This Week in Science Class
by Curt Parry
March 15, 2010
This week the Jr. High students have been learning about some of the simpler organisms. We covered sponges and worms. They were disgusted to learn that some worms eat and get rid of waste through the same body opening. Ewww… This is called a 2 way digestive system. Humans have a 1 way digestive system thank goodness.
The Freshman Physical Science class has been trying their hand at building paper towers this week. They get one sheet of newspaper and 1 foot of tape. Their task is to build a tower as tall as possible that will stand up to the teacher trying to blow it over from 3 ft away.
Earth Science class has been working on a poster project about plate tectonics. They have learned about pieces of the earth’s crust moving about and causing earthquakes and volcanoes. They have also discovered what scientists think the earth looked like before man was around.
Biology has been covering DNA and the proteins it is responsible for making. These proteins make us look like we do and help us to keep on living. Transcription and translation are the two processes that help the cells make these proteins using DNA as a recipe.
Anatomy class has been learning the names of muscles and how they work. They discovered that lactic acid buildup is the cause of muscle soreness and fatigue. Their lab was to squeeze a ball as many times as they could in 30 seconds. The squeezing was repeated 10 times and each time the number of squeezes decreased because lactic acid builds up in the muscle tissue. The students noticed that their arms got warm and very tired the more they squeezed.
Lewis structures and the shape of molecules has been on the Chemistry class agenda. They have also been learning how some chemical compounds are named. Now some of those names on the shampoo labels kind of make sense.
Coming up later this spring some of the students will have the opportunity to show off their smarts as they take the science assessment tests. I look forward to seeing how the students perform on the assessment tests.
