A few more pictures

A few more pictures from our experiments and observations today. Looking from above after adding salt to the water and oil mixture, you can see bubbles within bubbles.

Class Update

Monday, December 14. Today we did an experiment and observations with water, food coloring, oil, and salt. We made observations and used what we knew about surface tension, density, solubility, and immiscible liquids to explain what was happening. Homework is due tomorrow. Read about Matter and Energy and answer questions 4, 6, and 8. We will have a short quiz on Wednesday, December 16th.

Class Update

Thursday, December 10. On Tuesday we finished coloring in our periodic tables to highlight the different families of elements and learned about some of the characteristics of each family (Alkali Metals, Halogens, Noble Gases, etc.). We watched a short video and listened to the music of Tom Lehrer: The Elements and They Might Be Giants:Meet the Elements (Check it out on Youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0zION8xjbM).
We went onto Teacher's Domain as well and watched some excerpts from Nova that told how the elements were created in Stars and Supernovae and took notes on how this process works.

Radio Projects

Here are a few of the Radio Projects that we worked on the last couple of weeks:
Flowers 2nd Period.

Bananas 2nd period

Class Update

Friday, December 4. Today we reviewed some basic chemistry definitions. We looked at how matter is anything with mass and volume and the variety of units of measurement for these qualities from gills to liters to gallons and carats to pounds to kilograms. We looked into compounds, mixtures and solutions as well. Homework for Tuesday, December 8th is to finish reading the handout from page 17 to 21 and answer question 5.

Class Update

Thursday, Dec 3rd. Today we continued our investigations into chemistry and the nature of matter. We tried floating paperclips on water, making careful observations and then explaining how this is possible based on what we know, what we have experienced and observed and what makes sense. We shared and critiqued ides as a group. Some ideas that were discussed included surface tension, density, floating and sinking, the "stickiness" of water, attractions between water molecules and other matter, and the attractions between water molecules themselves.

Class Update

Wednesday, December 2. Today we started our unit on Chemistry. Actually, we sort of started it yesterday. But today we did a little review of molecules, atoms, compounds, elements and the three states of matter. We followed this with an investigation of how many drops of water will fit on the top of a penny. We shared results, attempted to explain the differences in our results and started investigating how this much water could fit onto a penny. More to follow.
Monday and Tuesday we finished listening to our Radio Projects on imported products from Latin America. As soon as I figure it out, these will be posted on the blog.

Class Update

Monday and Tuesday, November 23 & 24. We spent last Thursday and Friday as well as this Monday and Tuesday working on our Radio Projects. They finished up their research and started recording their presentations using Garageband to create podcasts. We will get a chance to hear all of them next week after the Thanksgiving Break.

Class Update

Monday and Tuesday, November 17 & 18.
We have been working in our small groups researching the topics for our Radio Presentations. We are looking for information about how these products are grown in Latin America and exported to the United States. We are looking into the hidden environmental and social costs of these products and how this might factor into our decisions when we buy these products. The projects are due on Tuesday, November 24th.

Thursday, November 12. Today we split into groups to start our project on Imports from Central and South America to the United States. Each group will research either Coffee, Bananas, Cut Flowers, or Chocolate and look into the environmental and social costs of these materials. Each group will produce an investigative journalism radio piece in the form of a podcast to share the results of their research. These projects will be due on November 24th.

Wednesday, November 11. We went over the reading from "Confessions of an Eco Sinner" about cotton production and the manufacturing of a t shirt and the many hidden costs especially in terms of water and pesticide use. No homework.

Tuesday, November 10. We listened to a radio report from "Market Place" on National Public Radio, called "A Well Traveled Breakfast" that examines the distances traveled in the transportation of the food we eat. Check out the radio piece here: A Well Traveled Breakfast. We also read a story about Soccer Ball manufacturing in Pakistan that introduced the concept of Fair Trade and the many different issues that are involved in determining the price of something.

Monday, November 9. We finished our final posters, did the self evaluations and evaluated two others. We watched part of a film called "T Shirt Travels" about the second hand clothing industry in Zambia. Here is a short excerpt from the film on Utube: Tshirt Travels.

Homework is an excerpt from the book, "Confessions of an Eco Sinner." by Fred Pearce. It is the chapter about how cotton is grown. Reading due on Wednesday, Nov. 11th.

Class Update

Friday, November 6th. We worked more on our Story of a Shirt Posters. Quite a few people finished them and hung them in the hallways. Those people started the self evaluations and on Monday we should have all of them up and we will do the peer evaluations as well. In addition to researching origins of a shirt, some people chose to research pencils or sneakers.

