Research Science Journal

During first semester and the first part of second semester, Challenge A students learn how to research various elements of creation and write a corresponding paragraph from their research. Instead of using the recommended science journal book which is available for sale, I prefer to use a 1/2 inch binder with paper and page protectors. This provides more room and space for the paragraph with a picture on the facing page. Another benefit is that in the page protector, students can place their keyword outline, their rough draft, and their bibliography. This keeps everything all in one place and at the end of the year they will have a nice binder with all of their research, outlines, bibliographies, and final drafts. Here is an example of one student's science notebook...

As you can see, this science journal entry is handwritten. The parent decides if they want these typed or written, and if it will be one paragraph or two. The picture should always be a hand-drawn diagram, not a photocopy or printed picture from the internet. The diagram should be labeled by the student from his or her research. There are several great websites to use to research that are safe. Please find these on the list of links on the right side of this blog. I recommend for the two required sources that at least one be a book or encyclopedia. I handed out an example of a bibliography in the parent packet, and there is a sample biblio also on this blog under the label "science". There are two sample bibliographies in the links to the right.

Dissections in Research

After researching and drawing animals and memorizing systems of the body, it is always fun to do a dissection in class of said animal/body organ. It is a great review to find all the specific parts that match our diagrams. This year, we dissected a lobster (aquatic invertebrate week), cow eyeball, sheep heart, frog, and shark.

Field Trip to Body Worlds!

Bibliography Help

During the first semester, students will be researching and writing a paragraph or two on various animals and plants each week. This paragraph will include a bibliography of at least two sources. Here is a sample bibliography to help with this task:

Book:                                       Mills, John. My Book. New York: Random House, 1992.

Book with 2 authors:           Jeffers, Anne and David Miller. Their Book. London: Pearson,                                                               2001.

Work in Anthology               Green, Terry. "His Article." Collected Book. Editor Tim Roe. New                                                         York: Scribes, 2005. pp 54-61.

Newspaper:                             Harris, Tom. "Big News." The Washington Post 14 May 2004,                                                             A2

Journal/Magazine:                Brown, Alice. "Her Article." Literary Journal 35.4 (1998): 13-                                                               21.

Website with author:            Smith, George. "His Web Text." Research Foundation (2005).                                                              Accessed 4/14/2015 from [http://www.research.org/webtext].

Website w/out author:        "About Science." Science Forum Online (2007). Accessed                                                                       7/22/2015 from [http://www.sfo.org/about].

The sources should typed up in the above format and put in alphabetical order using the first word of each entry. So for the above list of sources, "About Science" would come first and Brown, Alice would be listed second.

Lab Reports

Here is an outline for your students on how to write up a lab report from a science experiment. We attempt about 3-4 science experiments every week at my house. We write up an informal and brief outline for each. But I only require a formal lab report as outlined below on one experiment each month. This frequency may change as the kids grow older.

Heading: Title Experiment # Date Your Name Name of group members Instructor’s name Purpose: State the purpose of the experiment in one or two sentences. What is the goal of the exploratory process stated as specifically as possible.

King Protista

Here is a fun skit that a fellow tutor put together to introduce the lesser known of the five kingdoms -- Protista.
Enjoy!!

Protozoa & Algae Skit:

King Protista: Hi! I am King Protista! All: Hi! What do you mean by King Protista? King Protista: Well I’m in charge of the kingdom called Protista and I have 2 groups I supervise that I just love! All: What are they? King Protista: They are Protozoa and Algae. Let me introduce you to protozoa.

Moo!

Our class had a lot of fun (some more than others) with the cow eyeball dissection last week. All semester we have been drawing and memorizing the body systems. With only a blank sheet of paper and a pencil, students can draw the digestive system, the ear, the heart, the nervous system, etc. Thank God we didn't have to cover the  reproductive system :) they can do that at home with their parents.