BAMS students participate in “cool” Glacier Project
Sixth grade science students look on as their “glacier” melts
Glaciers, a very intriguing topic for science indeed! Especially in the way they help with erosion and forming the land. However, we really only get to hear about what effects that glaciers have on the land. We never actually get to see exactly what or how the glaciers do this. That is, until two teachers from the 6th grade, Mr. Steve Conlon and Mr. Tim Trexler, planned a project for their sixth grade classes on how a glacier would break down rocks and shape the land.
On September 3, Mr. Conlon and Mr. Trexler began what will be referred to as the “Glacier Project” to teach the sixth graders about the sciences of glaciers and how the glaciers would be able to morph the lands into new shapes and sizes. Both teachers had already set the project up and got the materials for the Glacier Project, but they were planning to construct the project with their own separate classes. Said project had instances of the classes creating Dixie cups full of ice, rock and sand. The students and teachers would then let the Dixie cups sit in the freezer for two days, and then they took out the frozen Dixie cups to see the ice melt. The melting ice would then simulate how a real-life glacier would break up the rocks, soil, and gravel to mold the land. All of the students then sat in one room to watch the science take place.
Abigail Musselman and Brittany Yingling gave some of their time to comment on their experiences from the project. They had similar comments, saying that it was really fun to watch. Their favorite part was when the ice would melt and break up the rocks. When asked whether or not this project would be fun and helpful for classes of a newer generation, they said that they would definitely do as such, saying that kids of all ages would benefit from the experiment. All students had a really fun learning opportunity.
Mr. Trexler himself has some choice words to say. “It would really help the students, as the project took what kids could read in a textbook, and brought it to life.” The fact that students had created the project is a factor in this type of thinking. Mr. Conlon and Mr. Trexler both said that there both the teachers and the students had a fun time creating, managing, and, finally, watching the science unfold.
Overall, all of the sixth grade agreed that the Glacier Project was a memorable and enjoyable experience, and it won’t be leaving the minds of those who participated for a long time. I guess you could say that this project was pretty…cool.