Class Update

Thursday, November 5th. Today we continued working on the "Story of A Shirt" project. We are hoping to have it all finished by the end of class on Friday, November 6th (Tomorrow). We discussed how the projects will be evaluated by me, by themselves, and then each of them would evaluate two others. The evaluations will point out two things that they thought were well done and one thing that could possibly be improved.
Tuesday and Wednesday were block schedules, meaning that we only met once for 1 hour 15 minutes. We used this time to research the resources used and pollution created at each stage of the manufacturing of our shirts.

Class Update

Monday, November 2nd.
Today we started work on a project called, "Story of a Shirt." We used an article about how a shirt is manufactured and the resources involved in the manufacturing and transportation process. We will research the resources used and the pollution created. This will be put into a storyboard poster that will be finished on Friday, November 6th.

Class Update

Thursday, Oct 29th we had our Ecology Unit test.
Friday, Oct 30th, we read a story about the resources involved in making a t shirt and started filling in a chart that maps the sources of the materials and the energy involved in the manufacturing process. Class was short due to our Halloween schedule. This is an introduction to a mini unit on resources, pollution, and human impacts on the environment.

Class Update

Monday, October 26
Today we reviewed for the Ecology Unit Test that will be on Thursday, Oct 29th. We went over a study guide and started answering some of the questions. Tuesday we will have a practice test and do more review. Use the homework, quizzes, and notes to study.
Here is a link to the study guide: Ecology Study Guide 09

Class Update

Monday and Tuesday, Oct 19th and 20th
Lots of people were out sick these days which made it hard to keep moving forward. We discussed invasive species. We referred to the reading on Invasives and what defines an invasive species, both native and non-native. We read an article about an invasive fish species in North Carolina, the flat head catfish and discussed how this might be similar to the Cane Toads in Australia. We shared some of our opinions on the Cane Toads and turned in our Position Statements. On Tuesday, homework was collected and the discussion on Invasive Species was continued. We went over the reading and highlighted key parts and added some definitions.
Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday were a staff workday and Parent-Teacher conferences.

Class Update

Wednesday, Oct 14th.
Tommy is out of town. Hal Engler is substituting for him. Today they watched part of the film, "Cane Toads: An Unnatural History." This documentary explains the history of how this invasive species was introduced into the ecosystem of Northeastern Australia and its impact on the native species. It does this with humor and good science. It also interviews people who like the toads and want to see them protected.

Tuesday, Oct 13th.
We reviewed the game that we played on Monday about nutrient cycling. We looked more closely at the Nitrogen Cycle and the multiple paths that nitrogen can travel through the ecosystem. We read some information from The Land Conservancy about invasive species in North Carolina and the impact that they can have on local ecosystems. We looked specifically at The Princess Tree, Kudzu, Stiltgrass, and Chinese Privet. We went outside to look at the Princess Tree that is growing near the MS garden.
Passed out new Homework.
Read handout "Invasive Species" (pp. 3-11) and answer the last question on page 11. Due Tuesday, October 20th.

Class Update

Monday, Oct 12th
We played a card game the illustrated how matter cycles through an ecosystem. It emphasized how different nutrients become more or less available depending on where they are in system.
No Homework.
I will be gone Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday at a conference in Boston. Hal Engler will be subbing for me as we move into looking at the impacts of Invasive Species.
Friday, Oct 9th
No class, Advisee Outing
Thursday, Oct 8th
We reviewed the results from our Stream Survey of Invertebrates. We determined that the stream is actually pretty healthy based on the types of species that we found present. We talked about how the food web of the stream is very connected to the ecosystem through which it flows. A lot of food gets washed into the stream when it rains and especially when the trees lose their leaves.

Class Update

Tuesday, October 6th. Block Schedule.

1st and 3rd periods went on a field trip to Johnston's Mill Preserve on New Hope Creek. Looked for stream invertebrates under the rocks. We used a field guide to help identify them and made an inventory of species found to determine the health of the stream based on the number of pollution intolerant and pollution tolerant species.

2nd period will go there on Wednesday.

Monday, October 5th. Collected homework on biocides and biodiversity. Returned homework on the 10% Rule and Quizzes from Friday. Went over the reading, "Ecosystem Stability". Looked at how biocides (poisons) can concentrate in the bodies of organisms as they move up the food chain. Looked at history of DDT use in the United States and its effect on birds of prey and pelicans. Discussed monocultures and farming practices that can disrupt stable ecosystems and lower biodiversity.

Thursday and Friday, Oct 1st & 2nd

Thursday we went outside and investigated rotting logs. We looked for evidence of decomposition and used field guides to soil invertebrates to help us identify what we found.
Friday we had an open notes quiz on food webs, the flow of energy and matter, and the formula for photosynthesis. Then we looked at the Nitrogen Cycle and how it moves back and forth between the atmosphere and living things.
Homework is due on Monday, October 5th.

