Weekly blog 9/4/16

Image link: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Differences_between_simple_animal_and_plant_cells_(en).svg


Summary: this week we reviewed the scientific method and we learned about manipulated variables and responsive variables. The manipulated variable is the variable that's changed and the responsive variable is the response of a variable being changed. Then we leaned about cells and cells make up all living things while atoms make up all living and non living things. Another thing is that cells were discovered do to a scientist looking at his teeth and he found bacteria which is a type of cell. Then the 3 rules of cells are 1. Cells make up all living things, 2. Cells reproduce from a cell that was already alive, and 3. Cells are part of the base of a structure.


SP6: Constructin explanations and designing solutions
The goal of science is the construction of theories that provide explanations about the natural world.  explanatory power.

Did you explain something through your work?

Answer: yes while we wrote down our notes in class about the cell theory we are explaining it through our notes.

Weekly blog 8/26/16

Summary: This week we learned about lab safety. A few rules are to make sure there's no food in the lab area, make sure to wear safety goggles, tie back long hair, etc. You also can't pour chemicals in the sink without the teachers permission. You also can't leave your lab area messy and unorganized. You can't block emergency exits, leave your stuff/backpacks on the floor where people can trip, and you can't leave a burner unattended.

S&EP: Asking Question and Defining Problems
A basic practice of the scientist is the ability to formulate empirically answerable questions about phenomena to establish what is already known, and to determine what questions have yet to be satisfactorily answered.

This week we established the rules of doing a lab and asked questions on why we should do those rules. We also asked questions of how and what to do in a situation. For example if we burn our hand then we have to put it under water and tell the teacher.


                                                                           
         Image source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8e/Bunsen_burner.jpg

Weekly blog 5/22/16

Summary: This week I learned about what kind of food goes in the categories of fruits, vegetables, protein, grains, and dairy. I know some foods that go into the categories but some things I don't know where they go like beans I wasn't sure which category they went in but in class I learned that beans are in the protein category. In class the whole class got into an argument of whether a avocado was a vegetable or fruit but we all learned that avocados are fruits because whenever a food has a seed or pit it's a fruit like a tomato. Another thing that I learned was about how a food pyramid works and how many servings we're supposed to have of a food group. A food pyramid is a pyramid that's built out of trapezoids and every trapezoid is a food group depending on the size of the the trapezoid that's how many servings of a food group you should be eating.


SP7: Engaging in argument from evidence
In science, reasoning and argument are essential for clarifying strengths and weaknesses of a line of evidence and for identifying the best explanation for a natural phenomenon. Scientists must defend their explanations, formulate evidence based on a solid foundation of data, examine their understanding in light of the evidence and comments by others, and collaborate with peers in searching for the best explanation for the phenomena being investigated.


Did you participate in a class discussion providing evidence for your answers, and/or used the ACE strategy in your work?

Answer: In class the whole class argued whether or not an avocado was a fruit or vegetable and some people said that it was a fruit because every fruit has a pit or seed.

XXC

Systems and System Models
IN SYSTEMS THE WHOLE IS GREATER THAN THE SUM OF ITS PARTS.


Identify the system and its parts; explain how the parts of the system work together

Answer: In class we learned about the food system and the food system is a pyramid that shows how much of something you're supposed to eat.

Weekly blog 5/15/16

Summary: This week I learned about the importance of food and why we eat it. The answer was that the importance of food is because we need it to survive. We need to eat food to survive and gain energy to move around and live. I also learned that some foods also go through a process which they start in a farm then end up in a landfill. When food goes through this it's called a food system. A food system has a beginning in a farm which is where the food starts and an end where the food get's composted or where the system ends.

SP7: Engaging in argument from evidence

In science, reasoning and argument are essential for clarifying strengths and weaknesses of a line of evidence and for identifying the best explanation for a natural phenomenon. Scientists must defend their explanations, formulate evidence based on a solid foundation of data, examine their understanding in light of the evidence and comments by others, and collaborate with peers in searching for the best explanation for the phenomena being investigated.

Did you participate in a class discussion providing evidence for your answers, and/or used the ACE strategy in your work?

Answer: In class we discussed what order the food system should go in at our table groups and we also talked about why food is important the next day.

Systems and system models

IN SYSTEMS THE WHOLE IS GREATER THAN THE SUM OF ITS PARTS.

Identify the system and its parts; explain how the parts of the system work together

Answer: The food system starts at where it comes from and then at where it ends it's in a landfill, composted, and or used for another purpose. These two work together because first the crops have to grow then at the end the wasted crops have to go somewhere, be used again, or repurposed.

