Beaker
BIG RIDGE
ELEMENTARY
SCIENCE LAB
OCTOBER 2011
s
Bs of tiny plants and animal live out their lives in this jar of pond water, some are microscopic; others visible.
Did you ever stop to think what lives in
Other animals, such as didinium, are
pond water? Most people don’t! More tiny
predators who eat paramecium. Didinium are
living animals live in a jar of water (like the
microscopic, so you can’t see them with your
one in the photo above) than the population
naked eye. They have a tiny spear on one
of humans on planet Earth! Most of the
end of their body. If they blindly spear a
animals are small. Some are only a single
paramecium, they squirt paralyzing chemicals
cell (unicellular), while others are
into the poor paramecium, then swallow it
multicellular.
alive and digest it!
Some of the animals are bacteria and
help things decompose. If you drank them
All of this and more can take place in
one drop of pond water. Amazing.
Science Lab News
What’s new in the lab
2
Improving your TCAP Scores 2
What’s up with the Lab Towels
2
you would get sick. Others, like the
paramecium, eat the bacteria and by doing
Have a good October in the lab!
so help clean the water.
Big Ridge Science Lab
a blue ribbon school of excellence
2011
The Big Ridge Science Lab was built in 1992 and has been in continuous use ever since. The
guiding philosophy is that all students need exposure to high level, hand-on science lessons, and
that this exposure to quality science will develop a lifelong interest in science. We believe that it
is beneficial for teachers in each grade level to teach students in lab in order to foster a school
wide environment which demonstrates through lab use that science is important. Our science lab
was cited as a major reason Big Ridge Elementary School received the Blue Ribbon School of
Excellence designation in a ceremony at the White House.
WHAT’S NEW IN
THE SCIENCE LAB
Look for ways to graph your
lab data with students
This year we have some
exciting new materials
for your students.
1. A bucket of brains
You hear right...real brains. They are
not yucky or smelly at all. Just very
pale and wrinkled. No, they are NOT
human, in case you are wondering.
Ask Mr. Boston if you want to use
them. Of course we have surgical
gloves for handling them if you want!
Improving those TCAP
Science and Math Scores
One of the easiest ways to improve your
rigor in the Science Lab is to record DATA.
Find as many ways to graph it as possible.
The State of Tennessee encourages
“notebooking”, which gives you an excellent
place to have students copy or glue in their
data.
I like to give the students a blank data
sheet to glue into the science notebook. It
has a place for the all important HYPOTHESIS
and CONCLUSION.
You and your students then have a
template in front of you which reminds
everyone of the purpose of the lab visit.
Later, when you and your students return
to class, you might want to do a quick on-line
graph of the data. One site that I like is
CREATEAGRAPH.COM This is a free site that
is very user friendly. Even fifth graders can
use it by themselves.
Show the children the important
interaction between Math and Science. Make
math and the recording of data a normal part
of your visits to the lab. Introduce rigor and
watch those scores improve.
What’s up with the towels in
Science Lab?
Sometimes science labs are very messy!
The next time you are in the science lab notice
that there are two plastic tubs in the lab: one
labeled clean towels and the other dirty
towels.
When you finish with the towels look to
see if they are clean or dirty. Put really nasty,
dirty towels in the dirty towel box. I let
students take them home and wash them for
extra credit.
Students are able to clean the lab tables,
and we hope to foster in them a sense of
pride and ownership in our wonderful lab.
Ask students to pick up trash, push the
benches in, and in general, treat it with
respect.
2. Heating pads for germinating seeds
Seeds like to be warm, and so do
germinating plants first starting to
grow. The Lab now has flat heating
pads to put under the trays and pots to
get the soil temperature up into the
70’s F. This will make a big difference
on seed germination viability.
3. Newton spring scales
How much force exactly does it take to
drag a book or tennis show across a
science lab table. A spring scale will
tell you...in Newtons of Force. It’s
named after Sir Isaac Newton.
Weird Science Lab Fact
What do you think is the most
embarrassing thing that ever
happened to a teacher in the Science
Lab?
It probably was the time that a
teacher, who will remain anonymous,
was washing beakers and forgot to
turn the water off in the sink.
The next day the supply closet, the art
room, and the classroom downstairs
were all flooded.