As Adam helpfully posted below, the students have been learning about the energy cycle in ecosystems and the Earth in general. We started off by reading a NASA article about albedo, which is the ratio of reflected solar energy to the total incident solar energy. The students then came up with their own experiments that tested reflectivity. We had some very creative experiments and some very interesting results. Apparently, darker paper does light faster than white paper under a magnifying glass. Who knew?
The next experiment we’ll be working on continues the energy theme and tests the effects of the urban heat island. Students are working on developing their questions right now (with guidance), and will be starting to test them in the next two weeks. These experiments are shaping up to be just as interesting as the albedo experiments!
