Team X Status Reports on Student Blogs

This week is an exciting week in our 8th grade year.  All students will be dropping their Team X lander (mentioned in an earlier post) on either Tuesday or Wednesday and hoping for the best result for their payload (egg).  I am so proud of all their hard work and dedication to their project and to their groups.  I added a few photos of the students in action at the end of this post but here is the link for all of my photos in a Google Photos album so far.  As you scroll through the photos you'll see some very unique ideas playing out!  So far we've just been using plastic eggs, the real eggs will be placed inside their landers later this week.  

If you have been at TAISM for at least a year, your child has probably posted some blog entries on their personal TAISM Blog.  A blog can be a place for reflection, questioning, discussion, information sharing or really whatever the author wants it to be.  In science, we will use it for a variety of purposes throughout the year.  These first few blogs we've been working on are meant to have the students reflect on their work so far on their Team X project and to share their work with you - their audience.  They should have 2-3 blog posts ready for you to peruse and enjoy on their blog.  For each post, there were certain requirements for each one but students could free write as much as they wanted about their experience.  All 8th graders have the same template for their blog, which is http://taism21(FIRST NAME).blogspot.com/ For example, mine would be http://taism21carey.blogspot.com/  Of course, you can always ask your child to point you in the right direction of their blog.  

I hope you can take a few minutes to read about your child's progress so far in their design project.  If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to email me.  I will update the blog with more photos and videos later in the week and they students will be adding to their blogs as well.  

Welcome to the TAISM 2016-2017 8th Grade Science Parent Blog

Greetings Parents- Welcome to the TAISM 2016-2017  8th Grade Science Parent Blog.  We have had a fantastic beginning to our school year which has made me feel really excited for the rest of the year.  Our focus in the first weeks of school has been on gravity, engineering design and beginning our astronomy content. 

My goal for this blog is to keep you more informed on the happenings in science class regarding our current units, upcoming projects and things you can do with your child at home.  Please enter your email address in the box to the right that says "follow by email" and then you'll get updates automatically sent to your email.    

Currently, we are in the beginning stages of our Team X project which serves as an introduction to astronomy, assessment of physics standards, scientific questioning and the engineering design process.  This is a very hands-on project which we will complete after the Eid break with the landing of their payload later in September.  I've modeled the project after the current NASA mission "Curiosity" and my experience witnessing this process when I visited the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California in 2006.  We've been focusing on how scientists and engineers test their ideas in order to be as sure as possible that they will work based on their predictions and EVIDENCE from design testing.  The project will give me a great window into the students' creativity, science background, strengths and areas for growth.  (You can see the project overview on my website in the "Resources-Astronomy" section.)

Our astronomy unit will be split into two parts: Patterns in the Solar System and Our Place in the Universe (everything beyond our Solar System).  Astronomy is a rather long unit because it is integrated with many of the physics standards, where appropriate.  I am looking forward to sharing many deep discussions and interesting lab experiences with your children.