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Week 14

  1. What did you do in lab?  In lab this week, we first discussed the interviews we had with an elder in our life. This was insanely interesting to me, because they all had such rich pieces of guidance or information in the conversations with the people I spoke to. We then continued to speak about the Greenhouse Effect. To investigate this, we looked at a PhET simulation, which modeled what it looked like to have various things in the air that make it harder for humans to breath and operate. Lastly, we watched a video all about CO2 emissions in the air and the kinds of effects it has on the life on this planet.  2. What did you learn in Thursday's lecture?  In Thursday's class we furthered our discussion on the CO2 changes in the atmosphere. We related this to sun absorption and what kinds of house materials can make for the most logical choices. We also talked about solar panels and the many benefits they have for many reasons. We then connected this back to past c...
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Week 13

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 1. What did you do in lab?  Today in lab, we spoke about greenhouse gases and the effect that they have on Earth's atmosphere. As a table, we worked together to look at several different graphs and the spoke about the thing they are representing. In the picture depicted above, the graph is representing how winters in Iowa have gradually seen less and less snow as the years have progressed. This is because the planet is warming and is seeing less snow as a result.  2. What did you learn in Thursday's lecture? In Thursday's class, we furthered our discussion about climate change and the effects warming has on our planet. We spoke specifically on the rising sea levels, which is eventually going to completely wipe out the state of Florida in the future. Finally, we spoke about the Paris Agreement, which was a way to try and limit climate warming and involves hundreds of nations across the world.  3. Pressbook Chapter 22: Climate: Background Information In this textbook ...
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Week 12

1. What did you do in lab?       * The big question:   Can we "see" climate change happening?                                               How do we know that the Goldfinch is in danger in Iowa?  This weeks lab was the introduction to our climate science unit. To explore one of our main class questions, regarding the state of danger for Iowa's Goldfinch, we worked together with a group to research this question pertaining to a section of the state of Iowa. To do this, we took a look at the precipitation levels within the past hundreds of years. We then could deicide if the bird would be able to thrive in the conditions depending on how much rainfall that area of the state was seeing.  2. What did you learn in Thursday's lecture? In Thursday's class we took our Earth Content Assessment.  Pressbook Chapter 21: ...
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Week 11

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  1. What did you do in lab?  This week in lab, we began discussing the Law of Superposition, which states that the oldest layer within a sequence of rocks is at the base and the layers are progressively younger with ascending order. We looked at many rock diagrams and tried to figure out if we could tell which layers were the oldest and which were the youngest. We then talked about the different characteristics of sand and how to tell if it is created through water, glacier, or wind erosion. We looked at 11 different samples of sand underneath a microscope and tried to see if we could figure out how the sand was created.  2. What did you learn in Thursday's lecture? In class on Thursday, we talked about if cans of soda will float or sink and what kind of ingredients can affect this fact. We then talked about the Archimedes Law and how that relates to specific gravity. The formula for that is the following: W(air) / W(air) - W(water).  Pressbook Chapter 17: Rocks and...
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Week 10

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  What did you do in lab today?      *The big question: Is it a rock?  This week in lab, we began discussing rocks. This idea was introduced to us by taking a Google assessment having us decide if various things are considered to be rocks, for example dried mud, glass, hardened lava, limestone, brick, and more. To explore rocks even more, we were instructed to work with our tables to explore the differences between sedimentary, igneous, and metamorphic rocks. We practiced heating Starburst, dunking them in water, and let them cool on the table. This gave us a chance to look at the rock cycle, specifically the changes between igneous and metamorphic rocks. In addition to our exploration of rocks, we also had a discussion about student assessment. We talked about how teachers should pay attention to the amount of student growth, instead of just looking at each individual grade. To do this, teachers can give an assessment at the beginning of the year and then measu...
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Week 9: The History of Earth

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1. What did you do in lab today?  This week in lab, we talked about the creation of many things that occurred in our planet's history: the appearance of humans, dinosaurs ruling the Earth, first land plants, first land animals, and the creation fo the moon. To further our understanding of this timeline, we looked at Earth's history projected onto a 24-hour clock, which depicts many different factors and when they first appeared on Earth. In addition to this, we began to speak about plate tectonics and the kinds of effects earthquakes and volcanoes have on the Earth.  2. What did you learn in Thursday's lecture? In Thursday's class, we took our Space Content Assessment.  3. Pressbook Chapter 15: History of Earth  In this chapter, I was able to learn about the timeline of the history of Earth. I had never before seen it laid out in this way, and I think it is because of that that I was able to truly grasp the concept.  I think the most helpful part of this chapter...
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Week 7: Our Solar System

1. What did you do in lab today?  Big introduction question: Right now, today I looked up in the sky, pondering life and all it's mysteries. I was startled to see that we were currently in a "full moon" phase. Why was I so startled?  Today in lab, we began speaking about the first four planets in our solar system. To understand the size and the distance between our planets, my group and I conducted a model to scale made our of play-doh. We used the NASA website to find how big each planet was going to be and how far apart they are from one another. We used a meter stick and ultimately ended up taking up the entire foyer of the Lindquist center, which was insanely shocking to me.  3. What did you learn in Thursday's lecture?  In Thursday's lecture discussion, we talked further about the planets that make up our solar system. We also talked about how the moon orbits around Earth. We learned that it takes around 28 days to do this. We also were able to see this in a ...
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