PASSIONATELY CURIOUS

One of the things that makes this craft perfect for a make and take is that the materials come to a little over a $0.25 a piece which is pretty good for a light up necklace that works!

The following are some links to the required materials that we purchase each year

A big reason that this craft is possible and safe (button batteries are generally not a good idea around kids for swallowing dangers) is the 3D printed battery/bulb holder.

The character could really be anything as long as there are eyes space a little over 0.5" apart. I have a couple of options that could be printed and cut or cut out using a Cricut Machine.

Step 5: Add Design with Cutout Eyes
The LEDs are spaced out so that the battery holder can be taped to the back of a piece of card stock and designed as eyes for a ghost or other character from the files above

The data in this lab is collected by tracking the lowest visible color when the toothpick probe is inserted in the mystery box. The example below doesn't match any of the mystery landforms and instead depicts the elevation data of a gently sloping hole in landscape with the lowest elevation in the middle and highest elevation at each of the corners

The key to this lab is the 3D printed landforms so that all students have the same set ups that they are investigating. The original idea of this activity comes from a popular shoebox variant but I wanted to see if I could make a more repeatable (and easier to store) package for our 5 classrooms worth of earth science. All of the models are posted for free download or printed kits to purchase at the link below.

This set includes 4 different landforms labeled 1-4 and printed in the colors shown as well as black covers with a 5x5 grid of holes. These landscapes have been carefully designed so that each of the 25 holes will result in an "elevation" measurement that hits right in the middle of one of the colors so there shouldn't be any ambiguity.

​The two halves are held together using 4mm x 2mm magnets but could be glued with superglue if you want to make the mystery more permanent. ;) In all, each package fits into a 6 cm cube so it's easy to store when not being used.

In my classes, I have lab space for 7 different groups so I make two sets of 4 and they swapped with other groups when they finished each map until they saw all 4 mysteries. With more sets, groups could be smaller and there would be less waiting if there wasn't the right color available when needed.

The toothpick itself needs to be colored in 1 cm bands as shown. I found that sharpies worked well to color the toothpick without adding layers to impact clearance in the holes.

After doing this a once, I realized how tedious it was going to be so I made a quick set of jigs to make this process a little easier :) I even made a 3D printed toothpick in case I couldn't find any wood ones when needed.

To use the jig, just tape the "wings" to a table with the toothpick access hanging off the edge. With this set up, you can rotate the toothpick with one hand and hold the marker with your other. As you can see, there is one jig for the red/pink, yellow, and blue, and another jig for the orange and green. When both are used on the same toothpick, all 5 colors should be perfectly positioned. This jig is also included in the 3D printed kit and files.

After blindly mapping the mystery landforms with basic elevation data, students are asked to compare their unknown map to a collection of 4 virtual landforms

Below is an example of one of the virtual files that they can manipulate and explore. The 4 files included are labeled A, B, C, and D so as to not confuse between their matches that are numbered

The document below is a simple student-facing lab worksheet introducing and demonstrating the procedure for this activity.

Inspired by the work of the Patterns Approach to Physics, I wanted to start my IB Physics classes with a short exposure to different types of mathematical models that they will see. Due to time constraints, I use nPlot to model the fit directly rather than having students linearize the data, but these same examples could be used either way.

The following sections outline the data collection process with sample data for each of the 5 mini-labs. After modeling the process using "Lab A" as a whole class. Groups of 4-5 were able to finish the remaining 4 labs in around 30 minutes.

For this lab, I had students use nPlot to "discover" the different types of mathematical models without any linearizing required but it would be very easy to modify the experience to fit with a linearizing workflow as well.

​Record the time it takes for a toy car to travel a certain distance

​Without adding or removing any playdough, create 5 different playdough “snakes” and measure the length and diameter for each. (hint: you will want at least one cylinder that has a diameter longer than the length as part of your five)

​Determine the number of pennies that fit into different sized circles

Measure the width and height of different paragraphs

​Find the mass of the different boxes of paperclips

In writing this activity, I wanted it to be just enough guidance that students without any specific knowledge of bonding and nomenclature could still interact with the series of challenges. To help with this, the activity starts with a one page crash course on ions, the creation of neutral compounds, and formula/naming standards.

Throughout the tasks, students will use puzzle pieces to represent different ions and visually represent the ions "cancelling out".

A periodic table with ion charges will be useful in this activity. I recommend using this one but any table with charges should work.

The first challenges start simple with common elements found in the first 20 elements of the periodic table. The tasks provide less and less scaffolding as they go. For example, the top row highlights with the same colors as the puzzle and charges preloaded but the bottom row requires students to look up these values on the periodic table

I have found that one of the most challenging concepts in ionic bonding is naming the multivalent metal present in a compound like Fe₂O₃. This part of the activity introduces the idea of multivalent metals and how to work backwards to figure out the charge of the metal from a compound formula.

A list of polyatomic ions has been provided in part 3 and all examples will pull from these seven common ions. For a longer list, see the back of the periodic table found here. Again, the first page in this section provides a crash course on some of the key details like parentheses and naming conventions when polyatomics are in this mix.

If the 3D printed version is a little much, the same hands-on experience can be done with cards that are printed on paper and cut out.

The following tools allow students to make sense of the raw data provided without needed to get to deep into the math of everything. These supports could be removed for more advanced students to provide more calculations.

​Students receive a curated list of 6 stars that have had exoplanets discovered in their system. Some of these stars have more than one planet so students have 10 exoplanets in total to determine which ones have orbits in the habitable zone and could potentially support life

In lieu of "raw data", a simulated spectrum for each star has been created in PhET. From this, students can either use PhET to match the spectrum by changing the temperature or calculate the temperature using Wien's Law (peak wavelength = 0.0029/T). This stellar temperature will be needed to determine the habitable zone around the star.

Each time a planet passes between its star and the earth, the star’s brightness drops slightly, this transit data can be used to determine the orbital period and distance of each planet

Original Images
All light curves were created using this desmos tool that I threw together for this activity. You can download the individual graphs below

Since there is a lot to determine about the stars and their exoplanets in order to determine which candidates fall in the habitable zone, it is useful to collect the data in a couple of organized tables.

In the end, students will find that 3 of the 10 planets have a semi-major axis that falls inside their host star's habitable zone but there is more to the story. The following analysis questions guide students to look at the role that eccentricity has in an exoplanet's habitability.

1. Of the ten planets assessed, which fall within the habitable zone?
2. Of the planets that fall within the habitable zone, what is the eccentricity of each of their orbits?
3. Click on the links for the stars of the potentially habitable exoplanets from the list below. As you drag the image around, notice the orbit of the planet relative to the green band marking the habitable zone (the planet’s current location is marked with the planet’s name). What impact does the eccentricity of a planet’s orbit have on its habitability?
4. Based on everything that you’ve learned in this lab, if you were to choose one habitable planet from the 10 candidates provided, which one would it be and why?

This activity was made as a google doc. See below for a pdf and editable google doc version of the student facing materials as well as the solutions with the tables fully completed

The following are some of the slides that I used throughout the topic to introduce the concepts needed for this exoplanet project