Monday 10/1/12

I'm making the transition to my itsLearning page.  Here is a link:

Mr. Cole - 7th Science

If the course asks you for a password or code, it's "science"  It shouldn't, though.  I believe I was successful in adding all of you to the course.

You'll need to go to the itsLearning page to see what we did in class today.

Thursday 09/27/12

Hi everybody. It was too rainy to have a lab outside, so we stayed indoors. We reviewed hypotheses from Wednesday's homework and we completed the first half of the M&M Candy Lab. You'll complete the lab (graph and conclusion questions) tomorrow after you finish your quiz. Here is your lab handout. Remember to study tonight! Good luck on the quiz tomorrow!

Wednesday 09/26/12

Tomorrow, as long as it is not raining, we will be going outside to collect data for a lab.  If you think you might get cold out on the track, stop by your locker and grab your jacket on the way to science class.

We will be having a quiz on Friday.  Topics will include: science/technology, metric measurement, graphing interpretation and hypotheses.

Today we started with a warm-up practicing metric measurement.  Here is a copy of the warm-up:



Then we continued with the notes packet from yesterday (09/25/12). We finished with a discussion on how to generate hypotheses from scientific questions. We did the first homework question together:

1. QUESTION: How does the amount of caffeine affected the sleep time of a 7th grader?

    HYPOTHESIS: If a 7th grader drinks caffeine, then he/she will not get a lot of sleep.

We also did #6 together.

6. QUESTION:  How does room temperature affect class participation?

    HYPOTHESIS:  If Mr. Cole's classroom is warm, then class participation will decrease.

The important thing to remember is that hypotheses should be in the form of an "If, then" statement.  Here is the homework worksheet:

Finally, for those students who were missing the second Observation/Inference worksheet, here it is again:

Tuesday 09/25/12

Today I announced our second quiz of the year - Nature of Science Quiz #2.  Topics on this quiz will include:

• science/technology
• metric system
• interpreting (reading) graphs
• hypotheses

Our warm-up today involved answering questions from a circle graph.  Here is the warm-up activity:

After the warm-up, I collected your Ruler Drop lab handouts, if I hadn't already collected them. Finally, we took some notes on the 6 skills that all scientists use and the CONPTT characteristics of science (The Nature of Science). We also discussed questions that science CAN and CANNOT answer. Here is a copy of the notes handout that you filled in during our discussion: And here is a copy of the notes presentation:

Monday 09/24/12

Today we had a fun warm-up - brain teaser stories.  They weren't just silly stories, though.  They were intended to make you think "outside the box," as you tried to think of alternative possibilities, and not just the obvious answers. Scientists must remain open to all possibilities, not just what they initially think the answer will be.  Here are the stories (and answers) so you can astound your friends and family.



Then we briefly discussed good graphing techniques. The homework for today was to complete the Ruler Drop lab from Friday. You should complete the graphing section and the conclusion questions.

Sunday 09/23/12

Hi everybody. Sorry I haven't posted in a couple of days, I had to go to the Washington D.C. area for a wedding. I've known the bride and groom since we were all in the 6th grade together, a year younger than you guys and gals are now! Can you imagine yourself, 20 years from now, giving a speech about your best friend on his/her wedding day? Pretty crazy, huh?

Anyway, I'm starting to transition from this website to Reynoldsburg's itsLearning website format. A few of you have started signing up for my course, which is great! If you haven't signed up yet, you can find my course website at

https://reynoldsburg.itslearning.com/main.aspx?CourseID=456

I've uploaded resources that we will be using on Monday, and I'll be adding more to the site tomorrow. I'm still learning how the itsLearning system works, so please bear with me as I get used to it.

Wednesday 09/19/12

Today we practiced using the metric system of measurement. This is the system of measurement used by scientists all over the world. It is essential that they use one system so that they can compare results or share data amongst themselves, even if they live in widely separated countries and speak different languages. I showed a BrainPop video in class to introduce the metric system, and I explained how you can covert measurements from one unit to another (gram to kilogram, for example). Here is a PowerPoint slideshow that covers the same material I discussed in class: And here is the handout we used in class. We worked through most of the front together, and I asked you to complete the rest for homework.