Around the Box Thinking

This morning we had the good fortune to enjoy the company of Mrs. Kyle, Dane's mother, who graciously offered her time and experience to leading us in a Science lesson.

First, Mrs. Kyle got our juices going by asking us to list what we thought science is, what we think scientists do, and what kind of images we conjure up when we think of what scientists look like and what they look like when they are working (in case you didn't know, they wear black pants, drink black coffee and look like Reed's dad).

Following our discussion, Mrs. Kyle explained that she was going to set down a box on each desk cluster ( five clusters of four students), and that no one was to touch the box, nor look at the bottom of it.

Each box had a person's name on each side (including the top) and two numbers. One number was placed in the upper right hand corner of each side, while the second number was placed on the lower left hand corner of each side. The students' task was to figure out what was on the bottom side.

Using their observation, critical thinking and communication skills, each of the groups worked diligently to come up with an answer. All of the groups eventually found a pattern (or two or three) that they could follow to bring them closer to their conclusion.

One group discovered the answer, while most of the other groups probably would have gotten there had they had more time. Each group had a representative go up to the white board to explain how they got to where they had gotten to in their "experiment."

No one was wearing black pants, no one was drinking black coffee, and no one looked like Reed's dad (except Reed, perhaps a bit), yet we had a roomful of scientists performing an experiment.

We learned that science isn't a finite subject, and even though we came to some conclusions in the experiment we had just done, we still had questions.

This afternoon, we had our first big - well, our second big (Math, being our first) - test this year: Vocabulary. Tests will be graded this evening and sent home with grades for parent signatures over the weekend.

Tomorrow morning we will be visiting the Tempe Public Library. For those who have been, this will probably prove to be a different experience as we will be touring the Middle School area and learning about how to use the research catalog. If students have library books to return, they may certainly bring them. I am not sure if there will be time to check out books, but students are welcome to bring their library cards just in case.

In case you've forgotten, we have a big Social Studies test tomorrow afternoon. Happy studying!

Cheers,
Ms. Pitman