Monday, April 19, 2010

A day at the University.

The students did an amazing job at the University today. We toured labs, met researchers, did some experiments, and asked a lot of good questions. I think that, for most of the kids, icecream at Babcock was a great way to end a really fun field trip. Thanks to the parents and helpers. More pictures and videos to come.

Sunday, April 18, 2010

A Windy Day...(I really like the researchers who are rolling down the hill)

Wind Energy

We had a great time while we modified the wind turbines to increase efficiency. The students did a great job and we had the perfect day for testing the wind turbines. It was really windy and our largest wind turbine ended up blowing apart.

Reminder that we will do lab tours and a couple of investigations on Monday the 19th. We are scheduled to return at 4:00.

The extra lesson has been scheduled for Tuesday the 20th usual time from 2:30-4:00.

Saturday, April 10, 2010

Families learning together.

Science Expeditions

Timberwolves learning about Science

Science Expeditions

Just a quick reminder that microexplorers will be at Science Expeditions this Saturday from 12-4 on the UW campus. We will be in the biochem building at 433 Babcock Drive. I will post pictures of the outreach on Saturday.

Like water off of a duck's backside...

This past week we looked at different types of feathers. The explorers wrote in their science journals about each of the feather's properties. Once again, we looked at the feathers properties on the macro, micro and then nano scale. Most of the feathers were super hydrophobic. As most people know from the phrase, "like water off of a duck's backside," the duck feathers were super hydrophobic. Next week we will modify the wind turbines to make them more efficient using what we have learned from nature. I will also send home a note reminding parents about the lab visit on the 19th and I am asking for one more day with the microexplorers to do a special investigation lead by a researcher who works on "vampire energy suckers."  This investigation will take place on the 20th of April after school.