Last Friday in ETC, the 7th and 8th graders had the opportunity to meet with business owners from the community.  In small groups, students met with one business owner to hear about their journey developing and running a business.  Students were then able to share their ideas for Entrepreneur Fair to get valuable feedback from the business owner.  Ask you child what kind of business they would like to start!

Last week the 7th graders were challenged to design a set of experiments to figure out how speed and mass affects kinetic energy.  The tricky part about designing these experiments was to figure out how they were going to measure kinetic energy.  With a little persistence and collaboration each group figured out a way to do just that.  Ask them how they measured the kinetic energy and what they learned through their investigations!

Last week, the 8th graders finished their second genetics case study.  This case study focused on two mutant traits exhibited by fruit flies–curly wings and yellow body.  Students analyzed data collected on three different fruit fly families with the goal of identifying the inheritance pattern the mutant traits follow.  I was so impressed with the deep thinking I witnessed in class.  Students used pedigrees, Punnett squares and all they have learned about genetics to figure out the inheritance pattern.  I heard a lot of “I got it…oh, no…that’s not it…let’s try….”  They synthesized their thinking into a written scientific argument answering the scientific question.  It was an amazing demonstration of the analytical skills they have developed at MJDS.   I’m so proud of what these kids have accomplished!