with Sally Zeiner

For our final class we reviewed what we learned about energy by talking out some experiments. In the back of the lab book you can find the questions that helped us to understand that energy is never destroyed. In our experiments, energy changed forms many times. 

What kinds of energy can you put to work in experiments at home?

This group of students really enjoyed the hands-on and experiential nature of the curriculum. It was a wonderful class to teach! For our last experiment, we read about Archimedes from Archimedes and the Door of Science. Then, using spoons, sticks, shells, and strings, we explored finding the center of gravity. 

I hope you all have a wonderful summer!

We could not have been more proud of the students that participated in our first Engineering Fair!  

They each did a terrific job with their displays, their presentations and they WOWED us all with their projects. As everyone could see, each put in tremendous effort. I do hope they left Mosaic feeling proud of their accomplishments. 

Here are images from the day:

with Leigh Ann Yoder

with Ed Insel

with Kim Rodgers

We spent our last class time together learning about the lines used to create Chinese characters called the Seven Mysteries. Chinese calligraphy uses these lines to create the characters representing words. 

We practiced each stroke with a paintbrush and then combined them to create the characters for tree, forest, and woman. We talked about how long it must have taken to write out a book by hand, painstakingly creating each character. This led into the discussion of printing. The Ancient Chinese were the first ancient culture to create a method of printing. They carved the characters backwards onto wooden blocks, so when ink was added the character was printed on the page correctly. 

The students drew an image on paper, cut it out, and traced it onto their block backwards. There was a layer of foam glued to the top of the wooden block. I cut around their image with an exacto knife. They took a screwdriver and scraped away any foam that wasn’t a part of their image. When they were done they used a stamp pad to see their final product.