Plants

We are starting a unit on plants this week. Although it might sound boring, it isn't. We will combine a wiki project along with our reading to spice it up.
On a personal note, I completed my last graduate class last week and am very excited to be able to focus on more interesting and exciting things for a while.
I am glad to be back after our Thanksgiving break!

Ending Photosynthesis

We are finishing the chapter on Photosynthesis and writing a job application for the job at the Photosynthesis factory.
This week I have started work on something called Edmondo. It is another web based site where I can post assignments and students can send them directly to me once they are completed. I look forward to discovering more about this web 2.0 tool.

Camp Anokijig

Last week was a very busy one. There was a lot to get in so that I could teach up at outdoor ed. As much as I enjoy teaching canoeing and archery, I always miss my current students. Keep in mind that next year I will be up there with you guys and girls. You will understand when you see how amazing it is up there.
This week should be fun with the sharing of all the science projects. Hopefully everyone will get them done by Tuesday.
This last week I was able to learn some more interesting online programs that I hope to use in the near future.
Look forward to podcasts, and webcam recordings soon.

This weekend

Here is a cool opportunity for something different to do this Saturday!!


http://www.riveredge.us/default.aspx?id=89

Check it out!

The week

This has beem an interesting week. My son won a medal for his run at the Pumpkins in the Park! I just signed up for another web based graduate class and I am sure to learn some more technology that I can being to the classroom.
I have been sore since Saturday since I also ran the Pumpkins run and won a medal for my time in the 5K.
Stay healthy, stay active!
This week we will continue to learn about cells and classification. We will also have our first day in the computer lab where we will be working on a wiki space.
There is also a great speaker joining us to discuss bullying in school.

Test review

What is an endoscope?
Why are pesticides used?
Know the difference between the following:
Observation
Inferring
Classifying
Quantitative vs Qualitative observations
Manipulated variable
Predicting
Making Models
Skepticism What should it be balanced with?
What does an engineer do?
Why are graphs helpful?

Cells

Next week we will be leaning about the basic building blocks of life.. the Cell. As a group, we took someting boring like lab safety and turned it into a funny class! I hope you got a laugh!
The snake comes back today!

9-15

I survived the Wolfman Triathlon last weekend!
This week we are learning about lab safety and taking our first science test. On a side note, the snake will be returning from his summer vacation. We are excited to have him back.
You can feel free to make comments if you wish.

Computers

This week we are learning about technology and it's role in our lives. Many students love their phones and ipod touches. To check if students are reading my blog, I thought I would post something here just for fun. My turtles name is Hershey and it was named by my son Connor. If you can tell me who named the turtle tomorrow, I know you read my blog! (perhaps you will even get a treat)
Today I started to created wiki accounts for students. We will start using the web space soon so get your computer skills up to speed!
I will use this site to update you on events going on in the class. You can add comments if you like.
Enjoy the sun!
Mr. Cowen

THE NEW CLASS OF 2009/2010

We are off to a great start this year! I can tell that this is a wonderful group of people. So far we have done a couple small labs, learned about the scientific method, and learned some of my classroom procedures. I am very impressed by the interest level of this group and their willingness to participate and have fun! Life is meant to be fun! Scientific interests seem to lean toward astronomy thus far.. I will see if I can curb that toward life science or biology this year!

Mr. Cowen

Animal Behavior

This week we have learned a lot about animal behavior. It really is fasciniating stuff. Just watching the Gorilla and how they can use sign language is amazing. We will be having a test on this material on Friday.
On a side note, I completed my second half-marathon last weekend and I have been quite sore all week. Perhaps it even weakened my imune system because now I am fighting a cold.
We are heading down that final stretch!!

May

This week the students are presenting what they learned about aquatic biomes. It does tie is well with the movie we saw last week. On a personal note, I ran a half-marathon this weekend in Door County. It was a challenge and I did not run as fast as I did last year. There are only 6 more Wednesdays left in the school year!

Animal Behavior

This week we are learning about animal behavior. The student are just wrapping up their wiki projects and we have viewed almost all of their projects. It is amazing to see the students fluently incorporate video links and pictures into their projects. They collaborated with another student on this project and that was one of the major goals of the project.

In class today I was able to demonstrate the stimulus response with the use of a whistle. The students did respond with a quick reaction and most likely raised heart rate. We will now learn about the different types of learning from insight learning to trial-and-error learning.

I am also experimenting with the use of Tokbox in the wiki spaces. If there is time, we can even look at what an RSS feed is later this week.

This Friday is also the trip to see the movie OCEANS. This will be a great way to learn more about our oceanic biomes.

OK, Spring Break is OVER! Now it is back to work. We just started a project using a wiki today and it requires students to collaborate using a wiki. Prior to this week, students learned how to create their own pages, now they will learn how to collaborate together on a project involving some research on animals.

Spring Break

Today was an amazing spring day. My math group did some outside measuring. We used a measuring tape and figured out the width of the base of one of the great pyramids. Then we measured the perimeter of the tennis court and we figured out the square footage. The students also learned what a water level is and how it works. In science, we completed our science test and had a paper plane competition dealing with the physics of flight. The students had many great designs. I wish the best for all over this spring break! Only one more quarter left!

Physics of Bird Flight

Today we learned more about the physics behind flight. Students designed their own flight designs by creating paper airplanes which they were able to use in a competition. Some of the designs were creative and we had some very good flying planes. We will have a test on Thursday so that we can wrap up this chapter before the break.

Mr. Cowen's Blog

Last week we dissected owl pellets in class. We learned about different bird species in Wisconsin. We completed a bird book project and this week we will be leaning about the physics behind bird flight.