Middle School Science Teacher Mrs. Mattecheck at the Academies of Math & Science talks about the importance of interactive hand-on labs in her curriculum. The excitement her scholars have for learning interactive labs in middle school science creates a passion for science.
Video Transcription:
What has been really happy moments for me so far teaching at AMS has been when our students come in my class, and they will see that “Lab Day” has written on the board. They get so excited; they’re pumped to do a lab that’s something hands-on. And that makes me super happy because I’m super pumped to do it because we’re sharing in this passion for science which is really nice.
My name is Nichole Mattecheck and I teach Middle School Science at AMS Flower.
My 6th graders just started a new unit on force in motion, so we’ve learned about Newton’s three laws about force. They’re learning about how things like friction and gravity affect force, so today, we did a lab where they blew up balloons and they taped them to a straw and then they threaded that straw through a string. Then they released the balloon, and they were seeing how the force, the fuel that they put in the balloons, air, affected the motion of the balloon going down the string. We started with normal string and then they did fishing line, which would produce less friction. Then they got to see how that changes the rate at which the balloon goes. Finally, they played with the idea of mass and how mass and weight can affect how the rate at which the balloon will go down the string. There were many different ways to incorporate it and at the end of the lab, they all presented their hypothesis, was it accepted or rejected? Evaluating results with Newton’s Laws that were at play and what they observed during this experiment.
About Academies of Math & Science (AMS):
AMS has been providing award-winning STEAM curriculum throughout the state of Arizona for nearly 20 years. Our tuition-free schools provide scholars with the best educational experience in the study of science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics.
At AMS, we believe that through a well-rounded education, we can transform today’s scholars into tomorrow’s global visionaries.
With 9 state-of-the-art campuses in Phoenix and Tucson Arizona along with our 100% online virtual academy, AMS is providing word-class STEAM education to over 6,000 students.
Academies of Math & Science is a tuition-free open enrollment educational network. If you or someone you know would like to learn more about AMS, feel free to complete the contact form and one of our friendly and knowledgeable Enrollment Specialists would love to offer you assistance.
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