Week 6: Conservation of Mass and Energy

 In this week's assignment, I was challenged to find my "most powerful" websites, and I found several. Conservation of mass and energy is a big idea for most middle school students. So I decided to see what's out there. If one of my students wanted to gain a better understanding, what would they do? They would Google the topic.

The very first "hit" I got on the topic was from Wikipedia. This is a website I discourage with my students due to reliability issues. So I moved on. One great website I came across was http://www.neok12.com/Law-of-Conservation.htm. This site has wonderful short videos which are easy to understand. I viewed one on the law of conservation of energy using a bowling ball as part of a pendulum. The teacher gave a great demonstration for his students along with an explanation of what they were viewing.

Another great site I stumbled upon was http://www.learner.org/resources/series42.html. This site is great for both teachers and students. This is a video that shows physics in every day life such as: riding in a hot air balloon, listening to a symphony and even visiting a bicycle shop.

My classes contain a wide variety of learners. Some students are in my room just to be exposed to science. I found one website that I could use for my lower learners and also as an activity for early finishers. I came across an online game called "Reduce the Use". This was an online game which guides the user throughout a home with the task of finding ways to conserve energy.You can play the game at  http://www.reducetheuse.ca/.

For further enrichment, I found a great website called "Science Geek". This site had all sorts of activities in chemistry. There are games for every topic including the conservation of matter. One game I could see myself using in my own classroom was "Balancing Chemical Equations". Here, students can practice their skills at balancing chemical equations. This activity is a great way for students to actually see the conservation of matter.  The atoms add up.

Of all the sites I discovered, one did stand out and quickly became my favorite. Learningscience.org is a great website for middle school lessons on forces and motions. Each activity allows the user to manipulate variable and test outcomes. The lesson I found on conservation of energy allows students to manipulate a skateboarder's ramp. You can see an instant graph of the results. I liked the way it showed students how you could only get what you put in. In other words, the skateboarder will only return to a point slightly lower than his starting position. Students have three sections of the ramp they can manipulate to see how it effects the energy. The website is found at http://www.learningscience.org/psc2bmotionforces.htm.

The idea of the physics in music had my attention. I think it would be neat to bring in instruments of different varieties. I would set up a straw in a glass goblet. Then I would play each instrument and have students observe how much movement occurred with the straw. It may be a challenge to bring in the variety of instruments and play them successfully but I am up for it.