High School Science
By Dr. Vicky Boone
November 08, 2016
Anatomy & Physiology:
A highlight for the A&P students was our trip to Bryan in Lincoln in October. Students were able to check out a number of different health care related fields, talk to students and instructors from Bryan and UNMC, and participate in some hands on activities. Students will also be going to Doane in November to visit the cadaver lab, sit in on a college class, and attend a presentation on what it takes to be successful in college. In the first semester students learned about the internal organs and tissue types, the integumentary system (skin), and the skeletal system (bones). Students are now building muscles on their small skeletons. They now know the muscles of the face and are beginning to work on the thorax and upper extremity.
Chemistry and Applied Chemistry:
This is an exciting year for chemistry as the last 4 known elements of the periodic table have just been named! Because of this, our periodic tables proved sadly out of date, so the chemistry classes created a new periodic table on the ceiling of the classroom that includes the new elements. Each student was responsible for 3 elements and reported on the properties and uses of their elements. While doing the table, we studied the structure of the atom and how the number of protons, neutrons and electrons can be ascertained by understanding the configuration of the periodic table. We looked at electron configuration and the electromagnetic spectrum including why elements emit different colors when heated. We also did some simple experiments and worked on how to write a lab report. One highlight of the first semester was the experiment 7th period did for the elementary students on the physical reaction that takes place when an agent such as Mentos is added to pop and causes the CO2 or “fizz” to rapidly escape. They found diet coke worked the best for our reaction and the resultant geyser went almost as high as the school. They followed up the experiment by allowing the elementary students to perform a similar experiment and see what happens when root beer is added to ice cream. Currently students are working on chemical nomenclature and reactions. We will do more experiments this quarter and begin to understand balancing equations, molar quantities and working with acids and bases.
Physics:
During the first quarter, physics students explored Fermi estimates, vectors, motion, velocity, acceleration and forces. We are currently working with forces and Newton’s 3 laws of motion. You may see the physics class in the hallway, stairwell or outside -- dropping balls, launching balls at different angles, chasing a bowling ball with a broom, predicting motion of a pool ball or even working on a catapult. In addition, they will be found in the classroom working problems about the distance required to stop a car, land a plane, how to pull a car out of the mud with only a rope and a tree stump, or how to use a pulley to place a leg in traction.
