Week 1

8/14-8/18

Do Now 8/14

What are you currently watching/rewatching/bingeing?

Agenda 8/14

• Do Now
• Finish Questions & Second Day of School Survey
• Experimental Terms - Controlled Experiment (25 min)
• Observations practice
• Hypothesis, Variables, Constants, Groups

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HW - (Digitally) Signed Syllabus & Safety Contract due Tomorrow

Questions - YOU in the classroom

• Think about the best teacher you’ve ever had. What made them great?
• As a student, what do you believe you are responsible for?
• What is something other students sometimes do that you don’t like?
• How do you feel about working with partners/groups?
• What is something a teacher should never do if they want to get along with you this year?

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Experimental Terms of a Controlled Experiment

• Control Group
• Experimental Group
• Independent Variable
• Dependent Variable
• Controlled Variables/Constants
• Hypothesis

Do Now 8/15

What is your favorite memory from middle school (or last year if you aren’t a freshman)?

Agenda 8/15

• Wrap up Suzy Q
• Termite Sensation! (20 min)
• Termite handling & safety
• Observations
• Questions
• Break (5 min)
• CER (20 min)
• Writing Instructions (10 min)
• Termite Experimental Design Formative Assessment - write initial claim & investigative plan to be performed next period (QI) (15 min)

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Termite Instructions

• Gently place the termites from the cup onto your sheet of white paper.
• Use the paintbrush to gently move the termites if necessary to keep them on the paper.
• Observe the termites and write your observations on the provided sheet.
• Gently brush the termites to the center of the paper.
• Using a black BIC crystal pen, draw a circle 4-5 inches in diameter around them. Also draw a trail (not through the circle) from one end of the paper to the other, alternating between zigzags and straight lines.
• Brush the termites to the circle, observe and record.
• Brush the termites to the trail, observe and record.
• When finished with observations, return the termites as gently as possible to the cups and return the cup to your instructor.

Brain Break (5 min)

This is your time to stretch, chat with a neighbor, or readjust (not use your phone).

What is CER?

• Your CLAIM answers the question (or questions).
• How do termites sense their environment?
• Your EVIDENCE is your data (in this case observations) that directly supports your claim.
• What observations did you notice that supports your claim?
• Your REASONING explains how your EVIDENCE connects to your CLAIM.
• You can (and should) use background scientific information to make this connection.

Warm-up 8/17

What are the independent and dependent variables in the experiment we did?

What are the control and experimental groups?

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What has been ONE positive from this week?

Agenda 8/17

• Warm-up (8 min)
• Writing Instructions (10 min)
• Termite Experimental Design Formative Assessment - write initial claim & investigative plan (15 min)
• Break (5 min)
• Execute Investigative Plan (15-20 min)
• Collect Class Data (20 min)
• One person from each group, enter your data on the class sheet on the instructor’s computer.
• Instructor Data Collection Sheet (make a copy)
• Complete Experimental Design Formative Assessment (35 min)

HW - None

Fun w/ Termites Video

What question are we trying to answer?

Why do termites follow a line created by a black BIC pen?

There are only 2 possible claims:

• Termites instinctively know to follow lines created by any writing utensil. They can see the line, and their behavior biology dictates that they follow it.
• Termites are following the odor of the writing utensil, not the trail itself. As a result, a termite will often “lose” the line and need to be brought back to it.

Your procedure needs to test the validity of both claims! Supporting one does not make the other incorrect!

Writing a procedure (Handout)

• Numbered, ordered steps.
• Each step begins with a command (action verb).
• Include enough detail for anyone to repeat experiment.
• Steps should not be too long.

Brain Break (5 min)