Optics and Light Science Research Videos by DCS Grade 7 & 8

 The following work is from Mr. Elias Wipf's Grade 7 and 8 class at Decker Colony School. Thank you to this group for allowing me to showcase their work here on the blog.

About our Research Project

These fantastic WeVideo creations were created in our grade 8 Optics and Light unit. All of these research projects were to show that light and wavelengths have energy that can be used in all kinds of applications. We all picked a topic to research, did the research, created a script for the narration, recorded and edited video, uploaded it on YouTube, and made a QR code for it so that people can access it.

Abigail:My project was X-Rays. Once the research was complete, the rest was easy. All in all I think the greatest challenge was the research, and uncovering the meanings of the complicated scientific terms. Although at some points it was challenging, I am pleased to know what is happening as the doctors and nurses are taking X-Rays.

Jesse: My research was about Satellites and Satellite dishes. In the beginning of my research, I had absolutely no idea what a Satellite or a Satellite dish was. I didn’t even know that they were used for live broadcasting. As I started researching my project, it became more and more clear in my mind. After a little more research, I can proudly say that I am now a Satellite and Satellite dish “expert.”

Gabriel: My research project was a microwave. At first my microwave research went awful. I only had about two sentences when the other students had twenty. I slowly started to advance. I was writing more words than the day before. Then I got permission to record. I wasted an entire half hour because I messed up big time. I wanted to throw my laptop through the wall. After a few minutes, I finally got it right. Now I can watch a microwave oven cook food and know exactly how it works.

Matthias: My research project was about motion sensors. I hardly knew anything in the beginning of my research. When I finally started researching, I got an Idea about how it works. I kept building on my information until I knew enough about it to start my video. So here is my finished video for you to enjoy.

Sarah's Passion Project: The History of Dance

This is a guest blog post written by grade 6 student, Sarah.

Our grade 6/7 Character Ed class is working on projects, but these projects aren’t just normal projects, they’re Passion Projects! All of us are putting together a project that shows what we’ve accomplished over the days. We got to choose what our projects would be about! My passion project is about the history of dance and how it has become what it is today. Our passion projects are about what we love! This is my Passion Project:

History of Dance

By: Sarah Chappell

King Louis the 14th first invented ballet for a wedding in 1459. Dancers would dance about the dishes being served. Pierre Beauchamp, King Louis’ teacher, became the first dance director in Paris for the first ballet training school in 1671. In the 1700s, ballet became more popular and King Louis performed as a dancer. Pierre also invented the technical term “turnout” in ballet.
People from different cultures even incorporate dance into their cultures. Dancing is important for different cultures because it helps them embrace who they are and their cultures. Some cultures dance during celebrations.

Some of the most popular dances are…. Hip-Hop, which is street dancing performed with usually Hip-Hop music. Tap Dance, which is basically just tapping on a hard surface with technical form, of course! Belly Dance, which is when people move their bellies in different ways. Break Dancing or B- Boying, which is when people pop and lock and resist your motions, or just doing awesome tricks! Lastly, ballet, which is a VERY VERY technical art that is performed with such grace, passion and emotion!

In the 1830s a lady named, Marie Taglioni, made dancing on Pointe very popular. She danced a ballet for her father and after her last beautiful, moving performance, the people were so sad to see her go that one chef took her ballet shoe and cooked it! They say that all of her fans ate it too!


Also in the 1840s, a man performer named, Marius Petipa, made more than 60 ballets. His assistant, Lev Ivanov, choreographed some of the most popular ballets today! His work included, The Nutcracker, Swan Lake and Sleeping Beauty!!

There are many places around the world that dance in different ways to express their culture and religion. China has the dragon dance, Cuba has the Salsa, Russia has ballet, Switzerland has the traditional folk dance, Argentina has the tango, and Brazil has the Samba, just to name a few! Not all countries or cultures just have to stick to one type of dance, everyone can just dance to their own rhythm!

Dance today is all about freedom and imperfection, (unless you’re in a competition, but if you’re not then you can just dance freely!) You should just be able to do what you really love! Dance today has many more styles that suit everyone, and it has lots of movement and freedom!   

Dances in different cultures are more traditional and dances in my culture/country can be more technical and professional, but it can also be non-competitive and flowy!

