What causes the Earth to change?  How do earthquakes happen?  Why do earthquakes only happen in certain areas?  How much force does it take to knock down a building?  Does kinetic energy have an impact on earthquakes?  How do the tectonic plates move?  Do people know when an earthquake will strike?  These are just some of the many questions the 8th graders asked as we began a new unit last week with the overarching driving question being How is the Earth changing?

I begin each science unit by presenting the students with some kind of phenomena.  This phenomenon could be a video, an image, an experiment and/or an action of some kind.  The idea behind this is to get the students thinking and asking questions about a concept or idea.  Students document their questions on post-its and add them to our Driving Question Board.  These questions motivate students and give them ownership in the learning process by providing the “next steps” in learning.  As we move through a unit, students answer their questions and ask new ones.  As each question is answered, students gain valuable scientific knowledge and insight needed to answer the driving question in a meaningful way.   The 8th graders have been doing this for over two years now in science class and their ability to ask rich questions keeps getting better.

Ask your kids about the maps and other evidence they have analyzed this week to help them begin to think about the Earth now and in the past.

Seventh graders roll a special can down the hallway and it rolls back to them.  They start four pendulums.  Two eventually stop and two keep swinging.  Wait…What?  What’s going on?!  The 7th graders are trying to find the answers to these questions as they study energy.  As part of this study, they were challenged to develop a set of experiments to answer the following questions…

               What is the relationship between mass and kinetic energy?                                       What is the relationship between speed and kinetic energy?

The trickiest part for them was to figure out how they were actually going to measure kinetic energy.  With some deep thinking and constructive debate each group utilized some kind of collision to collect quantitative data and measure the kinetic energy of their object.

The collaboration involved in designing these experiments wasn’t easy.  More than once groups have found themselves disagreeing or unable to move forward because they couldn’t reach a consensus on how to proceed.  These experiences led us to have a wonderful conversation about the risk of sharing ideas, the need to feel heard, and sometimes the need to let go.

For the past week and a half I have listened to the wonderful sound of 8th graders struggling to analyze two case studies related to heredity.  The good kind of struggle.  The kind of struggle in which students are engaged in constructive discourse–politely disagreeing, challenging each other and supporting one another.   The deep thinking and analysis that I heard was truly amazing.   These kids have been operating in a culture which celebrates mistakes and struggle and persistence for almost four years.  The effect of this is tremendous as I watch them develop the ability to think deeply, analyze and problem solve in ways I haven’t seen in students in the early years of my career.  Happy teacher moment!  Ask your children what they learned about genetics and themselves.