SJD Newsflash – For the Love of Science

Students at SJD are never surprised when the Principal,  Dr. Poldmaa, visits their classroom. He is always eager to share what he knows  – especially if it involves Science.

On a recent visit to the Grade 1/2 classroom, Dr. Poldmaa found out that the students were learning about Energy in their lives. The students talked about the sun, the wind, electricity, their muscles, food, and batteries as forms of Energy. Dr. Poldmaa  told the students that he was going to bring in his potato clock from home. Potatoes? Wait, that wasn’t on the Grade 1/2 list of forms of energy!  Was Dr. Poldmaa pulling their leg?

A few days later, he arrived with a digital clock, some copper wire, galvanized nails, alligator clips and lots of potatoes. The students figured out that maybe the juice in the potato would help the digital clock work, kind of like a battery.  After hooking everything up the students were excited to see the digital clock working.  In fact, it has been working for over two weeks and it is still amazing the students.

The Grade 1/2 students have decided that they probably would not eat these potatoes. When the digital clock stops, the potatoes will be cut to see what has happened inside the potato.  On a more scientific note, the potato clock works by converting chemical energy into electrical energy, which is then used to power the clock. The potato, in combination with the nails and copper (which act as electrodes) acts as a battery.  Thank You Dr. Poldmaa for taking the time out of your busy day to share your love of science with the Grade 1/2 class.

In the Grade 3/4 class, the students have been learning about light and sound.  They have been lucky enough to have Dr. Poldmaa visit their class during  Science  to help them understand concepts and reinforce the learning they’ve been doing.   His love for science is evident in his visits, and this excitement  is contagious.  The class has been engaged and excited about  science learning.  Thank you Dr. Poldmaa for sharing your passion for science with the class.  They look forward to more of your amazing demonstrations.

In the Grade 7/8 classroom the students have been learning about cells, the building blocks of all living things. Dr. Poldmaa was interested in visiting the class when he heard about this and wanted to show them how to ‘see’ their our own DNA! They learned that the genetic material that makes them unique is in every one of their cells (the nucleus) and that by swabbing their cheeks and breaking the epithelial tissue around their cells (with soap) they could then extract their personal strings of DNA. The Grade 7/8 students felt like true scientists! Thank you Dr. Poldmaa for sharing your love of Science with all of us.

SJD is the place to be!