What's Cooking?

Our classrooms turned into a hub of creativity and ingenuity as each student designed and constructed their very own solar cooker. It was incredible to see the variety of designs, from reflective foil setups to carefully angled mirrors or thoughtful uses of insulators.

Students not only learned about the science behind thermal energy transfer including the principals of conduction, convection, & radiation but also honed their problem-solving skills as they tweaked and adjusted their designs to optimize heat absorption. It was a fantastic way to apply classroom knowledge to the real world.

If you are looking ignite a discussion with your student about what’s happening in science, try asking them some of the following questions:

Which direction will thermal energy transfer and why insulators played an important role in their solar cooker design.

Why they put a plastic cover over their solar cooker (hint: how did convection apply here?)

You can ask them about their solar cooker design in general.  How did they incorporate the different methods of heat transfer?  What was the temperature they achieved after a 10 minute trial?

Friendly Mid-Year Reminder

Now, as we find ourselves in the midst of the school year, we'd like to offer a friendly reminder. Lately, we've noticed that some students are showing up with uncharged Chromebooks and without essential tools like pencils. Let's make a collective effort to stay on top of these simple but crucial things. Charging your Chromebook at night and having a couple of pencils in your backpack can go a long way in ensuring smooth and productive days at school.

With report cards coming home, we would like to remind everyone that science works off of a benchmark system. It is our expectation that students are capable of meeting our standards throughout the year. Please reach out with any questions about your students performance.

Hope you enjoy the snapshots from our classes below! Next, onto changes to Earth’s surface!