Using Models to Describe Earthquakes

I think that sometimes students do not realize the affects of natural disasters. Earthquakes are happening all over the world, even in the United States. The destruction cannot be comprehended. I had the students design models of any type of structure, it could be a house, a building, a bridge, etc. Many students used paper to represent many of their structures while others used wood or plastic. All of their models had to fit inside of a shoe box.

Once the students had designed their structure we had a "natural disaster" to hit our town. Many of the structures where destroyed in a matter of minutes. The shoe boxes were crushed and could not be repaired. The structures that had the least amount of damage where made of plastic. We used this analysis to talk about how building in Japan and other developed countries who have earthquakes frequently must invest in earthquake resistant materials when building. We also compared our bridge with material that is used in California that allows the bridge to move with the earth and this allows the structure to survive a natural disaster.

Overall, the students did a good job of understanding that you cannot prevent a natural disaster like an earthquake but that you must be willing to use materials that are able to withstand the disaster.

Why we have organs that we do not use

I have always found it fascinating that we have organs that we do not need as humans. We all know about the appendix, gall bladder and so forth. My question to Ask A Scientist was about why males have mammary glands when they do not produce milk and do not use this body part for anything. I have not heard an answer to this question. I am under the impression that it does take a while if ever that an answer is given.

Prezi made easy

When viewing the tutorial for Prezi I realized how many different ways that I could use this Online Presentation Tool. I like how you can map what you want your story to be and easily change it. It is also nice how you can share via blog, email, or many other ways. I also like how Prezi is free for teachers. I am very excited to use Prezi, I hope that my experience with this online presentation tool is as easy as the demonstration made it seem.

HOUSEHOLD INSULATORS

When completing my experiment for this week, we were to chose four insulators and predict which insulator would do it's job the best by providing the most insulation. I chose aluminium foil, parchment paper, cloth and a paper towel. I predicted that the aluminum would provide the most insulation because of it's properties consisting of medals. Medals are a good conductor of heat and so naturally this made the most since to me. So after thirty minutes I measured the temperatures and to my surprise all of the water's temperatures were within one degree of each other.

If I was performing this experiment with my students I would have them research properties of their materials first so that they would have insight on what makes a good insulator. Also I would have them study hot verses cold water and extend the length of time being studied.

Marbles and Momentum

I chose to investigate how different surfaces affect a marbles momentum. I chose five different surface, two smoother-granite and glass, two rough-burlap and concrete, and one that had properties of both-wood. I realized that I had to apply the same force to create the same momentum in my experiment. So I build a launching pad, a plastic tubing at 105 degrees. I decided to use distance to measure my results.

Before beginning the trails on each surface, I made sure that I had enough space to allow each marble to travel the maximuim distance. I then made sure my launching pad was straight so that the marble would travel straight. As I launched the marble on each surface, I completed three trails per surface and averaged my data to get a medium result. During the experiment the smoother surfaces allowed the marble the travel greater distances than the rougher surfaces. I was able to see that friction is caused with surfaces that is not smooth. My results were what I had predicted, the smoother the surface the farther the marble will travel.

During the experiment the launching of the marble was not a problem because I had forseen this and built a launching pad so that the marble would basically get the same force for each trail. What did not work well was the distance that was traveled on the smoother surfaces. The distance was great and measuring it could become troublesome for my students. I would consider using time with them to ensure more accurate results.

I would make this experiment more fun for my students by having them design their own experiments, they would not have to use marbles or the same launching pad, I would allow them to explore how surfaces affect momentum in anyway they choose. The only requirement is that they learn the relationship between momentum and how friction affects the distance traveled.

I do feel that this experience is related to their lives because they encounter this relationship if they walk and especially if they play sports.

Students learning about Living and Nonliving Things

My students were very eager to see what was in the paperbags. First graders are easily excited. I gave them the bag and they were suprised to find about 12 different types of candy inside. We spent the next fifteen minutes sorting it by what they have in common. I then gave the students the word classification. We moved on to talking about the question on the board; "How do we know if something is living?" They were quick to come up with what they thought were characteristics. One misconception was it moves. Even though some living things do move so does rain and clouds and they are nonliving.

With more questions we finally came up with these four questions to ask to see if something is living or nonliving: Does it need water? Does it need food? Does it need air? Does it need shelter?

We then looked around the room and found items that are living and nonliving. Some of my students were able to list and others asked to draw their things. I accepted both from my students. When viewing their learning samples you will see how the students were able to show their understanding of living and nonliving things.

I then showed them some examples of living and nonliving things and we went through our characteristics and was easily able to answer our questions of whether it was living or nonliving. You can tell by my students work samples that it was them answering the question and if they had all yeses then it was living.

My students enjoyed the inquiry learning because they were coming up with their own characteristic and then we would put it to the test and they were amazed how easily it was able to tell if something was living or nonliving. It is important for students to classify at an early age because science has a lot of classifying.

Ice Caps Melting Away?

If the polar ice caps melt away I don't think it will have any affect on the volume of water that is currently in the oceans because whether the water is in the liquid form or the ice fold it has the same in volume. The only way that water will be "added" to the ocean is if the ice caps that are currently on land, like the ones in Greenland and Antarticia, melt or break off and are added to the ocean. I think that the more pressing question as to global warming is the reflection that the ice has to the sun to keep our Earth cooler. As the ice caps melt that means less ice reflection to keep the Earth cool. I do have a solid belief that Earth has a way of taking care of itself. Our Earth has survived volcanoes erupting, earthquakes, meteors and many other natural disasters. The Earth has always had a way of correcting what went wrong to make sure the survival is in tactic.

The other questions that I have about this topic are about how important the ice reflection is in regards to our temperatures on Earth. Also in my research I have learned about a way that Mother Nature is self correcting the carbon dioxide problem that we are facing. I am looking forward to more data being generated as to how plankton are taking care of this problem for us. It is believed that as the ice caps are melting and floating northward; deposits of iron are being made. Plankton thrive on iron, as more plankton are taking in the iron they are able to process the carbon dioxide.

Melting Icebergs

I am interested to see how this science experiment goes. I really don't think it is going to "overflow". I know that ice is more dense than water but I know that when you have a glass of water with ice and you leave it overnight in the morning my counter is still dry and all of the substance is still in the glass. I am approaching this experiment with this thought in mind.

My only questions are will it affect our dry land by creating more water over the now dry land? Have we thought about the reversal of this problem; an ice age? Which one would be more damaging?