Build Week 15 Takes Off

It was 9am on Monday of Build Week 15, and learners were already saddling up to head for the park – not yet sure what they’d be making across the week. When they arrived at the park, teachers handed each team two model gliders: one larger one made of foam and one smaller made of balsa wood. Then, equipped with a clipboard, three strings of varying lengths, basic information about gliders and two blank data tables, teams set off to run three test flights on each glider, measuring the distance of each trial and observing the differences in the designs of the gliders. By then, they’d gotten the picture: this week, they’d be designing for flight.

The “bird’s-eye-view” of our plan for the week might be helpful for readers: Teams design, build, and test small-sized gliders to maximize flight distance and an aerodynamic ratio, applying their knowledge of fluid dynamics to its role in flight. Teams walk themselves through the entire engineering design process, from brainstorming to drafting, including team-driven research (physics of aerodynamics and glider components that take advantage of that science), creating materials lists, constructing, testing and evaluating—all within constraints, and concluding with a final launch day/competition.

build weekLisa ZapalacMay 13, 2023Long-View Micro Schoolbuild week, science, math, engineering, park

Tips for Supporting Young Scientists

At Long-View, we don’t just seek to teach science, we strive to engage students in the learning process as scientists. From formulating testable questions with accompanying research to understanding safety protocols, learners don’t just act like scientists, they ARE scientists. Getting learners to engage in investigations of their own design, with thoughtful data collection and analysis, is the goal and we understand that these skills will develop over time. Teachers offer the opportunity to inquire about the natural world, access to high-quality learning experiences, and intentional feedback, but we seek parental support in this endeavor. Depending on your own background knowledge in science and your level of interest, it may seem daunting to support this area of your child’s academics. Regardless, you can play an important role in your child’s development as a scientist. Below are 6 easy ways you can support your young scientist….

ParentsLisa ZapalacMay 1, 2020Long-View Schoolscience, scientific thinking

7th & 8th Graders Attend The Teton Science School

In early March, Long-View 7th and 8th graders had the opportunity to spend five days at the Teton Science School in Grand Teton National Park. They were treated to immersive learning about the park’s ecosystem and the organisms living there. Learners and guides traversed the park on snowshoes and cross-country skis, a test of humor and humility for young people and adults alike. Skilled instructors from the Teton Science School guided the learners through experiments and observations in snow science, animal identification, geology and other facets of the natural systems….

Field Experience: Environmental Science

To kick off their environmental science unit, Teal and Indigo Bands headed out this morning for a half day excursion to Whirlpool Cave through Austin Watershed Protection. They climbed deep into the Edward’s Aquifer via caves to explore Austin's unique Karst topography and learn more about our city’s watershed. This experience will be helpful as they later move into a project focused on water quality in which the learners will develop their own water filtration systems.….

Developing Key Ways of Thinking in Science Block

Since the start of the school year, Long-View scientists have been collaborating in small groups to develop their understanding of experimental design. Because we will be using these skills in our science practice all year, it is important to start off with a strong basic grasp of how to how to design and perform a fair test experiment, how to look for patterns and trends in our data, and how to make evidence-based claims that answer the questions we explore with our work. In order to support sense-making of what our data is actually revealing to us about our questions, we also spent time learning about science concepts like force, velocity, gravity and friction.

This models the approach to science that we take at Long-View....

scienceLisa ZapalacOctober 4, 2016Long-View Micro Schoolthinking, creativity, discussion, science

Elephant Toothpaste

Last week we pivoted in science from a focus through a series of lessons on how engineers solve problems to deeper work on the nature of science and how scientists think and work. Mrs. Swanson took the group through a demonstration that involved catalyzing the breakdown of hydrogen peroxide. The result of the very exciting demonstration was that a huge swath of thick foam poured out of the graduated cylinder, and the timely addition of food coloring made the foam look like large toothpaste, or “Elephant Toothpaste."

scienceLisa ZapalacNovember 6, 2015Long-View Micro Schoolscience, elephant toothpaste, hypothesis, data, variable