Happy New Year! As we entered the first week of 2018, there were many unsettled weather patterns across the U.S. bringing bitter cold to the Midwest and cold and snow to the east coast. In addition to this, there was a supermoon on January 2nd.
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| Tampa, Florida Photo Credit: Jacob Zimmer |
This supermoon created higher than usual tides, and these tides in combination with the weather pattern created a unique and dangerous storm on the U.S. east coast referred to as a 'bomb cyclone' with heavy snow and flooding, as well as dangerous wind chills and reduced visibility.
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| Hatteras Island, North Carolina Photo Credit: Liz Browning Fox |
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| Chittenago Falls, New York Photo Credit: Marcia White Bower |
Sundogs
With the cold weather and blue skies, sun dogs have been visible during the past several days.
A sun dog is an atmospheric optical phenomenon that consists of a bright spot to the left and/or right of the Sun. Two sun dogs often flank the Sun within a 22° halo.
They are formed by plate crystals high in the cirrus clouds that occur in cold climates. The plates drift and float downwards with their large faces almost horizontal.
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| Photo Credit: Lori Schafer |
We have all seen the videos of boiling water being tossed out into cold air. The following video shows the changes to bubbles being blown into very cold air. What elements are in bubbles that cause it to go through these changes? How is it the same or different from water?
All of the above are examples of science phenomena that can be a part of lesson designs using the Next Generation Science Standards.
Other Science Notes
Students Demonstrate Science Knowledge at Board Meetings
Southeast Polk students have been able to demonstrate their science knowledge at recent Board meetings. Some Jr. High students shared their science fair projects at a December meeting, and 5th grade students from Altoona Elementary shared the robots they created as a part of Project Lead the Way Launch.
Resource: Visual Periodic Table
Upcoming Science Course
The following course is being offered online through Southeast Polk and begins Tuesday, January 9th. In order to hold the course, we will need more participants. If you are interested in taking the course, please sign up as soon as possible!
Target Audience: Science K-12 This will be a study and practice of tools and strategies when using the new Iowa Science Standards that were adopted by the Iowa Board of Education August 2015. This Level 2 course is designed for teachers to develop coherent science units by learning about these five areas: 1) Three dimensional learning. 2) The EQuIP rubric. 3) Scientific phenomena. 4) Unpacking standards. 5) Storylines. Participants should be familiar with the organization of the standards and terms used in the standards such as Performance Expectations, Disciplinary Core Ideas, Cross-Cutting Concepts, and Science and Engineering Practices. NOTE: All participants, including those registering as “Participant Only,” should plan to complete all of the work required (attendance, participation and assignments) to receive the full benefit of the training. |
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