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Spring SAVY 2018, Day 2- Truth vs. Perception (5th/6th)
Feb. 5, 2018—We began our discussion today by bringing back journal entries from last week–whether or not our personal truths are universal. This led us into our next lesson on how perception to anthropological studies and how we relate to other cultures. We read the satirical piece “Body Ritual Among the Nacirema” by Horace Miner, which describes...
Spring SAVY 2018, Day 2- A Great Debate (3rd/4th)
Feb. 5, 2018—Week two started off with a larger look at philosophy thanks to PBS’ Idea Channel on YouTube. This prompted some pretty deep questions and an excellent discussion, but most importantly, knowledge of how using “absolutes” can weaken any argument. Then, we created a pool of topics for each table of four; thanks to Mr. Hunter...
Spring SAVY 2018, Day 2- Unpacking Adaptation (3rd/4th)
Feb. 5, 2018—Students of Unpacking Adaptation, thank you for another great session! Much like Lucy traveling through the wardrobe, I was astounded by the ground we covered in so seemingly short a time! We began our day with two variations on the Mutation Game, before revisiting some concepts explored last week. You created visual representations of Aristotle’s six elements of the drama:...
Spring SAVY 2018, Day 2- Modified Organisms (3rd/4th)
Feb. 5, 2018—Hello parents and students! We had a great second day here at SAVY! Today was all about DNA. We learned what it is, where we can find it, and how do scientists extract it. We discussed that A pairs with T and C pairs with G, and if not a mutation can happen that may...
Spring SAVY 2018, Day 2- Earth Explorers (1st/2nd)
Feb. 5, 2018—Day 2 in Earth Explorers was all about VOLCANOES! With we quick recap about tectonic plate movement, we delved into how rock is made and destroyed in Earth’s mantle. Then we discussed how volcanoes play a role in this process. Vents that release hot lava, volcanoes can come in many shapes and sizes. They also...
Spring SAVY 2018, Day 2- Ecological Expedition (1st/2nd)
Feb. 5, 2018—Happy Second Day! Today the students created concept maps about themselves to share with their peers. They also conducted a gallery walk to view and ask questions about each other’s generalization posters. Afterwards, they were totally engaged in a quick debate on: Should humans cut down tree for purposes of shelter or safety? They stood on opposite sides...
Spring SAVY 2018, Day 2- It’s Elemental (1st/2nd)
Feb. 5, 2018—Day 2 in It’s Elemental was full of energy from students and from atoms! We started out by reviewing our classification of matter and then we studied chromatography. Which is just a scientific way of saying “separation of a mixture”. We performed a common laboratory method called Thin Layer Chromatography. We separated out the pigments...
Spring SAVY 2018, Day 2- What’s the Matter? (Kindergarten)
Feb. 5, 2018—Our second week of SAVY took us on a field trip to an actual chemistry research lab here at Vanderbilt. We got to see some of the equipment that chemists use to study matter. In our opening discussion of the day, we talked about the different states of matter (solid, liquid, gas) and how they...
Spring SAVY 2018, Day 2- Probability and Prediction (Kindergarten)
Feb. 5, 2018—It was another great week! We started the class by revisiting spinner experiments. The students used a fair spinner which was divided into 4 equal sections. After we ran tests, with that spinner the students had a chance to design their own unfair spinner. They were asked to try and rig the results of their...
Spring SAVY 2018, Day 1- Biophotonics (5th/6th)
Jan. 29, 2018—To kick off the Biophotonics course, we discussed some of the basic properties of light including light’s wave-particle duality as seen in this video. We explored different situations in which it is more useful to think about light as a wave like when light travels through space or think about light as a particle like...