Final Exam Topics

The final exam will be completed in class. You will have access to your science journal during the exam. Some of the topics that may be included are:

• Graphing: Know the graphing conventions and when to use what type of graph. You will be asked to graph (by hand) your plant data as well as some other data I give you.
• Measuring: Know the different metric units for different quantities (length, mass, volume, temperature). Be able to estimate the basic metric quantities, and be able to convert from one metric unit to another (e.g. centimeters to meters). Know the difference between area and volume and explain these formulas for these in terms kids know.
• The 5 E's: Know the overall rationale for teaching science this way (i.e. how it relates to how real science is done). Know what each phase is for and be able to come up with an example for each phase.
• Basic Process Skills: Know what these are and be able to give an example of an activity kids could do to practice each skill.
• Moon Phases: Know what changes during one 24 hour period and what changes over a 29 day period and how to explain each type of change. Given a diagram of the moon-earth-sun, be able to tell what phase the moon is in and why. Given a phase of the moon, be able to draw the moon-earth-sun diagram.
• Seasons and Day/Night: Be able to tell what motions of the earth causes each. Don't worry about a specific explanation for what causes seasons, but be sure you know the major misconception to avoid.
• Color of the Sky/ Sunset Effect: Be able to tell why the sky is blue and why the sun set is red-orange.
• Energy: Be comfortable talking about the movement of energy from one form to another (starting with the sun), how energy can be stored, what heat is. Be able to apply energy to what living things do (e.g. how we get energy from food).
• Motion: Know what kinetic energy is and how it can be transferred into other forms. Know how to calculate average speed.
• Floating and Sinking: Know the major misconceptions and how you could demonstrate why these aren't correct. Be able to give a simple explanation of what density is.
• Sound: Know the basic changes we modeled in class and how to explain them. (Page 336 in the text has a good simple explanation of sound.)
• Electricity: Be able to explain a basic battery-bulb circuit. Know how to determine whether a bulb will light given a particular set-up. (The text has a lot on electricity if you need to review.)
• Natural Selection: Be able to explain how adaptations develop through natural selection.. Note the major misconception that organisms change because they want to or need to and know how to challenge this.
• Phases of Matter: Know the characteristics of each phase of matter. Be able to think of a way of acting out what the molecules are doing during these phases. Know how things move from one phase to another and be able to relate this to heat energy.

For each of these topics, you may be asked to suggest a good demonstration or exploration that would allow kids to explore the idea. You also may be asked to come up with an assessment or to look at student work and analyze what's right and wrong with it.