Clearly, dance was very different a long time ago compared to dance now! But they do have some similarities, freedom, commitment, and passion!  What I’ve learned is that dance is a passion and it’s….. I can’t explain it but, it just makes you feel free and safe and it takes your mind off of everything else in the world! Dance is my passion!   

Sources:

https://www.travelchannel.com/interests/arts-and-culture/photos/dance-around-the-world-photos

http://www.allrefer.com/10-most-famous-dance-styles-in-the-world

http://www.camarilloacademy.com/2011/09/why-dance/

https://www.sasschoolofdance.com/history-ballet

Passion Projects: Haily's Hockey Project

This is a guest blog post written by Grade 6 student, Haily.

In our grade 6/7 class we are doing passion projects! That means you can pick anything that you are passionate about as long as you can show that you are learning something. Some of the passion projects are putting on bake sales, talent shows learning more about sports and history and making paper mache  and much more! Our class has really enjoyed learning about the things we love to do!

For my passion project I did a research project about hockey facts and players. I included things like the top point leaders of 2019, trivia, best hockey team and best hockey player ever and more. The file is set up so you can play the trivia if you download it.

- Haily Johns

Olympics Project: The Momentum Continues!

As I explained in my most recent post, my students and their families have really taken ownership of our Olympics project and they have been working on research at home.  More students came this morning with information to create their own blog posts! (You can view the latest student post here.)  I am looking forward to helping students share their learning and their enthusiasm for this project is really motivating for me!

In addition to all the great homework going on this week, we have also been working on research at school.  One of the students' inquiry questions was What sports are part of the Olympics?.  Using Excel, I designed a simple template for students to record their findings. (You can get the Excel editable version here or PDF version here).  Then, I added a link to the Olympics.org website to our Symbaloo home page.  (Symbaloo is a bookmarking site which I've found to be very kid-friendly. I use it to organize links that I want students to be able to access quickly, easily and independently!)

Working in pairs or groups of 3, students have been constructing knowledge of the Olympic sports.  By watching videos and viewing pictures on the Olympics.org sports pages, students are developing an understanding of each sport.  They are working together to record their findings using pictures and words.  They've been very engaged in their research so far, so my main roles have been: praising good work, giving research suggestions, providing "tech support", "listening in" to their conversations about each sport and asking questions to determine their understanding or to help them clarify their ideas.  It's been really fun to learn along with my students!  For example, we've talked about the difference between skeleton and luge (which I'd never really thought about before) and I learned what the biathlon event included while working with another group.

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Olympics Project: Modeling Internet Research & Encouraging Digital Citizenship

My hardworking and curious group of Grade 1s has jumped on board for our Olympics learning project.  After our Skype call launch with the OLCS Kindergartens on Tuesday, our class did some research together to answer two of their inquiry questions.  This allowed me to model some basic research.  Students suggested we use the internet to find information, so I modeled a web search and read aloud information from a relevant website.  After listening, some rereading and discussion, students were ready to answer the two questions.

We wrote our answers together; students explained their understandings and I typed for them.  Next, we discussed the importance of verifying information to ensure that it is correct.  Students identified that "not everything on the internet is true" (I thought it was great that they knew this!), so we checked our information by using another website.  Then, we also discussed the importance of sourcing since we'd used other people's ideas and information to help us learn.  We included the websites we'd used in our post to show that we had learned from those sites.

It was one short activity, but deliberate teaching allowed me to address a number of important topics and skills:

• digital citizenship: giving credit to our sources when we learn from others
• Olympics inquiry: we answered questions that they students had generated for this project
• shared writing: working together, we wrote sentences that clearly communicated our answers
• research skills: verifying information, searching online, using visual and text information

Olympics Research

 We had lots of questions about the Olympics.  Here are some of our questions and answers. 


What are the circles on fire that we saw in the video?  
They are the Olympic rings on fire. 

What are the Olympic rings?
They are a symbol for the Olympics.  A symbol is something that stand for something else or makes us think of something else. 

They are black, blue, red, green and yellow rings that are attached.
There are 5 rings to show 5 different parts of the world that people come from. 
The rings are attached because all of the countries come together for a big celebration called the Olympics. 
The ring colors are for every country's flag.

We used websites to find these answers:
http://kinooze.com/2012/07/26/all-about-olympic-rings/
http://www.innovativeclassroom.com/Lesson-Plans/lessonplans.php?id=46