Design Your Own Experiment: Thermal Energy

In this project each student will design & carry out an experiment with following goal in mind:

Create an experiment that predicts and describes changes in particle motion, temperature or state of a substance when thermal energy is added or removed.

Helpful project guides and resources:

• Experiment Idea and Checkpoints Spreadsheet
• Materials List (closed for editing) - Add anything you can not get on your own 
• Experiment Report Form (For reference - your own copy will be shared on Google Classroom)
• Project Rubric (Use for personal feedback and to give partner feedback)
• Example Reports: 
• Cooper - Heated Paper Clips and Magnetism
• Min Soo - The Amount of Thermal Energy and Sugar Dissolved
• Sofia - Freezing Wind Screen Cleaner
• Example Project Videos:
• Cato - When Fire Attracts Water
• Katya - Adding Heat to Food

Hour of Code - Why not give coding a shot?!

Get started at Khan Academy Hour of Code Page!

Algodoo 2D Physics Sandbox

Good news students!  Algodoo is now a free download if you visit this website!

Feel free to send me anything cool you create or so we can share it with the class.  Have fun with Physics! 

MatterPedia - Our Encyclopedia of Matter

MatterPedia - Our Encyclopedia of Matter

Video Explanation of Project

Grade 6 will be creating our own unique MatterPedia.  The goal of this activity will be to

• display examples of different types of matter visually
• show an understanding of properties of matter
• discuss & practice the topic of citing sources of our research

Students will be working with our wonderful librarian Sarah Ducharme to learn more about citing sources of research.  They will also be providing each other with digital feedback about the slides based on the project expectations.

All project expectations and project examples can be found at the start of the MatterPedia.

Sparking Change at AISB - Student Solutions

Below you will find the products of the last three weeks of student work.

In this project students:

• assessed our school energy needs
• defined their individual problems
• chose a solution from multiple ideas
• presented prototypes of their ideas to classmates to get feedback
• revised and presented their ideas to an audience of leaders and parents of the school

All projects showed creativity, focus, and effort.  Survey data and student votes were used to set apart a few projects.  Look for projects labeled:

Adult Pick - Based on parent and school leader feedback in the areas of focus, research, practicality
Class Pick - Based on student voting to select projects to send to the school director

Electricity Systems

Adult’s PickEnergy Saving with Projectors/Computers

How can we use our desk computers, interactive whiteboards and laptops in a more energy saving way?

Security Sensor/Lights around School

How can we keep the lights off at night without losing the security and safety element they provide?

Corridor Light Sensors

How can we use our lighting systems more efficiently in school?

Class PickEnergy Saving Light Bulbs

How much time does it take to make a profit out of the energy saving light bulbs?

Panic Switch Lighting vs 24/7 Light

How can we save energy by eliminating the need to have safety lights on 24/7?

Personal Identifier

How can we use a personal identification system to save electricity at our school?

Food Waste

Class Pick Methane Collection/Compost Creation (Proposal) [Presentation]

How can we recycle wasted food in our school to save money and energy?

Class PickColor Coded Portion Plates System/ID Cards [Presentation]

How can we decrease the amount of food wasted in the cafeteria?

Water Systems

Building B Rainwater Collection For Sprinklers (No pumps required)

How can we save the most energy by collecting rainwater in Building B?

Pelton Turbine Electricity Generation from Waste Water

How can we efficiently save energy for our school by using water turbines?

Adult PickRain Collection for Sports Sprinkler Systems

How can we collect and use rainwater to water our sports fields?

Adult PickSensor Tap vs. Timed Tap

How do we save the water wasted in our school bathroom sinks?

Wind and Solar Alternatives

Wind Turbine Proposal

How effective and efficient are wind turbines at AISB?

Class Pick Adult PickSolar Pool Heating (6.4)

How can we warm our pool without the use of electricity?

Solar Pool Heating (6.3)

How can we save energy by alternative ways of heating our pool?

Solar Panel to Power Library

How can we erase the environmental impact of the energy usage of our HS/MS library?

Sparking Change at AISB - Presentation Feedback

Project Feedback Survey - Please take a moment and answer our student created feedback survey. All responses are anonymous. Please find the information for the class & groups on the right side of the white board.

Please use link above to access the survey

Screencasting Chrome App: Easily Share Your Screen with Snagit

Ever want to share something you're doing on your computer?  You've seen videos like this and know they can be effective ways to learn and share.  You may even have thought about making one, but figured the time that it takes to produce something like this might not be worth it in the end.

Quick videos explaining a website or Google Doc can be an effective way communicate ideas to friends, with a class of students or to colleagues.

Screencasting has been around for a while now, but a new experimental option in the Chrome Snagit app makes sharing ideas easier--and you can try now for free.*  The only thing you need is a Chrome Browser.

The initial setup takes a few steps.  Once you've set things up, sharing anything you do on your computer is relatively quick and easy.  Your captures are ready to share to Google Drive or YouTube as soon as you finish your recording.

If you're ready to check it out, here are some steps to get you started:

From Chrome, download BOTH Snag It App AND Extension in Chrome App Store

Once installed find settings on the top right corner of the Chrome App

Tick box to Enable experimental features

Go back to the library and you will now find a "New Screen Recording"option to start your screencast

The first time you use this feature, you will have to enable screen capture.  The app will automatically explain a list of steps or you can do it yourself by typing chrome://flags in the address bar.

Now you're ready to record and share!  Sharing options appear after your video processes.

*Traditionally Snagit has come with cost, at least for now TechSmith doesn't mention cost for this in-Chrome feature.  If you are looking for a tool that allows for capturing outside of the browser and is free use (with limits) there are a number of good tools out there.  I've found Jing to be a good one.

