Mr. Jamsa's Class

Science Fair Hufflepuff hypothesis and procedure is due next Thursday!

Friday, December 9th

Objective: With my team we will collect data from the pendulum expeirment including writing down experimental problems.

What we did in class today: Most groups did approximately 9 trials of the pendulum experiment and wrote the results in their science notebooks.

If you missed class today: You will have to collect data when you come to class on Monday.

Thursday, December 8th

Objective: With my team, we will have our pendulum hypothesis approved and complete a good rough draft of our procedure including a materials list, digrams, at least ten steps, and a data table.

What we did in class today: With our table teams, we worked on the pendulum inquiry focusing on what is written above.

If you missed class today: You will need to catch up your notes and your thinking when you return.  This lab is what we shall be doing until Break, and it is worth 33% of the SEMESTER grade.  This is a final exam of sorts which demonstrates whether you understand the scientific method or not and that is a big focus for us obviously this year.

Wednesday, December 7th

Today was the day we went to the Oregon Garden to do our service learning by removing invasive species.

Tuesday, December 6th

Objective: With my team, we will write a hypothesis for the pendulum experiment based on today’s research.

What we did in class today: We learned about mechanical energy for the research phase of the experiment. Based on that research, we wrote a hypothesis and had them checked out by Mr. Jamsa.

If you missed class today: When you return, copy your notes from your table team and have them help you understand where they are in the process.  We will continue the experiment Thursday after the field trip tomorrow.

Monday, December 5th 

Objective: With my team we will develop a scientific question for the pendulum inquiry and learn pendulum vocabulary.

What we did in class today: We talked about what we knew about pendulums, set up a practice pendulum, made a T-chart of variables both independent and dependent, and wrote scientific questions for the experiment we are doing this week.

If you missed today: You will have to copy the notebook of your team mates when you come tomorrow.

Science Fair research is due Thursday, December 8th.  Don’t wait!

Wednesday, November 30th

Objective: I will answer questions about energy and systems from Dr. Art’s Guide to Planet Earth.

What we did today: We answered questions from the text about the concept of “Energy Flows.”

If you missed today: You will need to come to Mr. Jamsa’s class during an AG to collect the questions and use the text book.

Tuesday, November 29th

What we did in class today: We did a check on how well the students understood the concept of systems and then 1/2 of the class did a word find while the Hufflepuffs set up their science fair notebooks.

If you missed today: See Mr. Jamsa if you had a T-form accepted.  Otherwise, you don’t need to do anything else.

Monday, November 28th

Objective: Today I will create a graphic organizer answering the three system questions about my system of choosing.

What we did in class today: We did an activity demonstrating what a system is.  We then defined it, wrote down some notes, and started a grpahic organizer demonstrating a system that the students chose.

If you missed today: Copy the notes from a classmate and ask them about it.  This was important information that we will refer back to many times this year.  Pay attention Tuesday morning when we go over the material from yesterday.

Wednesday, November 23rd

Objective: I will organize and complete the Matter Cycles portion of my notebook and demonstrate my prior knowledge on the Energy Flows unit.

What we did in class today: We finished our table of contents for the Matter Cycles unit.  We looked at our multiple intelligences.  We pre-tested our new unit – Energy Flows.

If you missed class today: Make sure your update your table of contents on page one of your notebook and the Matter Cycles table of contents. Come see Mr. Jamsa if you would like to pre-test the unit, especially if you find it really easy after break.

 

Monday, November 21, Tuesday, November 22nd

Objective: I will work on enhancing my learning of the matter cycles unit so I can raise my grade or I will write down notes about students doing great science around the world.

What we did in class today: Some students watched the film – Climate of Change – stories about students doing great science around the world.  They wrote notes about the culture of the place, the problems that were being tackled, and how they solved those problems.  Other students went into the hall with Mr. Jamsa to work on improving their overall grade in the class.

If you missed these days: There is really nothing you can make up.  If you did poorly on last week’s test, you can make an appointment with Mr. Jamsa during AG or after school to try and raise that grade.  The movie is not a grade that needs to be made up.