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Through a variety of audiovisuals, Lower School students document their class experiences.

msolberg@cotopaxi.k12.ec




Friday, October 2, 2015

Campus Party Quito 2015!

 What made the biggest impression on you?
  • P.B. - The special needle for the 3D printers, and the magnet that changed the form of black oil!
  • M.M. - The sensor in a baby carrier to see if a baby is still breathing!
  • R.O. - Seeing how you can scan a face and then make it into a 3D figure!
  • G.D. - Watching the drone fly in the air!
  • L.R. - Hearing Rony tell about their club's invention of a water car!
Yachay University technology!
Holograms!
3D Printers!
Drones!



Smart walls!
Science experiments!
"Germ" experiments!
Role models!
Speaking of role models, here are Rony Torres (Leader of the Club Obelisco de Ciencia y Tecnologia in Machala, also finalist of last year's competition), Inti Condo (check out this impressive documentary https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYCAXXCdxcs), and Jorge Glas (vice president of Ecuador, the night before).         


Saturday, June 20, 2015

Inspiration Projects

Teacher note: Instead of homework (other than ongoing reading), students were given the opportunity to spend their time after school doing what they love. Here are some of their inspired projects:


Space Club - Air Rockets and Landers





Saturday, May 16, 2015

Space Club - Water Bottle Rocket Launching

 
Teacher post: Our special guest and physics expert, Mr. Juan, helped us learn about Newton's Three Laws of Motion and apply them to rocket launches. Meaningful and engaging learning...fun, fun!
Determining the proportions of fuel (fractions lesson): baking soda and vinegar.

Using altitude trackers and calculators to determine the height of  each launch, the highest being 12 meters!

Physics lesson: Which will land on the ground first when dropped from the same height, the basketball or the tennis ball...and why?

Understanding the relationship between gravity and launching spacecrafts into space; with the basketball being the earth, the sheet being gravity, and the tennis ball being the rocket.

Wednesday, May 13, 2015

Space Club - Tomatosphere Project with the Canadian Space Agency

 Teacher entry: Space Club students are conducting an experiment, through www.tomatosphere.org, for the Canadian Space Agency (CSA)! The challenge is to compare the germination of two groups of tomato seeds, one as a control group and the the other as a treated group (having been placed in a space-like chamber at -80C for 37 days), and report the results to the CSA. Meanwhile students practice making hypotheses, make observations, collect and anaylze data; the results of which will be used in the planning for future space exploration on Mars.




Thursday, April 23, 2015

Water Demonstration Day: We Love Science!

Teacher note: Students selected and researched a global water issue, for the purpose of educating others and encouraging them to take purposeful action. Additionally, they conducted a science experiment with a related water property (such as adhesion/cohesion, capillary action, density, etc) and accompanying lab report. The results were outstanding!






Wednesday, April 22, 2015

Religions Unit: Buddhism, Judaism, Hinduism, Christianity and Islam


     A.V: Before I learned about religions, I thought that everyone believed in the same thing. Now that I know about religions more, I see others in a different way. For example, before I saw boys wearing weird looking hats and I thought in my head, "Why do they wear those weird hats?
 But now I know that's a kippah. Jewish people wear it to show respect for God (only boys wear it). Now if I see a boy wearing a kippah I know that he is Jewish and that is OK! Even though he is Jewish, he is still part of the community!!!  T
here have been fights between religions because people didn't agree in other's beliefs. That shouldn't happen because we need to respect others' religions.
 
D.W.: I did no really understand some religions before, but now that we finished our Religions Unit, I learned to appreciate and relate to other people. I don't have a religion, so I always have some questions like: Why do the girls in Islam cover their heads? Who was Jesus?....Now I know the answer. Islamic girls cover their heads because they just can show their beauty at home, and this is part of their religion. Several religions meditate, but there are lots of types of meditation. You can sit quietly and close your eyes, or you can do yoga and stretch your body. My favorite one is when you close your eyes and hear a short, magical story. I learned that meditation helps you clear all the sad things in your mind, and it helps you to be happy.