Structures - What are their strengths and weaknesses?

We've taken a good look at the different types of structures so far in Science but today we are going to determine why some structures can be better than others, depending on the need. Let's start with our favourite - Bill Nye!!

 

L'Halloween - le 31 october

Halloween is around the corner and to celebrate we are going to be turning our "Les Trois Petits Cochons" stories and turning them into stories that reflect Halloween. To get us started, here are a few videos!

The Eiffel Tower - Let's take a closer look!

Structures - Solids, Frames and Shells, Oh My!

As we have seen in our past lessons, structures are EVERYWHERE! Structures have a shape and have a function. The function of the structure determines the form of the structure.  Structures need to be stable in order to support the weight or load that they carry.  Take a look at what happens when a structure isn't so stable!





There are three categories of structures that are quite different though most structures are a combination of types. Let's take a look!
                                                      



Shell Structure
An igloo is a shell because it is hollow and protects what is inside.  It relies on curves or arches to provide it strength.

Frame Structure
Examples of frame structures include the Eiffel Tower, some bridges, electrical towers and the roof of most houses. Frames are made out of connected parts in a certain arrangement.

Solid or Mass Structure
These structures are made from strong materials and are formed in solid pieces.  Castles, caves and dams are examples of solid/mass structures.




Let's take a look at some architecture and see which types of structures they are (or if they are combinations!)

Today we will be building experimenting with all three types of structures.  You will be working as part of a team so be sure to think of what good group members do (also known as Helpful Citizens! See the poster in the room?!)

Time to get working!

What Does 5,373 Kilometers Look Like?

As we continue reading Run by Eric Walters, we will take a closer look at Terry's journey during his Marathon of Hope.  

Start by clicking on the link below to open the Google Map.  Next, go through the locations, read the information and fill in the missing information in the worksheet provided.  After you are done, please leave a comment answering these questions:  How difficult or how easy do you feel this journey would have been for Terry? What would have been his biggest struggles? What made him want to continue running?

Map of Terry Fox's Marathon of Hope

When you are done, check out this amazing feature piece from runningmagazine.ca  that profiles his amazing run on is 35th anniversary in 2015. What other facts or information can you learn from this interactive article? Give me some examples of when Terry showed he had GRIT - how did he put GRIT to work?

Hurricane Irma - What do we do to prepare when a natural disaster is imminent?

Over the weekend, Hurricane Irma has cause more destruction across the United States and Caribbean. People are doing what they can to prepare but unfortunately there are some forces that are so strong, there is little defense. Let's take a closer look.

While watching, thing about the following . . .

What are the external forces acting on a structure?

 





Time to get more specific.  Let's take a look at some licorice that can help us understand the scientific terms related to forces. You will be demonstrating with your licorice, drawing diagrams with your licorice, and yes, at the end you can eat your licorice!

Words of Courage, Hope and Determination

We are currently reading the book, Run by Eric Walters - a book that follows a young boy named Winston who ends up following Terry across Canada during his Marathon of Hope.  Though the story is fiction, it stays true to the spirit of Terry, as the facts, the time line and many of the words Terry speaks are true to his life story.

Here is a short video from ESPN (which is part of a bigger documentary) giving us a small glimpse of Terry's determination and courage he had while looking to make a difference in the world.






Terry had shared many poignant words of wisdom during his short life.  Today will be research for those quotes and sharing them with our school through a bulletin board outside our classroom.  We'll be sure to post a picture once it is complete.  We also hope you support Terry and the Terry Fox Foundation this September by running in one of many Terry Fox runs around the world (our school's run was Monday, September 16th) and by raising money in his name for cancer research. Don't forget your Toonie for Terry!

Click here to find some quotes we can start with!

What Does It Mean to Show Courage?

What does it mean to show courage?  As we continue reading Run by Eric Walters, which focusses on Terry Fox's courageous attempt to run across Canada, let's think about some of the ways WE show courage everyday. Sure, we aren't running across Canada on one leg, but believe it or not, we are doing many courageous things everyday - especially during middle years!  I found some excellent writing prompts we can us here but also I've copied them below. Thank you to writingthroughlife.com for these excellent ideas!

