Science Video Thread

Science Lesson

1. Standard 2: Students will understand that organisms depend on living and nonliving things within their environment.
• Objective 2
Describe the interactions between living and nonliving things in a small environment.
• Identify living and nonliving things in a small environment (e.g., terrarium, aquarium, flowerbed) composed of living and nonliving things.
For this activity, the students will look at pond water through the electron scanning microscope to identify living and nonliving organisms. They will be working in groups. To help them identity the living organisms, they can use the virtual pond dip website to gain more knowledge about the organisms. They will fill out a chart of their observations, which will include at least 5 living and 2 nonliving organisms.

2. We will be using a guided lesson plan to allow the students to discover living and nonliving things in pond water on their own. We will also be using inquiry-based learning so that students can discover the difference through observation instead of direct instruction. This fits well because it is easier to understand the difference between living and nonliving things through actual observation than an explanation from a teacher.

3. We will be using the virtual electron scanning microscope to observe pond water. The students will use the virtual pond dip (found at: http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/index.html?http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/ponddip/index.html) to help discover living and nonliving organisms. This is a good fit because it allows them to see the actual living and non-living organisms as well as learn about them through virtual interaction.

Link to Chart

http://casnov1.cas.muohio.edu/scienceforohio/living_nonliving/images/classifylivingnon.pdf

Sailin Across the Waters

Google Earth Assignment

Fourth Grade Science:
Standard 1: students will understand that water changes state as it moves through the water cycle.
Objective 1; Describe the relationship between heat energy, evaporation and condensation of water on Earth.
a. Identity the relative amount and kind of water found in various locations on Earth (e.g. oceans have most of the water, glaciers and snowfields contain most fresh water.)

I chose this topic because I thought it would be fun for students to get a visual understanding of the relative sizes of bodies of water and to really understand how much water there is in the world. This might hopefully lead to a discussion about why some places have very little water, why some don’t, and how much water is actually drinkable in the world.

I will be having students label bodies of water, measure the width of bodies of water, compare how many other bodies of water are in the area, and create paths across the ocean. I like these activities because they directly address what I am wanting the students to learn. First the students will label all the Great Lakes on a separate assignment to help them learn which lakes are which. Second I will have them measure the width of the Arctic Ocean. We can then discuss that the Arctic Ocean is the smallest ocean and talk about how it compares to the size of a river or lake. Thirdly, I will have the students look at the Nile River. They will look around and see how many other bodies of water are close by. This will allow us to then talk about how important the Nile River is to the people who live there. Lastly, I will have the students create paths across the Pacific Ocean from different destination to give them an idea of how large the ocean is and how many different peoples from different continents travel across it to get to different places.

I like using Google Earth because it helps students get a real and accurate picture of these bodies of water that a regular map could not convey. It also allows the students to interact by measuring, making paths, comparing, and such. Google Earth helps the students realize how real this stuff we are talking about is, which a flat map they colored could not convey to the same extent.

Google Earth

Location	Activity Description	Google Earth Content
1.Great Lakes	I will have the students label the Great Lakes on a separate assignment, and have them write a short paragraph about their differences and similarities in size and location. In their groups they will discuss these lakes and their possible impact on the people living nearby	Place Marker
2. Arctic Ocean	Students will measure the width of the Arctic Ocean and record it. They will then go to a web page that talks about the dimensions of the ocean and physical description.	ruler
3.Nile River	Students will notice how many other bodies of water are in the general area, and in the country. They will discuss in their groups how important this water is to those living nearby and how it affects the rest of the landscape
4. Pacific Ocean	Students will create paths from four different locations to a second location across the ocean. They will discuss in their groups how many people might use the ocean and in what ways they use it (travel, trade, etc.)	Path Feature