Class Update

This is coming a little late. Had some trouble with my internet connections this past week. Thursday, the 24th, we went over photosynthesis in great detail, modeling it with toothpick to represent chemical bonds, and Starburst candies to represent atoms. We used carbon dioxide and water molecules to assemble glucose and oxygen molecules, maintaining the same number of atoms throughout the reaction. Friday, the 25th, we collected homework and went over the communities and ecosystems part of the reading. We looked at our quizzes and emphasized how decomposers not only eat the dead organisms but also break down their wastes. We read an article about how pigs in Cairo used to consume the organic waste until they were all slaughtered to prevent the spread of swine flu, now the garbage is piling up considerably. The power of the decomposers!
Monday, the 28th was a holiday.
Tuesday, the 29th, we looked at the water cycle as one of the important forms of matter that gets recycled through several systems.
Wednesday, the 30th, we collected the homework on the 10% rule, looked at trophic pyramids (also known as energy pyramids. See page 55 in reading), and went over the Carbon Cycle as well.
New Homework was assigned:
Read the rest of the handout. pp 56-62. and answer questions 2 & 4. Due Monday Oct 5th.
Open Notes Quiz on Friday, Oct 2nd. This will cover energy and matter. We will review this some on Thursday.

Class Update

Yesterday we created food webs that might be found in different types of ecosystems (Desert, prairie, tropical rainforest, temperate forest, saltwater, and freshwater). We labeled the diagrams to show the flow of energy and matter through the food web.
Today we had our first quiz.
After the quiz we looked at the chemical formula for Photosynthesis. Tomorrow we will dig into this in more detail.
After these notes, I handed out some new homework:

• Reading: "Communities and Ecosystems" pp. 49-53. Questions 4 and 5 on page 53. This is due on Friday, September 25.

This reading will be done in three parts.
The second part is to read "Ecosystem Structure" pp. 53-55. Answer question 4. This is due Wednesday, September 30.
The last part of the reading will be due by Friday, October 2. Questions will be assigned later.

Class Update

Today everyone got back their homework (the questions on the readings, "Web of Life" and "Matter and Energy").
We went over how to label your homework: Have a title, the date, and your name.
We looked at how to best answer the questions. After you write your answer, reread the question and make sure that you answered what was being asked. If it says explain the difference between two things, then make sure that you address how they are different.
A good rule of thumb: When in doubt, write it out. Always add more details to make sure that you are getting your point across. Don't assume that I know what you are talking about.
We went through the answers to make sure that everyone had them to help them for future reference.
We introduced the Laws of conservation of matter and energy.
There will be a quiz on Wednesday, Sept 23, based on the reading homework.

• Matter and Energy
• Food Chains and Food Webs
• Members of a Food Web
• 1st, 2nd, 3rd Consumers
• Producers
• Decomposers

• Photosynthesis
  

Thursday and Friday Update

Yesterday in class, we collected homework and went over the difference between how energy flows through a food web and matter is recycled. Refer to the diagrams on pages 11 and 13 of the reading, "Matter and Energy."
We reviewed the Food Web Connections Game that we played on Thursday, Sept 17. We examined how as a model it did a good job of illustrating how a food web can be affected by the loss of key organisms and how it didn't do as good a job of showing the direct interactions between organisms within the web. We will revisit this game later in the unit after we revise it to more accurately fit the food web we are studying.
No Homework for the weekend.

Class Update - New Homework

Today we went over the reading, "Web of Life," and added some notes and definitions.
Homework was collected.
We did a web activity with string and cards that illustrated the connections between members of a food web and how ripples are felt through the whole web when different parts are changed.

New homework (Due Friday, September 18):
Read the rest of the handout, "Matter and Energy." pp.10-14. (This is the rest of the "Web of Life" packet)
Answer questions 3 & 4 on a separate sheet of paper.
Pay special attention to fig. 1.13 on page 13 that illustrates how energy flows through a system, and matter cycles in the same system.
Question 2 is a bonus question (optional). But please try to answer it as best you can.

Class Update

Today we shared our Articles about Environmental Issues in the News and turned in our summarizing questions "At Issue".
We summarized and recorded the topics and had a few brief discussions about them.
Reminder to do your homework for Wednesday, reading and questions.
See entry from Sept 13th for more details.

Ecology and Physical Science - EPS

Homework for Monday, September 14, 2009
"At Issue" handout
Bring in an article from a newspaper, magazine, or website about an environmental issue.
Answer the 4 summarizing questions and be prepared to share your article in class on Monday morning.

Homework for Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Reading: "Web of Life" pp. 5-10
Answer Questions 3,4,5 on a separate sheet of paper.