1. What’s your personal definition of courage? Have there been times in your life when you’ve needed to be courageous? Write about one of those times: what was the situation and what did you do?
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2. Is there someone in your life whom you would characterize as courageous? If so, in what ways? Write about what, in this person’s courage and demeanor, you admire. Then write about the ways in which you, also, exhibit these same qualities (you know you do).
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3. What do you think C.S. Lewis meant by, “Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point.” Describe how courage might come into play when another virtue is challenged in some way.
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4. Complete the following sentences: “Every day, I am afraid of …” and “Every day, I show courage by …”
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5. Write about the ways in which your views of courage were shaped. How did family attitudes, movies, and books influence your beliefs about courage? Of these, which seems the most important or influential? (Hint: it’s the one that pops into your mind as a powerful memory image.) Do you believe these influences were beneficial, or not, and why?
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6. Sometimes, it takes courage just to be yourself in the face of a societal norm that doesn’t accept you. Are you or do you know someone like this? Maybe you’ve always been told you’re too loud, draw too much attention to yourself (or not enough), take too many risks (or not enough); maybe you’ve had to fight to accept yourself. If so, in what ways do you hide yourself and in what ways do you express yourself? In this context, would you say you’re courageous or not, and why?
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7. Describe an area of your life in which you wish you were more courageous? What is it, and how would you benefit?

What's the coolest fort you ever built?

Think back to when you were young.  It may have been a rainy day, a cold day or maybe it was even too hot outside. You felt like you had nothing to do when one of your friends suggests, "Let's build a fort!" You then found a few blankets, a couple pillows, stacked them along the sides of the couch, added a stuffed animal or two for support, and magically created the "best fort ever!"

Even from a young age, you will have experienced that the materials you use and the way you use them directly relates to the strength of a structure.  Remember trying to balance that last cushion on the top and it just would not stay? Remember finally getting everything balanced but then you couldn't find a spot to slide in to, then only to have the whole thing collapse just as you had finally perfected it!

Though on a much bigger scale, architects, city planners and developers are "balancing cushions" to ensure the structures they build can withstand the forces put upon them while still on budget.  There is also greater pressure to create structures that are structurally sound but are built using sustainable, ethically sourced materials.

Today we will take a look at the many structures all around us. Though many of these items and buildings we may see every day, after taking a closer look, we will see there is much more to them than meets the eye. We will be learning about structures and forces with the goal of creating our own spaghetti bridge that will sustain a specific force. We will test them together to learn about what works and what doesn't when it comes to structural design.  We may even have a Spaghetti Bridge Champion!

So let's take a closer look at the existing structures around us - both man-made and found in nature, so we can see what works!

Structures - Where can we find them? How do they help us? Who makes them?

While watching the video, we will be taking "Sketchnotes" to help us make connections and build our understanding of structures.  This will be a method that we will often use in Science and this is our first chance to try it out.  Before we begin, take a look at some of the creations from my students last year as well as a "how-to video" to help us get started.

Climate Change Sketchnotes





Structures - Man-made and Found in Nature

Time to Build - Let's Experiment with a Clay and Paper Bridge

Clay Bridge

Paper Bridge

Forces of Wonder Interactive Game

Forces - They May Be Invisible But They Are There!

At it's simplest level, forces are all around us.  Any time an object changes speed or direction, it is because a force has been applied. In it's mys basic form, it involves two or more objects that are being pushed or pulled. Objects often have more than one force acting on it at the same time, with varying magnitudes and directions.

Let's take a closer look! 

Today we will be learning about the many different types of forces we encounter on a daily basis. By learning about these different forces, we will have a better understand of what structures need to withstand in order to do their job! This will also help you when it's your turn to build your bridges.

Like we did while watching the Structures video, we will be making "sketchnotes" but in a more structured way - some of the text has been filled in for you. There will also be sections where you will create 3D sketches to illustrate the types of forces described. You will also list examples of where you might find such forces in action.  Take your time to ensure you understand each type of force and collaborate with classmates to help you out! 

Forces and Structures - Learning the Details

How High Can We Build?

Let's take a look at the world's tallest building!





And the structure that will be taking over that title is building built right now!

Grit - Do you have it? Can you get it? Why do you need it?

GRIT

What does it mean to be smart? Athletic? Skilled? What does it mean to work hard? How are these ideas related? Today we will watch a video and discuss what factors can help you in your life when you are faced with a challenge. Below is the transcript.  After the video we will find some specific vocabulary from the Ted Talk that we can use to critically think about our own lives and how our level of GRIT can determine our success.  

