Nick Watkins

Day 176 - 180 Physics: ended with a short research CER on energy mixed use by major population area. Lots of great 1-1 convos to end the year, able to put on some WC games for portions of class. Ended the year with staff of the month award! docs.google.com/document/d/1... #iteachphysics #teach180

Day 169 - 175 Physics: this class was mostly seniors and they finished school two weeks early. Left with just three students we focused on renewable energy sources. Developed wind and solar energy sources and determined what made sense for our locality #iteachphysics #teach180

Day 177 - 180 Physical Sci: prepped for and took the final! Last day of school only had a few students so it was uno, yearbooks, and trips to the dumpster #iteachphysics #teach180

Day 164-168 Physics: Students worked on and then presented their thermodynamic projects and models. Great to see students explain processes that seemed like a black box. This was the final for seniors and their last assignment ever so very bittersweet! #iteachphysics #teach180

Day 171 Physical Sci - talked about albedo effect and positive feedback back loops. Used #vernier light sensor to measure reflectivity of different color surfaces #iteachphysics #teach180

Day 168 - 170 Physical Sci: Covered 6 factors that affect climate. Latitude, ocean current, wind, elevation, relief, nearness to water. Started with notes, then analyzing a N American city, then given a fictional continent to describe climates of different regions #iteachphysics #teach180

Day 167 Physical Sci - Did carbon cycle game today where students move around the room and roll dice to find different carbon sinks and how it shifts. Halfway through make an update to the game so students who previously were stuck in fossil fuels get released far faster #iteachphysics #teach180

Day 165 Physical Sci - Today we modeled the greenhouse effect and collected some data using #vernier sensors by heating up an atmospheric air bottle vs a CO2 bottle. #iteachphysics #teach180

Started climate with an adapted lesson from the @perimeterinstitute.ca lots of graph analysis and whiteboarding greenhouse effect. Honestly not a great lesson coming back from a 4 day weekend 😖 #iteachphysics #teach180 docs.google.com/document/d/1...

Day 163 Physics - Final week for seniors next week so ending with a project where they model applications of thermodynamics (fridge, heat pump, combustion engine, etc) #iteachphysics #teach180 docs.google.com/document/d/1...

Day 162 Physics - wrapped up thermo lab and had students complete a CER to determine what material of block they had according to the specific heat capacity chart. Only one that was way off was the iron block which I think got thrown off due to it having a coating on in. #iteachphysics #teach180

Day 163 Physical Sci - Discussed hot spots and Hawaii and how the sea floor volcano chain provides evidence for theory of plate tectonics #iteachphysics #teach180 docs.google.com/document/d/1...

Day 162 Physical Sci - last day for one pagers, lots of students will need to take theirs home to finish or come in after school for extra time #iteachphysics #teach180

Day 160/161 Physical Sci - continued working on our plate boundary one pager. Favorite question is asking students to analyze why these regions (PNW, Japan, Pacific Islands, Iceland) have such unique cultures due to their geologic processes #iteachphysics #teach180

Day 159 Physical Sci - wrapping up plate tectonics in a hurry! Ss will create a onepager model diagramming and explaining how a surface feature is formed #iteachphysics #teach180 docs.google.com/document/d/1...

Day 159 Physics - our school had prom on this Friday AND it was senior skip day so in this class of seniors only two showed up! We whiteboarded and modeled heat pump and refrigerator systems with a focus on what compressors and expansion valves do #iteachphysics #teach180

Day 158 Physical Sci - I adapted this NPS resource about Indigenous storytelling about Mt. Tahoma (Rainier). Showing how oral traditions show evidence of past eruptions that match the geologic evidence long before this land was stolen. www.nps.gov/common/uploa... #iteachphysics #teach180

Day 157 Physical Sci - Consolidated our plate boundary learning and had students try to identify what boundary type made some of earths most unique landforms. docs.google.com/document/d/1... #iteachphysics #teach180

Day 157/158 Physics - Notes on 1st law of thermodynamics. Many demos with syringes beginning with students using them to boil water by rapidly decreasing pressure. Stuck a vernier temp probe in one to observe significant temp rise. Sub day for day 2 to do practice probs #iteachphysics #teach180

Day 156 Physical Sci - Finished our plate tectonic diagrams. Interest starting to click! Lot more google map viewing to see mountain ranges and trenches. I went to Uni in Los Angeles and talked about how often we’d feel earthquakes which blew my Ss minds #iteachphysics #teach180

Day 156 Physics - Charles Law today and discussed compressed air cans and hot air balloons. #iteachphysics #teach180

Day 155 Physics - Did a lab on Boyles law and Gay-Lusaac Law using vernier probes to investigate relationships between pressure temperature and volume #iteachphysics #teach180

Day 154 Physical Sci - following up plate boundary lesson with a helpful self-directed sim. Had another kid begin barfing but luckily had already planned to take the day 🙄 May has been rough. #iteachphysics #teach180 docs.google.com/document/d/1...

Day 153 Physical Sci - another barfy kid another sub day. One of my favorite lessons became the sub plan, going over tectonic plate boundaries. Later found out that Canvas was down/hacked so will need to revisit #iteachphysics #teach180 docs.google.com/presentation...

Day 153/154 Physics - Stomach Bug finally caught up to me and all 5 family members. Just a punt on the week. Had students do notes and an interactive activity about Ideal Gas Laws #iteachphysics #teach180

Day 152 Physical Sci - Began to connect density with subducting plates. Did the density column demo to demonstrate unequal densities lead to layering instead of mixing. Introduced ideas of plate boundaries #iteachphysics #teach180 docs.google.com/document/d/1...

Day 151 Physical Sci - Sub day so led with a @phetsims.bsky.social density lab to reinforce connection between density and earth layers docs.google.com/document/d/1... #iteachphysics #teach180

Day 152 Physics - Introduced 3 thermodynamic laws using @phetsims.bsky.social Sims phet.colorado.edu/sims/html/en... phet.colorado.edu/sims/html/st... And did some live demos #iteachphysics #teach180

Day 150/151 Physics - Began our HVAC and thermodynamics unit today. Began with a simple warmup of does a ceiling fan cause a rooms temp to increase, decrease, neither. Then went over some notes and introduced heat energy formula and 0th law. Practice problems on day 2 #iteachphysics #teach180

Day 150 Physical Sci - Ss asked “why is this iron so much heavier than the rocks even though it’s way smaller?” Finally density is starting to click. Lab with granite, basalt, epidote, and iron for earth layers density #iteachphysics #teach180

Day 148/149 - took sick days with my kids being sick. Physics took their fluid unit test, physical Sci did a Phet density lab. But made it to school for our multicultural assembly which is the best! Love getting to advise and coach my Asian club with the lion and dragon dance. #teach180

Day 146/147 Physical Sci - talked about earths layers and density using our notebook model and ESRT resource to analyze properties of each layer. Gave Ss samples of granite & basalt to compare, we’ll see them again during our next density lab #iteachphysics #teach180 docs.google.com/document/d/1...

Day 145 Physical Sci - introduced earths layers with a “scale” model in the notebook. Want 100% compliance? Have students copy a drawing/model. A little bit mindless in the moment but becomes a great resource #iteachphysics #teach180