Summer SAVY 2018: Session 3, Day 1 – Environmental Explorers (Rising 2nd)
Happy First Day!
Our Explorers are off to great start! We dove in with investigating our prior knowledge of “erosion” using a concept map. Students were introduced to a problem at the beach in which the plans for building a children’s camp at the beach town of Dunesville are on hold because the town council is worried about beach erosion. Oh no! The young explorers were informed that they were chosen to be members of the town council and must come up with scientifically based regulations that will satisfy the long-term needs of the town and plans for the new camp. Therefore, they must learn everything they can about systems, erosion, weathering (physical and chemical), coastal areas, sand dunes, and different perspectives over the time span of four days in order to prove or disapprove the children’s camp based upon their research and experiments. We can do it!!
Students explored the overarching theme of “systems” and learning that systems have elements, boundaries, inputs, outputs, and interactions by using Legos to build their own examples of systems. They also identified the elements of a toy vehicle. Tomorrow they will begin conducting several experiments to increase their understanding of weathering and erosions. I’ll be looking forward to it!
-Dr. P.
Homework (optional)
Identify 5-10 non-examples of systems.
Learning About Systems and Their Role in Our Environment