Before we begin, why do you think we are watching this video?

When I was 27 years old, I left a very demanding job in management consulting for a job that was even more demanding: teaching. I went to teach seventh graders math in the New York City public schools. And like any teacher, I made quizzes and tests. I gave out homework assignments. When the work came back, I calculated grades.

0:35 What struck me was that IQ was not the only difference between my best and my worst students. Some of my strongest performers did not have stratospheric IQ scores. Some of my smartest kids weren't doing so well. And that got me thinking. The kinds of things you need to learn in seventh grade math, sure, they're hard: ratios, decimals, the area of a parallelogram. But these concepts are not impossible, and I was firmly convinced that every one of my students could learn the material if they worked hard and long enough.

1:15 After several more years of teaching, I came to the conclusion that what we need in education is a much better understanding of students and learning from a motivational perspective, from a psychological perspective. In education, the one thing we know how to measure best is IQ. But what if doing well in school and in life depends on much more than your ability to learn quickly and easily?

1:47 So I left the classroom, and I went to graduate school to become a psychologist. I started studying kids and adults in all kinds of super challenging settings, and in every study my question was, who is successful here and why? My research team and I went to West Point Military Academy. We tried to predict which cadets would stay in military training and which would drop out. We went to the National Spelling Bee and tried to predict which children would advance farthest in competition. We studied rookie teachers working in really tough neighborhoods, asking which teachers are still going to be here in teaching by the end of the school year, and of those, who will be the most effective at improving learning outcomes for their students? We partnered with private companies, asking, which of these salespeople is going to keep their jobs? And who's going to earn the most money? In all those very different contexts, one characteristic emerged as a significant predictor of success. And it wasn't social intelligence. It wasn't good looks, physical health, and it wasn't IQ. It was grit.

3:00 Grit is passion and perseverance for very long-term goals. Grit is having stamina. Grit is sticking with your future, day in, day out, not just for the week, not just for the month, but for years, and working really hard to make that future a reality. Grit is living life like it's a marathon, not a sprint.

3:27 A few years ago, I started studying grit in the Chicago public schools. I asked thousands of high school juniors to take grit questionnaires, and then waited around more than a year to see who would graduate. Turns out that grittier kids were significantly more likely to graduate, even when I matched them on every characteristic I could measure, things like family income, standardized achievement test scores, even how safe kids felt when they were at school. So it's not just at West Point or the National Spelling Bee that grit matters. It's also in school, especially for kids at risk for dropping out.

4:08 To me, the most shocking thing about grit is how little we know, how little science knows, about building it. Every day, parents and teachers ask me, "How do I build grit in kids? What do I do to teach kids a solid work ethic? How do I keep them motivated for the long run?" The honest answer is, I don't know.

4:29 (Laughter)

4:31 What I do know is that talent doesn't make you gritty. Our data show very clearly that there are many talented individuals who simply do not follow through on their commitments. In fact, in our data, grit is usually unrelated or even inversely related to measures of talent.

4:51 So far, the best idea I've heard about building grit in kids is something called "growth mindset." This is an idea developed at Stanford University by Carol Dweck, and it is the belief that the ability to learn is not fixed, that it can change with your effort. Dr. Dweck has shown that when kids read and learn about the brain and how it changes and grows in response to challenge, they're much more likely to persevere when they fail, because they don't believe that failure is a permanent condition.

5:28 So growth mindset is a great idea for building grit. But we need more. And that's where I'm going to end my remarks, because that's where we are. That's the work that stands before us. We need to take our best ideas, our strongest intuitions, and we need to test them. We need to measure whether we've been successful, and we have to be willing to fail, to be wrong, to start over again with lessons learned.

5:55 In other words, we need to be gritty about getting our kids grittier.

6:01 Thank you.

6:02 (Applause)

What are ways that you show GRIT?

Is being “GRITTY” something you can get better at or is it fixed?

Think 5 or more situations you have demonstrated that you can sustain effort, practice and get better at an activity? You can use pictures, words and phrases to show your thinking. Think about the key words in the Ted Talks and Project 11 video to help you with specific vocabulary.

How much Grit doe you have? Take this test from Angela Duckworth's university and see what it reveals! 

Grit Test