Summer Science: Cartesian Divers

One favorite idea I've used at countless science camps and outreach events is Cartesian Divers. (This link is a good source for pipets and nuts for ballast.). A packet of ketchup from a fast food restaurant works, too!  Use cold water and fill a 2-liter bottle to the top.  If you are using pipets and a nut, have a basin of cold water available.  Test the diver in the basin or pail.  If your diver bobs under water as you submerge it, it should work in the bottle.  A 20 oz. soda bottle will work, too and is easier for little hands to squeeze the bottle.

Summer Science Fun: Bowling for Density

For a number of years, I hosted summer science camps, both at our church and at private schools where I taught.  One terrific theme is water, perfect for home-school.  Let's start with density, specifically, The Bowling Ball Experiment.  Will a bowling ball float?  It depends.  Take a large pail or plastic trash can and fill it half-full with water.  Add a big bowl of ice.  The density of ice water is close to 1 g/mL.  A ten pound bowling ball will float and a sixteen pound ball will sink.  A twelve pound bowling ball has a density of approximately 1g/ml and will bob in the ice water bath.  I do this as more of a demonstration with younger kids and walk older kids through the calculations before we test the bowling balls.  Incidently, I bought mine at yard sales.

Summer Science Projects

In our house, Paul, who is six, is reading everyday and logging his time online for the summer reading program through the library.  Today, he went outside to explore around the lake out back.  My husband, Rob, and Paul selected plants for our garden.  We play board games, like Monopoly or Trouble, too.  We have Paul do at least 30 minutes a day of school work (reading, writing, counting change, painting, etc.) to stay sharp.  There are other project ideas to try.  If you have a stream nearby, all you need are ice cube trays to assess the water quality with benthic macroinvertebrates.  Cacapon Institute has instructions and a virtual stream assessment.  Cornell University has loads of ideas for young ornithologists or birders.  Start with a bird life list.  Home Science Tools has summer project ideas to last all year!  Steve Spangler's site has cool science gear.  Last up is PBS with ideas like silly putty and lava lamps.  As home-schoolers know, education comes in many forms.  Let's have fun this summer with some projects!

Portfolio Evaluation

I'm in the throes of reviewing several portfolios for a number of home-school families.  What comprises a portfolio?  Each one is as different as each family.  One family may compile loose-leaf notebooks for each child containing work samples, photos from field trips, book logs, and notes from lessons.  I teach at a Co-op and take photos of the children and their projects.  These are chronicled in my blog (mrsstevenschemistryclasses.blogspot.com).  I encourage families to save electronic records, screenshots, and photos online as part of the portfolio.  You can take a photo or scan work samples to save digitally.  My advise is to have your child get in the habit of photographing or scanning meaningful work.  Your child can also video himself giving a book report.  Save it on YouTube and link it to your blog.  Start your own blog to document as a portfolio.  I typically interview families, look at their work samples, and evaluate the curriculum or syllabi.  Once I have an idea about the family and their curriculum, I write an endorsement letter for the school board to submit with their portfolio.  Here are some portfolios samples.


Dolly Madison
Art example
Book List
McGuffy work

These examples were submitted as part of two families' portfolios.  In one case, the daughter selected and sent her submission.  Your child could, too!

Are there alternatives to dissections?

What about dissections.  I feel strongly kids should dissect preserved specimens, not road kill or pets.  But, some kids will NOT dissect under any circumstances to the extent they won't be party to a class that does dissections, even if they are exempt.  In other cases, families may not be able to afford the specimens or justify the expense for one child.  So what are the alternatives? If the issue is your daughter is a strict vegan, this synthetic shark lab from Smithsonian can be reused!  I was pricing preserved shark specimens and saw this one on Amazon.  The church's insurance policy prohibits any experiments on site.  (We dissect in my garage at home.)  I wanted to see the quality of this synthetic shark and the Bio class could test it and then set it up again for the little kids in the afternoon.  In fact,  the Bio kids are participating in an alternative assessment as they guide the little kids through the dissection. Slick, right?  Yes, Virtual dissections  abound.  Use those sponsored by textbook publishers or located at science sites such as Biology Corner.  How was the shark?  The girls carefully followed direction to create the shark specimen.  After 15 minutes it was ready.  The dissection packet enclosed had terrific details about shark anatomy.  The Smithsonian Shark Lab (Ebay has one, too.) isn't cheap; it is reusable and basically a toy, which can be dissected anywhere.  The Smithsonian also has a frog dissection kit.  If your facility limits experiments the frog and shark kits, with owl pellet dissections, supplemented with virtual dissections would provide a decent alternative to preserved specimens, especially for teens strongly opposed.  These kits are nice for elementary aged kids, too, who may not be ready for the real deal.

Vocabulary Mobiles

Okay, we're doing a project from the Journal, a mobile. This is a project in Apologia's Young Explorers Human Anatomy program. The kids cuts out the terms, matched the pictures, sorted systems, glued them to card stock and created mobiles.  We started last week and spent most of the class finishing.  This was a good exercise; the kids used their textbooks to identify and match the images.  We sorted the related terms, too.  H-on is the way to go!  I am confident they'll have a much better idea of the parts of a neuron now. Here is Nathan's mobile nearly completed and Nora's mobile finished!

A mobile like this is a nice change from notes, vocabulary sentences, and crosswords.  The kids can write terms, draw evocative images on the back and create mobiles, too.  It's just a change in pace from lapbooks.  The mobiles took about two hours to finish because the kids had to cut everything out, match, glue, punch holes, and assemble.  They're processing as they go.  Believe me, it's worth the investment in time.

Outreach Event

Yeah!  Today is an outreach event about blood.  The Anatomy classed prepped another outreach event for the Head Start class.  The kids made the stethoscopes with funnels on p. 147 and let the kids listen to their heart beats.  Then the little ones listened with real stethoscopes, watched blood pressure demos, colored hearts, played with the microscope that attached to a cell phone, looked at a blood smear under a conventional microscope, and made fake blood (plastic chips for platelets, ping pong balls for white blood cells, and red water beads for red blood cells).  We worked in stations.  Fun!  I love these events.  Everyone benefits!  Consider hosting a similar program with your Co-op.  You'll need a space with tables.  I like to pull all of the materials, inventory everything, and practice jobs a few times with my leaders before the program.  The Head Start kids are four years old.  We keep the activities simple and limit the program to 30-40 minutes.  We typically have four or five stations.  Everyone wins.  The kid leaders gain confidence and the little participants have an exciting enrichment event.  Cool, right?