Today in Quest Science, 7x did a soluble experiment. The experiment was quite simple. Groups of two or three would simply draw a dot with a certain color on it and put the piece of paper on top of a pencil above a glass of water. We let the paper soak for about 5 minutes until we saw the color start to stretch out on the paper. The end result was seeing all the colors that made up that one color. For example, if you were to do blue in this experiment you would see different shades of green and yellow. 7x had a lot of fun doing this experiment and we hope to do more things like this in Quest Science again soon. We also worked in our book circle. In every class there is a new leader who gives us questions and leads the discussion for that class period. Students are able to spend time discussing as well as asking questions about the book during that time. After that, they move on to reading their self-assigned pages.
-Nicholas
Section Xs lab on chromatography
7x also got in their literature groups this week in quest humanities. We were assembled into small groups and each group will read a book of their choice. Then 7x will come up with a topic for an essay that they will write once the book is completed. The literature groups will then make a whole presentation on the book as well after the essay is completed.
-Nicholas
On Thursday, February 28th, we missed Mr. Greenberg’s class because we had Meeting for Worship. In Mr. Gornto’s class, we worked with our book group to go over questions that we had regarding the books we are working on. We also were able to discuss the log book prompts or just start reading the next assigned pages. In each literature group there are 3-4 people. Our peers liked that we got to choose what book they got to read with their group. I personally love reading and it was great having the choice of which book I was going to read for the next two weeks. In science, we started doing a lab, where we were supposed to help solve crimes by using a technique called chromatography to find out what kind of ink was used in a crime.
On Friday, the 29th, in Mr. Gornto’s class, we worked on our book again. Mr. Gornto was there to assist everyone as needed and checked in with each group to see how they were doing. In Mr. Greenberg’s class, we did a Socratic Seminar, based on an article about if college athletes should be paid. A Socratic Seminar allows each person to speak up and voice their opinions while providing evidence to support their idea. The teacher does not get involved in the discussion, it is led by the students and they are able to build off each other’s ideas and ask questions. We were able to get feedback from our peers on how we did during the Seminar in order to improve for the next time. We also had a logbook to follow-up on the Socratic Seminar to put our thoughts down. In science, we were given an article on on Wednesday about killer whales and how they maybe going extinct because of pcb levels. We had to make a graph about it and answer questions. Since we were not able to finish everything on Wednesday, we were given time on Friday to complete the work. We were also told that we are going to start the new unit on the periodic table and were given word searches on elements.
-Skyla
Section Ys book selection
Monday was a very packed day in Quest Humanities. In room 204 we were introduced to our two new topics for the first formal socratic seminar. A socratic seminar is when the students have a lengthy, well prepared discussion on a topic that is well researched. The teacher may not get involved in this conversation, as it helps us a s students with independence. The two topics we had to choose from was the conflict in Venezuela and paying college athletes. From there we had to read the articles, annotate, take notes for the real discussion the next day. In room 215 we were introduced to our new literature circle groups, and chose what book we would read for the long project coming up. A literature circle is a our class divided into small groups. Our groups are based on genre, and our whole class filled out a sheet to pick what they wanted genre to read. In the groups we start with planning our schedule of how we will approach the next few weeks. Everyone in the group that you are assigned to read the same book. Throughout the class we discussed on what book we would be reading and came to conclusions to be ready to start planning and putting it in action on Tuesday.
-Moses
On Tuesday, we began our student led socratic seminars. In my class the college sports article is what was discussed. As it was half and half, on who chose which article. During the socratic seminar there is an outer and inner circle. In the inner circle, the students are talking about their topic. On the outer circle the students are observing, listening, and filling out rubrics on a student on the inner circle. The discussion is generally 20 minutes, and after its over, the outer circle talks with the inner circle on how they did. They are usually assessed on how they get involved, if they use conflicting systems when they speak, body language, etc. In room 215 we started planning when our group discussions will occur, what the reading deadlines are, and who will lead the daily discussions. This helps us stay on top of eachother, and make sure work gets done. This helps us with accountability moving forward in our academic careers.
-Moses
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