new E.A.S.Y PROJECT

E.A.S.Y.

Experience Active Science Yourself

This is a long term project to give you an opportunity to do science activities at home related to your interests.

All sections underlined, in bold, large font MUST be turned in.

Quarter 3 Options

Photograph and Identify Organisms (2-3 days)

1. Go to one of the following places and photograph organisms that you find there.

1. Oregon Coast tidepools--Cannon Beach at Haystack rock is a good choice. (10 organisms min.)
2. Tryon Creek to find fungus--mushrooms, shelf fungus etc. (5 organisms min.)
3. Any forest to look under rocks and rotting logs to find insects (slugs and snails are not insects).  (8-10 min.)

        2. Clearly photograph each organism you find.  Print the photos in color.  

3.  Identify the organism.  Write its common and scientific name.  You can use the following

     resources to help identify the things you find.  

1. Mushrooms http://americanmushrooms.com/gallery.htm
2. Tidepools: http://www.oregon.gov/OPRD/NATRES/RS_FAQtidepools.shtml#Back_to_Rocky_Shores_Main_Page
3. Insects:  http://bugguide.net/node/view/3/bgpage

        AMP Add a description of each organism, what it eats, where it lives etc.  

Design and build something 1-2 weeks

Follow the engineering process outlined on pgs. 83-89 to make something that performs a function.  (a brush to         comb your dog’s hair, a clamp to attach hat to, a ball to play a new                 game)—it could be out of wood, metal, legos, recycled materials.

        1)  Journal of the process of design, include the following:  

1. Identify needs
2. Research
3. Brainstorm
4. Sketch
5. Final draft drawing of your design (with measurements)
6. Photo of prototype
7. Troubleshoot
8. Paragraph explaining the final outcome

AMP option:  Use all recycled materials to construct the product.

        

Read a science biography 3-4 weeks

1) You can choose a biography of any scientist.  Read the biography.  You will see the list below.  

Radioactive Boyscout by Ken Silverstein

Guinea Pig Scientists by Dendy, Boring, and Mordan

Longitude by Dava Sobel

Galileo’s Daughter by Dava Sobel

Genius: a Photobiography of Albert Einstein by Delano, Marfe Ferguson

Leonardo Da Vinci by Krull, Catherine (and other books in the Giants of Science series by Krull: Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein, Marie Curie, and Charles Darwin)

The Wright Brothers: How They Invented the Airplane by Freedman, Russell

Something out of nothing : Marie Curie and radium by McClafferty, Carla Killough

Starry messenger : a book depicting the life of a famous scientist, mathematician, astronomer, philosopher, physicist, Galileo Galilei by Sis, Peter

Almost astronauts : 13 women who dared to dream by Stone, Tanya Lee

Charles and Emma : the Darwins' leap of faith by Heiligman, Deborah

A dangerous engine : Benjamin Franklin, from scientist to diplomat by Dash, Joan

Rachel Carson : a twentieth-century life by Levine, Ellen

 Inventing the future : a photobiography of Thomas Alva Edison by Delano, Marfe Ferguson

Any books not found on the list should be OK’ed by teacher before you begin reading.

2) Write a book report including:

1. A summary of the book

2. Description of important contribution this person made to science.

3. Explanation of what you liked and didn’t like about the book

4. Explain the importance of this person’s contributions to the world.  Do you think their discovery what important?  Why or why not?  

5. Use the LOJ standard format guidelines for spacing, font etc.

Grow some seeds.  2-3 weeks.

1. You need to get 10-20 seeds (radish, lettuce, broccoli, spinach, bean, or pea work well).
2. Set up two zip lock bags with a damp paper towel in each bag
3. Put the seeds on top of the towel and seal the bag.
4. Place each bag in a different environment (examples:   warm/cool, light/dark)
5. Write a daily journal describing what happened each day.
6. Take focused photos.
7. Write a final paragraph summary.
8. Turn in photos, journal and summary.

Astronomy 1 week

Leaf collection 4 weeks (AMP)

1.     Get a guidebook to native plants and go outside to an area with mostly native plants. Parks,    Natural areas, State or National Forests. State Parks are generally closed to collecting without permission. Feel free to ask at Tryon, they may say yes.

2.      Plants of the Pacific Northwest Coast -Pojar/Mackinnon

3.      A Forest in the City: Your guide to Tryon Creek State Park-Friends of Tryon Creek State Park

4.      Using the guidebook identify 10 different NATIVE plants. (Remember the Native plants we learned at the begining of the school year?)

5.      Using the pictures in the guidebook, carefully collect leaves and flowers (if they are blooming) from each plant. Try to pick examples that look like the pictures in the book.

6. After collecting each plant, write down the scientific name, date collected, and location collected and attache this to the plant so you don’t forget.

6.      Keep the leaves flat and bring them into school to put them in our plant press for 2-3 weeks. Or you can press them at home if you make a plant press.

7.      Press the plants for 1-2 weeks.

8.      When the plants are dry, glue them to white paper and label them with their Common name, Scientific name, location collected, date collected, and collector’s name (you).

9.      Scientific names have two parts... Genus and Species.

10.  Write a paragraph that explains how to press plants.

11.  Write a paragraph that explains how to identify plants

12.  Write a paragraph that talks about what was easy/difficult about this project.

        

Grow a crystal 4-5 weeks

Grow Sugar or Salt (Sodium Chloride) crystals at home. (Sugar crystals are rock candy:)

Materials you supply: (You may not need all the following.)

Directions for crystal growing (cookbook, Internet etc.)

Materials to grow crystals from. Salt or Sugar not those crystal garden kits

Adult supervision at a stove at home.

Pot, pan, stick or string to grow crystals on.

Before beginning you must speak to your science teacher. (safety issues).

What to turn in:

1. You will need to turn in a copy of the recipe you used to make your crystals   (make sure your recipe includes directions and amounts of materials).

2. You will need to keep a every other day log of what your crystals look like. 

3. You will need to draw or take focused pictures of your crystals every other day to show the growth. (14 pictures over a minimum of 4 weeks.)

4. Weekly measurments in centimeters of your crystal’s size recorded in your log. (Minimum 4 weekly entries).

5. A paragraph about what you learned about growing crystals over a minimum four week period. (Paragraphs have a beginning, middle and an end. They are 4-6 sentances long.)

6. If after 1 week you see no crystal growth. Save your log entries/pictures and start agin with a new recipe.