A Night of Math and Science
AMSTI Night was held at Westhills Elementary Thursday, Dec. 16 from 6:00 P.M. - 7:30 P.M.
Mr. Aldophus Elliott, Mrs. Ketina Lyons, and Ms. Kim Bramlett coordinated the event. These teachers are the co-heads of the AMSTI committee. Kortni Knox, a student in Mrs. Ketina Lyons 5th grade class led the Pledge of Allegiance. Mr. Elliott welcomed the parents and students that came out on such a wet night. Karen Woods, UAB AMSTI Director gave an overview of AMSTI. Mrs. Karen Travis had a slide presentation of the students and teachers doing AMSTI activities throughout the school year. Ms. Bo Floyd led the choir in singing, "Twelve Nights of AMSTI". Ms. Floyd wrote the song to the tune of "Twelve Days of Christmas". (The words to the song are listed at the bottom.) Ms. Mildred Posey closed the program. The parents and students were dismissed to the halls of the school. There each grade level had an AMSTI math and AMSTI science activity set up for the students or parents to do. These were all hands-on activities. The parents, students, and teachers filled up the halls of the school.
The kindergarten activity for math was a game called, "What is next?" following a pattern border activity mat worksheet.
The science activity explored magnets. They tested different objects to see which ones are attracted and which are not attracted to the magnet.
First grade's science activity involved exploring air. The students made balloon rockets. Using flight lines, balloons and balloon pumps, they slid a large zip bag to one end of the flight line. They pumped their balloon about half way. The students placed the balloon in the zip bag. They continued pumping up the balloon up inside the bag until it couldn't get any bigger. The students released the balloons and watched what happened. The students learned that the propulsion provided by the air expelled from an inflated balloon is similar to the propulsion that moves jet airplanes and rockets.
The second grade science demonstration came from the Soil Unit. Three samples of soil were set out. Sand, clay, and humus were used for the demonstration. The object was to test dry samples. The participants smelled, touched, shook and observed the soil samples.
Another science activity involved using a test tube, Alka-Seltzer tablet and a top. The tablet was broken up and dropped into the test tube containing water. They put the top on the test tube and watched what happened. They discovered the top was blown off of the test tube! Students were then asked to think why that happened.
The math activity was called Daily Data. Using a Venn diagram, the students charted their favorite apples, red or green. After recording the data, they discussed the results.
One of the third grade math activities was a game to help the students become fluent with addition and subtraction. It takes 3 players and a bag of number cards. One person is the person who says "salute"., the other two take one card out of the bag without looking at it and places it on his forehead. The person who says "salute" adds the sum of the 2 cards to themselves, without telling them their numbers, and tells them the sum of the 2 numbers. The other 2 players have to look at each other's card on the other player's forehead to figure out what the number on their forehead is. A 2nd game was also played. Using counting cubes, take 12 cubes out of the bag to use as the chairs. There are 6 different ways to arrange the rows of 12 chairs. See if you can find all 6 ways. Then try arranging 16 chairs of even rows and then arrange 20 chairs.
Their science activity came from the Earth Materials unit. Students and parents were invited to make fossils and extract minerals from mock rocks. They were able to observe several minerals with hand lens and jeweler's loops in an attempt to identify them. The teachers explained the process the students went through in identifying minerals including mixtures evaporating into crystals.
The fourth grade science activity involved sound. Students and parents explored their ability to discriminate between sounds, by dropping objects into a drop chamber and identifying each object by the property of its sound.
One math activity involved geometry. You can identify triangles, quadrilaterals, pentagons, hexagons, or octagons based on the number of sides, angels, and vertices. They identified slides, flips, and turns using these shapes. Lines of symmetry were also drawn using these figures.
Data analysis was a concept also addressed in another activity. Using bar graphs, line graphs, line plots and tables, data was collected using observations from real-life situations.
The fifth grade science demonstration involved making a pendulum and testing the release position of it. The math activity was solving math puzzles using calculators, tiles, paper and pencil and mental math.
Sixth grade's math activity was measuring odd shapes such as your hand or foot. An example of how this might be used in real life is a company that makes gloves might be interested in area and perimeter of hands. How much material would it take to make a glove?
The science activity involved the heart and lungs. One activity measured lung capacity. After blowing up a balloon, the circumference was measured in centimeters. Each team member got 2 chances. Their best attempt was recorded. After finishing the activity, they determined which team member had the greatest lung capacity.
Another activity involved heart beats. Blood pumped from your heart travels through blood vessels. The largest blood vessels are called arteries. When you take your pulse, you can feel what happens when your heart pushes blood into an artery. Using their 2nd and 3rd fingers to take their pulse, the students placed their fingers firmly up into their jaw to feel their neck pulse, or inside their wrist near the base of their thumb. They took their pulse while someone timed them for 15 seconds. A student and an adult's pulse were checked. Charting their findings, they observed who had the higher and lower heart rates.
The next activity involved a heart and lung exercise. When you play hard or exercise, your body needs more oxygen. The extra oxygen helps your body turn food into energy. With a friend's help, they took their resting pulse for 15 seconds and calculated it for 1 minute. They recorded their resting pulse on a chart. Then they did jumping jacks for 2 minutes. They took their pulse and calculated it for 1 minute. They recorded these results and compared them. How does the body get more oxygen when you exercise?
The Twelve Nights of AMSTI
On the 1st day of AMSTI, my teacher said to me, "Look at it with your eyes and tell me what you see."
2nd day- listen with your ears
3rd day- ask before you smell
4th day- tell about the taste
5th day- touch carefully
6th day- observe the object
7th day- communicate
8th day-measure an object
9th day- predict what will happen
10th day- investigate
11th day- define operational
12th day- make a model
Click here to see the photographs:
http://traviswesthills.googlepages.com/amstinight%2Cdec.16%2C2008
