This term we offered students in grade 6 and 7 an Underwater ROV elective. In this elective students design, build and test an underwater Remotely Operated Vehicle, or ROV. ROVs are used for a variety of reasons, including marine biology research, military applications, underwater archeological exploration and more. Students used PVC pipe, wires, 12 volt… Continue reading Underwater ROV Elective
-by Erin Couillard, Lisa Nelson, Carolyn Armstrong and Carly DeBoice For our Aerodynamics and Flight unit this year, we decided to begin with students gaining an understanding of the properties of air, as outlined by the Alberta Program of Studies. To do this, students would be paired with a peer and assigned a property of… Continue reading Property of Air Demonstrations, Grade 6
-by Carolyn Armstrong, Grade 6 Math/Science*originally posted in February 2012 Objective: Students work as true scientists through rigorous scientific exploration and experimentation. The Project in a Nutshell: Test and compare the water absorbency of yellow (healthy) pine and blue (fungus-stained) pine wood. How it came to be: One our parents approached me about taking on… Continue reading The Blue Wood Project
Grades: 6-9 Subject: All As part of our Collaboration and Outreach Program, the Calgary Science School is creating and sharing podcasts and PDF handouts of inquiry-based lessons designed by our teachers. We encourage feedback, comments and dialogue on the materials we publish. This podcast contains one approach to assessing website credibility by introducing three criteria… Continue reading CSS Podcasts: Assessing Website Credibility
Greg Neil ~ Grade 6 Math/Science I signed up for the Environmental Planning Institute in order to have the opportunity to collaborate with teachers from other schools. After five years of teaching at the Calgary Science School, I craved the opportunity to see what was happening in other classrooms and how other teachers approached inquiry-based… Continue reading CSS/RVSD Collaborative Planning
John Cadman & Greg Neil~ Grade 6 Math/ Science Teachers Calgary Science School This is a design for an open ended wind tunnel. This means the fan pushes air into the tunnel instead of pulling it out the end. Assembled it is 4ft long, 2 feet wide, and 2 feet high. Our hope in building this… Continue reading Grade 6 Wind Tunnel: Air and Aerodynamics
Stakeholders in the Leave it to Beavers project met recently to reflect on fall visits and to plan ahead for spring and beyond.Rachelle Haddock from the Miistakis Institute summarized the fall program including the great news that a few ‘nuisance’ beaver were located and trapped to be introduced to the reservoir. http://www.rockies.ca/blog/?p=697 New Resident to Goodwin… Continue reading Leave it to Beavers Project Update
CSS Math & Science Inquiry Projects Database Our Math and Science Team has created a Google Doc to house a database of inquiry projects that they will use throughout the year. The goal of this database is to provide a place where teachers within the school and ultimately, teachers from outside the school, can see… Continue reading Math & Science Inquiry Projects
-by Carolyn Armstrong When we, my teaching partner Candice Shaw and I, began to plan our “Evidence and Investigation Unit” we thought it would be fun to do it around a crime scene. We used the GEM: “Mystery Festival” to quick-start our story. From there we took artistic license to create our own series of… Continue reading Grade 6 Science: Evidence and Investigation
-by Candice Shaw, Grade 6 Math/Science In the Grade 6 curricula, there are many opportunities for meaningful integration between subjects. The Sky Science unit and Large Number topics fit harmoniously together. With a focus on problem solving, students first went about solving a variety of astronomy themed problems, such as “How many times further is… Continue reading Big Numbers and Sky Science: Grade 6 Math/Science Integration
