!

this was a great way to develop inquiry into difficult concepts

Good Activity!! I also broke it into smaller chunks.

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I am sure my students are going to enjoy this and the many other hands-on activities in the TSI chemistry module.

This was the first lab that I structured with groups of 6 and it worked out very well. All of the kids were really into the lab and focused. I broke it into 3 sessions: salinity, temperature and then both. For my 7th grade it worked well to do it this way and review concepts before each new 'block'.

My kids really enjoyed this lesson. I think it was in part due to the fact that they have a good basic understanding of density from 'Density Bags' and how to act as Scientists from 'Practices of Scientists'. I would absolutely do this lesson again.

I teach integrated math and science so I adapted the Density Bag activity to demonstrate how scientists use Algebra to create scientific models, collect data, and do research. It was pretty cool to see students "get it" - to make the connection the definition of the word "variable" and how it is used in both math and science. This lead to a great discussion of what "variables" are causing climate change, how the properties of the ocean varies in different regions (i.e. temperature/salinity) and how species adaptation might occur because of new variables.

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Here's the last one.

Aloha,
This was a great activity that challenged my students to get outside of their comfort zones and to think critically about spacial relationships. Lunar phases can be used as a great topic for physics and many connections can be made an my Career Technology Class. For the purpose of this lesson we just focused on the lunar phases and their connection to the Earth's tides.

Here is the reflection from our activity. Mahalo!
Also the Soda Can one too....

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Teaching Science as Inquiry (TSI) Lesson Plan
Module 1: Physical Aquatic Science

Name: Bryan Silver

Activity: Density Bags

Why did you choose to do this activity?
Density bags are a great way to illustrate the point of Salt water verses Fresh water and the sudelties of density. With colored bags the students can see sub float v. sinking and how temp even begins to influence these results.

I should have reversed my order on this series. I did it backwards. Ideally next time I will do Practices of Scientists then Kinesthetic Moon Model and lastly Density Bags.

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e.g. I am wondering how to...

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