Science 8 – This year for our science 8 classes we have decided to use the Genius Hour concept for a student project. Because of the late start to the year we opted to not pursue a science fair. I was not super excited about a science fair, because while I think they are a great type of inquiry, I also think that there are a significant number of students that get little out of them because they are not at all interested in their project.
Most students are pretty interested in the Genius Hour, and most are feeling a bit uncomfortable with it. It is a new concept for them and very open-ended. I think many kids will struggle with coming with their topic of inquiry. It’s my job to help them through that process, but they will have to be somewhat proactive.
Handouts can be found here: Introduction and Project Definition
Some ideas so far:
- program a video game
- study swimming strokes through video
- What causes avalanches?
- Model general relativity and gravitational fields
