Chickens Take the Lead in 8th Grade Science at Walton Middle School
November 8, 2019
Mrs. Greer Harvell's 8th grade science students at WMS sure aren't a bunch of chickens when it comes to their learning--even when they dress like them.
In an effort to teach how mass, density, and volume relate to each other, Mrs. Harvell got creative. On Thursday, November 7th, she introduced the lesson with a short graphic novel, turned skit. In her third period class, Rolly Benitez and Pruedance Rivera dressed as chickens, volunteering to move boxes for Dr. Birdley, played by none other than Zane Woodham. The brave chicken actors thought that smaller boxes would be easier to move for Dr. Birdley, only to realize that they have more mass packed inside them, making them much more dense and thereby heavier to move. The students acted out this struggle before their peers to reinforce this key scientific concept.
After the short skit, Mrs. Harvell briefly led the class in an inquiry discussion about what they'd just witnessed in the skit. She then led the class in a choral reading of a science text about mass, volume, and density. After reading the material, students practiced working equations to find density, volume, and mass.
Mrs. Harvell strives to make science learning engaging for her students--even if means someone has to wear a chicken hat every now and then.