Lillian+Sims

Lillian Sims

I am a high school science teacher in Cincinnati Public Schools. I have been a teacher for 8 years. Prior to becoming a teacher I was a product researcher for a local consumer products company. Before changing careers I was often asked if I was a teacher. I have taught Physical Science, Physics, Chemistry, and Anatomy & Physiology. My favorite course was Physical Science because for many students that was their first high school science course. My class served as the entry point for high school science, therefore I felt it was my responsbility to expose students to interesting an challenging course.

My current role is Consulting Teacher/Teacher Evaluator so I am not assigned to a specific school in the district.

[|Moive: 2012] In the movie, not only do asteroids and meteorites strike land surface, they seemed to be aiming at a vehicle moving across Earth's surface. This can be seen at 1:13 minutes in the trailer.

Science Assessment Probe: **Where Would It Fall?** page 157 “Six friends are talking about asteroids and meteorites that could fall to the Earth. The friends wondered where an object from space would most likely fall.” Six students give answers about where steroids and meteorites are likely to fall. The answers include: a desert, where humans are living, in an ocean, in an ice-covered area, on the largest continent, and in a body of freshwater.
 * //Uncovering Student Ideas In Science//**, Volume 4

The purpose of the probe is to assess student thinking about the distribution of land, oceans, freshwater, and ice. Since water covers 71% of the Earth’s surface, steroids and meteorites are likely to fall in water. Asia is the largest continent but makes up about 1/3 of the Earth’s land surface.

[|Movie: The Italian Job] This movie is used to illustrate misconceptions about how weight can change. In the movie thieves steal several thousand pounds of gold buillion. The amount of gold is so heavy that it causes a falling safe to crash through several floors of a home. When the gold is tranferred to three Mini Coopers it does not affect the speed and mobility of the Mini Coopers which swiftly moved through streets and sewers during a car chase. I read that the amount of gold stated in the movie would equal about 2.5 times the weight of each Mini Cooper. Surprisely the miniature cars were able to outrun police cars which had little to no weight compared to the Mini Coopers.

If you viewed the movie in its entirety, you would see that the thieves were able to detect which armored truck was carrying the massive amount of bullion based on their lowered shocks. Yet the thousands of pounds of had no apparent effect on the shocks of the Mini Coopers which moved effortlessly during the chase.

Science Assessment Probe: **Standing on One Foot,** page 61 "Maria stood on her bathroom scale with two feet. She read her weight on the scale. She then lifted one foot." What do you think happened to the reading on the scale when she stood on one foot.:
 * //Uncovering Student Ideas In Science//**, Volume 4
 * 1) It showed an increase in weight.
 * 2) It showed a decrease in weight.
 * 3) Her weight stayed the same.

The purpose of this probe is to determine whether students think their weight changes when force exerted per unit area on a scale changes.