SEP Session 3, Day 1

Many teachers began the first day of class by playing get to know you games with the students to build a positive classroom community. Students in "So You Want a Revolution?" had a snowball fight! In this game, student wrote three facts about themselves on a sheet of paper. Then they stood in a circle, crumpled up their paper in a ball, and threw it. Each student picked up a "snowball" and had to find the owner. After every student found their partner, they introduced their partner to the class. Students in this class, as well as " A Hitchhiker's Guide to Government" and "Disease Detectives" played "Who Is It?" Each student received an index card. On the card they wrote:

1. A fact about themselves that they believe they have in common with 75% of their classmates

2. A fact about themselves they share with 50% of the class

3. A fact about themselves they share with 25% of the class

4. A fact that is unique to themselves

After all the completed cards were gathered, the teacher read the card line by line. If the fact did not apply to them, the student sat down. This continued until only one student was left standing.

Ms. Brisson utilized the A-Z name in "Journeying Europe," but put a European spin on it. Each student had to think of a word relevant to European culture or geography that started with the same letter as their name. For example, I would say my name is Natalie and I represent the Netherlands. Each student went around the room introducing themselves and then restating the name of every student that preceded them. Afterwards, students were given a blank sheet of paper and tasked with creating and labeling a map of Europe.

Across the hall in the "Science and Policy of Sustainable Energy," students learned about the causes and impacts of climate change. One impact of climate change is ocean acidification. Increased levels of carbon dioxide in the ocean lowers the pH of the water, making the ocean more acidic. Mr. Fuhrman showed students how different substances affect the pH of a liquid using cabbage juice. Check out the pictures below to learn more about this demonstration!

Each of these cups started as a deep purple color from the cabbage juice. Different substances were added to the juice create a spectrum from acidic to basic.

Students received their own cup of cabbage juice and a straw. They blew up bubbles in their cup to transfer carbon dioxide from their mouth to the juice.

The introduction of carbon dioxide changed the color of the juice to a lighter purple!