Chemical Reaction Project Ideas

Some Reaction Ideas:
Coloring Hair
Thermite Reaction
Burning Solids (Wood, Paper, Coal, etc.)
Burning Hydrocarbons (Methane, propane, etc.)
Ice Pack
C4 Explosion
Gun Powder Explosion
Batteries (Nickel Cadmium)
Rechargeable Batteries
Tarnishing Silver
Making Kimchi
Phosphorus and Oxygen
Bug Spray Killing Bugs
Stalactite/mite Forming Underground
Browning Fruit

Helpful Websites:
Wolfram Alpha - Computational Search Engine
Wikipedia - Simple English Version - In easy to understand language
EasyBib - Citation Tool
BibMe - Citation Tool

Experiment Design: Evaluation

You just designed an experiment. Now, after testing that design, it's time to reflect on your decisions and recommend ways that your experiment could be improved.

Even the most professional, controlled experiments will still have room to grow.

The scientists at CERN in Switzerland work tirelessly to improve their giant experiment. With each adjustment they hope to collect even more precise data to help us understand the origins of our universe. This is an ongoing process that requires effective daily reflection, evaluation and communication between scientists.

In your evaluation you will reflect on your experiment and communicate the ideas to your audience.  

Scientists working on the LHC at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland

The goals of your evaluation includes:

1. Explain the materials and/or procedure that was/were effective ways to collect data.
2. Explain improvements in materials used and/or procedure the procedure you chose. This is also a good time to explain human error in data collection and suggest ways this human error could be avoided if you did the experiment again.
3. Suggest extensions or new experiments that could be done to explore the same testable question.

***Try to think of more than one improvement for your experiment. The more improvements you suggest, the deeper thinking you are showing about your experiment. 

Check out an example of an evaluation from a lab report of Emma

Experiment Design: Conclusion

You've collected data and observations and reported them to your audience.  Now it's time to explain your thoughts and ideas about the data.

Think of yourself as the judge of a court trail: the evidence has been presented, witnesses questioned, and facts presented - now it is time for you as a judge to analyze the data and make a decision about what happened and why it happened.  

The scales of justice and gavel are used as symbols in a courtroom. The scale of justice represents the idea that decisions will be made by weighing the evidence in a fair manner. The gavel is used as symbol of the authority to make decisions.

The following goals of a conclusion include:

1. Remind your audience of the purpose of the experiment: Look at your testable question and hypothesis.  These contain the main variables and your reason for your prediction.  Summarize this main idea at the start of your conclusion.  Ex: The purpose of this experiment was to see if the amount of sunlight we give a bean plant affects its speed of growth.  
2. Share your main conclusion with a "concluding statement": Explain what you've learned from your data and relate it to your hypothesis.  Write this as the "main idea" of your conclusion paragraph.  Ex: The data supports my hypothesis that the more water we give a plant the faster it will grow.  or Ex: The data does not strongly support my hypothesis that water boils faster when it has salt in it.  or Ex; My data partially supports my hypothesis that the the type of liquid affects the time it takes for a substance to melt.
3. Supporting your main idea: Now it's time to support your concluding statement.  These next sentences should include information from your experiment as well as the science knowledge.  Look at your "because" statement in your hypothesis.  Can you add to this idea or explain the science behind your experiment now using the data you collected or further research?  What are the main things you observed or the most relevant data you collected that supports your concluding statement.

Things to remember: 

• It's not about you: Don't explain if you or your hypothesis were right or wrong, instead explain how the "data supports" or "data does not support" the hypothesis. 
• Focus is more important than length: A good summary will be focused on the main idea and include only the most important information related to the main idea.  
• Explain the very small: In this unit we are learning about how unseen particles (molecules and atoms) can cause physical changes in things we can see.  Try to apply what you have learned about, thermal energy, state change and particle movement in your conclusion. Ex: In the warm water the particles are moving faster. This faster movement causes the color to spread faster as the energy of the particles moves the colored dye around the beaker. 

Chem Experiments: Dry Ice Bubble

Check out this dry ice bubble made by Niekz21 and the 6.2 science group:



Logged in AISBers can see more

Chem Experiments: Writing about an experiment

After doing an experiment a report shows your thinking about the experience.  A good report will show your thinking before, during and after the experiment.

The audience is more than your teacher.  Think of this report as a formal document that reports to the scientific community.  The best writers find a way to report on the facts in a clear, organized way.  These writers are good at reflecting and suggesting new ways to do this experiment in the future.

The following documents are meant to help you to organize and clarify your thinking.

Project Progress Spreadsheet - Keep track of your progress here (sign in as member of AISB to access)

Lab report form - Organized into sections with guidelines for each

Report feedback rubric - Feedback on how to you are meeting reporting standards

Example of a finished lab report - Thank you Emma K.
Example student lab report in progress - Thanks Kyungchan M.!
Example lab report - Example using experiment on temperature and molecule movement

Water Cycle Presentations

Check out what other groups said about the water cycle---including this one from 6.4, and these ones from 6.2 group 1 and group 2.  Be sure you are logged in to your AISB Gmail to view.

Water Cycle

Create a model, diagram, or experiment that shows an understanding of your unit vocabulary. Your final product must also show an understanding of the following unit goals.

Show the different ways water cycles through the land, ocean and atmosphere. (Unit goal 3) 

Explain the forces that drive the movement of water throughout the earth. (Unit goal 4)

Feel free to use any resources you can find. A list of student-selected resources can be found in the unit goals & resources page.

Logger Lite

We use the application Logger Lite to graph the temperature changes in our labs this unit.

Please download this software onto your Mac or PC.

Mac Download
PC Download