Family Science Engagement
The CLPS Science department is invested in families and wants to provide a way for you to engage weekly with your secondary student through science. Each course will provide weekly questions, activities, or discussion topics designed for dinner conversations, while driving, or any other quality time with your student.
These topics are intended for conversation and discussion between you and your student; no answer keys will be given. However, as these topics have been covered in class and through satellite work, your student should be able to provide a comprehensive response. Based on the level of detail your student is able to provide, you can ascertain their level of mastery over the concept. For example, if your student only gives you a one-word answer or a single sentence, they may need to review the concept. We look forward to hearing how these discussions enrich your quality family time.
These topics are intended for conversation and discussion between you and your student; no answer keys will be given. However, as these topics have been covered in class and through satellite work, your student should be able to provide a comprehensive response. Based on the level of detail your student is able to provide, you can ascertain their level of mastery over the concept. For example, if your student only gives you a one-word answer or a single sentence, they may need to review the concept. We look forward to hearing how these discussions enrich your quality family time.
Earth Science |
Physical Science |
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Week 1: Give 2 real-world examples of how matter and energy moves through Earth's spheres.
Week 2: Find evidence of both chemical and physical/mechanical weathering outside your home, as you drive, etc. Have you visited or seen any natural landforms that show weathering? What happened to form what you see? Week 3: Find evidence of both erosion and deposition outside your home, as you drive, etc. Have you visited or seen any natural landforms that show erosion and deposition? What happened to form what you see? Week 4: Describe the optimal location and conditions for the most fertile soil. Do you think the soil around your home is well-developed/fertile soil? Why or why not? Biology IWeek 1: Pick one of the MythBusters videos from the links included here to watch the scientific method put into practice. Then see if you can name the dependent and independent variables at the end. Name 3 things that made their experiment a good one as discussed in class this week. MythBusters: Is Spider Silk is Stronger than Steel? Myth Busters: The Impossible Jenga Move MythBusters: Are Elephants Afraid of Mice? Week 2: Discuss 3 places / situations in the real world that you have to convert units (from standard system to metric or vice versa). The United States and only a few other countries use the standard system of measurement. This naturally results in the need to convert units of measurement in real life situations. After discussing this answer the following: 1 Cup = __?__ oz, 1 gal = __?__ oz, 5 mL = _?__ tsp. Week 3: List several living and nonliving things you see daily around your home and community and how they interact and affect each other. Then discuss the attributes of living things and create a list of minimum characteristics a thing needs to possess to be considered alive. Then, describe the ecosystem around your home and community. Week 4: Discuss what foods we eat on a regular basis contain one or more of the 4 macromolecules needed for life processes. The four macromolecules being Lipids, Carbohydrates, Proteins, Nucleic Acids. Then discuss with your student what atoms make up each of these macromolecules. Week 5: Discuss sources of CO2 in our environment. List at least 3 sources of CO2 that contribute to our atmospheric CO2 plants are taking in to use for Photosynthesis. Next, discuss whether you think plants would be a possible solution to reducing the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere that are contributing to the greenhouse gas effect? Week 6: Try the tennis ball cellular respiration lab experiment with a family member (or two). Have them attempt to squeez the tennis ball as many times as possible for 10 seconds each round for 3 rounds. Note their results and compare to yours from our class lab. If you don't have a tennis ball, you could try this experiment with stairs or doing wall sits. Students should explain to parents the reason behind the results of the experiment and make a connection to cellular respiration in our cells and how this process affects our muscle movement. Physics |
Week 1: Ask your student to find the density of an irregularly shaped object.
Week 2: Describe the physical and chemical properties of a few different objects and substances around your home. Week 3: What are some physical and chemical changes that occurred during the preparation of a meal this week? Week 4: Identify several examples of pure substances and mixtures in your home. Is the pure substance an element or a compound? For mixtures, is the substance homogeneous or heterogeneous? Is it a solution, suspension, or colloid? ChemistryWeek 1: Ask for an example of applied science versus pure science. Discuss the differences and how you can distinguish between the two.
Week 2: Ask for why significant figures are important and for some of the rules for determining significant figures. How many signifiant figures are in: 7.430. (4) - 0.0023 (2) - 1.002 (4) Week 3: Give examples of intensive and extensive properties of items you find in your home, car or at the kitchen table while you eat dinner. Week 4: Ask your student about any lab equipment that was new to them this last week. Week 5: Ask student about words used for describing physical and chemical changes. Week 6: Ask your students about the different nuclear models throughout history. Week 7: Ask your student about electrons and their duality as particles and waves. Week 8: Ask your student how electrons are arranged in atom. Week 9: Ask your student how they can distinguish between the Aufbau principle, Paulie's Exclusion Principle and Hund's Rule. Dual Credit Biology IIWeek 1: Discuss what makes a good experiment and begin to talk through a possible experiment including independent variable, dependent variable and all controls.
Week 2: Ask about how proteins are assembled, what the building blocks are and how the structure effects a protein. Week 3: Discuss how cell membrane fluidity would be affected by temperature and how that affect the cell membranes of animals living in the arctic versus the Sahara. Week 4: Ask your student how they are studying for the first test this week. Remind them to study quizzes, lecture notes and reading notes they filled out. Week 5: Ask your student to explain the importance of oxygen to living things- what specific reason do we breath in oxygen? Week 6: As your student the difference between binary fission and asexual reproduction through mitosis. Week 7: What are the major differences between mitosis and meiosis? Week 8: What are some inheritable traits you can see in your family? Week 9: Ask your student about the steps in Transcription and Translation Ask your student what they are doing to study for the upcoming midterm exam. |
Laboratory Reports
Learning to write quality laboratory reports is a vital skill, but can also be intimidating. The Science Department is here to help through Parent Care Sessions, sample laboratory reports and rubrics. Your student can also receive help through the Writing Lab.
7th and 8th Grade |
Mrs. WallaceDr. MartinBelow is a sample lab report, student exemplar and the rubric I use for grading.
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