Science Enrichment Super Structures

Erosion Box Lab--Creating a Stable Hillside

This lab is always so fun. This year the goal was to work as a team to try to create a stable hillside. The kids did great work!

States of Matter

Liquid or Solid?

The Egg Drop

It survived!

Archaeology in Action

Modeling an archaeological dig....

Building Bridges

This is an activity we did to build cooperative skills. The kids had some newspaper and masking tape and had to work together to build a bridge that would hold a bag full of my materials.

Oldies but Goodies

I found some old photos in my hard drive from my first year at CHIME. This was the 2005-2006 school year....and these particular photos were from a science experiment gone wrong. Lesson learned--always, and I mean ALWAYS try these things in advance before trying them in the classroom--even though I had seen this done, I had never tried it myself. Once it worked though, it was indeed an "oooo ahhhh" experiment.

This is called the great cornstarch explosion. Cornstarch, by nature, will not ignite (when it is laying in a big pile). But, when you disperse it into the air (like, say, through a big tube) while holding a propane torch, it makes a big fireball. This time around, however, I didn't realize just HOW hard it was to blow the cornstarch out of the tube. Instead, I sucked it IN (hence all the white mess everywhere). Well, I choked, and I don't mean a little bit. I mean a lot! And while the kids all thought it was pretty funny, my eyes were watering, and I sputtered for a few minutes while trying to catch my breath.

Perhaps my favorite part was watching Sam (my helper in the pics). Look at his little face. :)

SCORE!

Look what I got this morning at CVS pharmacy!!!!! These are so hard to come by and I love using them for experiments. Total SCORE!

Pyroclastic Bombs

Lava Races

Sharing in some Friday Fun...

Seismographs 2009

The 6th graders this year did a fantastic job with this project. Totally innovative designs! Well done :)

Rafting Rules

Solar Ovens

We made solar ovens prior to Spring Break in which we baked some cookies. This was the first time we tried the solar ovens, so there are certainly improvements to be made in the future. All in all though, pretty fun lesson!

The 2009 Science Fair

Who Polluted Santa Monica Bay?

We did an activity to simulate the Santa Monica Bay and how pollutants have affected both the water and the animals that live in the water.  Totally cool, but totally gross!  

If you want to find more interesting resources, go here....