MOST POPULAR VIDEOS

• 2:26 Week 15: Dec. 13-17, 2021

  This week's slideshow depicts: 8th graders conducting a simulation of Natural Selection of bird beak physical traits; 6th graders conducting an investigation into the evolution of the chemical composition of Earth's atmosphere over the past 4.5 billion years; 7th grade fun class photo on our playground that they included in holiday greeting cards they made for each Decatur staff member; and an end to our last school day of the year 2020 with some time spent on SEL community-strengthening activities such as Kahoot review games of class Science content or fun competitive board games!
  
  Happy Holidays and New Year to all of our amazing Decatur JHS Students and Families and I look forward to seeing everyone again on January 3rd of 2022!

  Uploaded Dec 19, 2021 by Gerard Kovach
• 2:00 Week 6: Oct. 4 - Oct. 8

  This week's slideshow has some images of: 8th graders learning microscopy skills so that they can better understand the microscopic scale of cells and cell nuclei as they continue exploring heredity and genetics in their Reproduction inquiry unit; 7th graders conducting a cooperative lab experiment on cellular respiration where they used Bromothymol Blue indicator solution to gather evidence of cellular respiration in yeast cells which were fed either glucose or starch; and our class aquatic zoologists taking good care of our classroom aquatic ecosystem.
  
  Thank you for checking in this week and please make sure to ask your child for more details of what they explored in class this week!

  Uploaded Oct 08, 2021 by Gerard Kovach
• 00:35 4th grade Plot Work Featured

  Students worked this week on identifying different parts of plot in the book Under the Quilt of Night.

  Uploaded Oct 17, 2020 by Ryan Cherry
• 00:29 6th Graders Don't Work at a Snail's Pace :)
  Uploaded Nov 26, 2021 by Gerard Kovach
• 2:02 Food Truck "Tweets"
  Uploaded May 18, 2020 by Katherine Cooper
• 1:52 June 6-10: 7th Grade Guest Speaker

  A special thank you to Decatur parent, Ms. Karen Bucher, who visited our 7th grade Science class to present on her exciting STEAM career, which happens to coincide with our 7th grade class' exploration of biological sciences this year, and recent Bullfrog Dissection Project. Ms. Bucher shared with our class her passion and background for both Art and STEM, which led her to her career as a medical illustrator for the Journal of The American Medical Association, as well as Professor of surgical illustration at UIC's Biomedical Visualization Graduate Program!

  Uploaded Jun 11, 2022 by Gerard Kovach
• 3:09 Week 15 of 2022-23| JHS Science

  This week's slideshow highlights: Several pics of 7th and 8th graders conducting the last stages of their STEM Fair Projects--testing their hypothesis and collecting-analyzing-interpreting their data; Several pics of 7th and 8th graders participating in other students' STEM Fair Project experiments as test subjects; 7th graders conducting a lab to collect evidence of plants giving off oxygen during photosynthesis in high light conditions and using oxygen during cellular respiration in low light conditions; 8th grade debating the tradeoffs of human use of plastic, aluminum, and glass for single use drink containers as part of their new unit, Chemistry of Materials; 6th graders exploring a computer simulation to investigate the different types of lithospheric plate interactions and movement as part of their Geologic Process unit; and a pic of a rare sighting of our class catfish, Leroy, in our aquatic Lake Michigan ecosystem. Thank you for checking in with us this week:)

  Uploaded Dec 11, 2022 by Gerard Kovach
• 2:17 Week 21: Feb. 7--Feb. 11, 2022

  This week's photo montage includes: 8th graders working cooperatively to sort embryo cards of various stages of gestation for various vertebrates as part of their ongoing unit exploring "Evolution"; 6th grade students working in collaborative groups learning the skills of geologists using "remote sensing" skills to investigate "How are underground deposits of natural resources located" as part of their unit on "Earth's Resources; and another appearance of our class pet bearded dragon, Curtiss. Thank you for checking in with us this week!

  Uploaded Feb 12, 2022 by Gerard Kovach
• 1:27 Week of May 23-27, 2022

  This week slideshow depicts: 6th graders working on their integrated Maker-Space + Science Unit culminating project, where they were busy researching their cooperative groups' energy research topics, assembling their electronic circuit quiz game boards, and then beginning the design and construction of their renewable energy models that they will share with other classes at our first ever Decatur Energy Fair, which will be on Monday, June 6th; 7th graders wrapped up their SEPUP unit exploring evolution with a series of investigations into how homologous skeletal structures and comparative embryology are used by scientists to support Darwin's theory of evolution; and 8th grade wrapped up a unit exploring the physics of engineering and design of safer automobiles.
  
  This week: 6th grade will have special guest speakers in class on Thursday, as a team of Northwestern University's Engineers Without Borders Chapter will present to both 6th grade classes how they utilize STEM skills to help people around the world as part of EWB, as well as their own passions for STEM in general along with what it's like to be a college student at NU.
  
  7th grade and 8th grade will end the year with a Frog Dissection Investigation, which allows them to apply knowledge and skills that they studied within the biological sciences by exploring similar skills used by STEM career professionals such as medical doctors and surgeons, veterinarians, forensic scientists, ecologists, etc.

  Uploaded May 30, 2022 by Gerard Kovach
• 1:28 Weeks 4-6

  Please check out our video of weeks 4-6 Science E-Learning! Highlights include: students extending their inquiry learning with the 321 strategy based on Scholastic Science World Magazine Articles; learning the elements of experimental design through "The 4 Question Strategy"; a lab investigation exploring why leaves are changing colors through a leaf chromatography activity that some students also chose to perform at home; a related investigation into the invisible reaction of photosynthesis using the chemical indicator, bromothymol blue; integration of live animals/class pets in our new Science lab; and a special visit by Mayor Lightfoot!

  Uploaded Nov 03, 2020 by Gerard Kovach