Digital Age Assessments

One of my favorite lesson that I taught as a middle school teacher was the very first lab each year - our Alka-Seltzer (R) rockets. I would put two unknown substances (Alka Seltzer and water) in a film canister and let the students watch as the canister would hit the ceiling of my room. They then have to figure out what I did with a given list of ingrediants and different types of containers. This teaches the scientfic method as well as provides experiences that we touch on throughout the course. Usually, I require a written lab report. I think that the next time I do this activity, I will have the studetns blog about their progress and their ideas so that their results might be more consistent. They also can determine a way to measure the height of their canister's travel through an electronic means.