Project blog 5/8/16

Summary: This week I learned about the berries in the coniferous forest such as the saskatoon berry, the thimbleberry, the wild sarsaparilla, the salal, and the beaked hazelnut. A fact about the saskatoon berry is that it's pretty healthy and that it tends to ripen in late June or early July. Then a fact about the thimbleberry is that it's related to a blackberry and a raspberry. I also learned about the wild sarsaparilla and its scientific name which is Aralia nudicaulis. There is also a fact about the salal which is that it can grow berries at one time and then at another time it doesn't have berries. One more fact which is about the beaked hazelnut which is that when it grows it's in some kind of green pod and you have to peel the pod off.

Backward-looking
How much did you know about the subject before you started?
I didn't know that much about the subject of surviving but I knew how to make a fire and clean drinking water. I also didn't know that much about the coniferous forest and I was surprised that most of the trees there are oak trees.

Inward-looking
What do you find most satisfying about the final product?
I think that what I'm most proud of out of the whole final product is the pictures and the descriptions because I think that me and my group did really good on them. What I also find satisfying is our poster because it looks pretty good.

Outward-looking
If you were a teacher what kind of comments would you make about this piece?
If I was a teacher a comment I would make about this piece is that my group tried really hard on this project. I would also say that some parts of the project were rushed.

Forward-looking
One thing I would like to improve on is....
I think one thing that I would like to improve on is the poster on how we put the paper on because the way the paper is put on it doesn't look smooth and it it's crinkled.

Weekly blog 5/1/16

Summary: This week in science we got a biome to research with a team and me and my team got the coniferous forest. Some of the things I learned about the coniferous forest is that the most common trees to grow there are confirs but the most common confirs are spruces, pines, and firs. A confir is a tree that is an evergreen, grows needles instead of flowers, and it also grows cones instead of flowers. There are also predators in the coniferous forest such as wolves, bears, foxes, and wolverines. A wolverine is a small yet very fierce carnivore and it's also related to a weasel and a stout. Other animals that aren't predators are moose, reindeer or caribou, and maybe deer.

SP1: Asking questions and defining problems

Science begins with a question about a phenomenon such as “Why is the sky blue?” or “What causes cancer?” A basic practice of the scientist is the ability to formulate empirically answerable questions about phenomena to establish what is already known, and to determine what questions have yet to be satisfactorily answered.

Did you ask a scientific question?

A question that the teacher asked us was that what were some things that would help you survive in a specific biome and what would be a threat in that biome. There were some things in the forest that we needed a description for and what it would do to us. We needed to state what it would scientifically do to us.

Scale, proportion, and quantity

SCALE, PROPORTION, AND QUANTITY HELP US UNDERSTAND HOW NATURE IS DIFFERENT WHEN WE STUDY THE VERY LARGE AND VERY SMALL.

Tell us what have you learned about how things change at different scales. This can be something that you notice in class or outside of class.

Identify a topic affected by scale, proportion or quantity and explain how things changed at different scales.

We also needed to put how many predators, eatable plants and animals, resources for shelter, and resources for fire we needed.

Message in a bottle story

 One day the Briedis-Ruiz family was on a cruise but the ship crashed in South america. The family had left all of their stuff on the ship including the money they had brought with them so they threw a bottle with a Message in it into the ocean in hopes that a relative or someone would find their message and come to get them. The bottle started it's journey off from South america and it traveled by currents. The bottle first got caught up in the Gulf stream first and traveled towards the Canary current. The bottle then goes downstream of the Canary current towards the South Equatorial current and then goes downstream again from there. When it goes downstream it gets caught up in the Brazil current and once again goes downstream in the Subpolar gyre. The Subpolar Gyre leads the bottle to the west wind drift current up towards the west Australian current. The bottle detaches itself from the current and ends up in Australia. 

A family from Australia finds the bottle and reads the message and the message was: "Please help we are stranded somewhere in South America. We have sent this bottle in hopes that someone will find the message inside. Please find us we need help!" The family find a fisherman and ask for his help and the fisherman kindly helps them. The fisherman is currently trying to find out where the Bredis-Ruiz family is. He finds the place where the Bredis-Ruiz family is but wants to make sure so he is trying to find a Route the bottle took. The fisherman finds the right route and explains it to the family who found the bottle "The bottle went from the Gulf stream, to the Canary current, then the South Equatorial current, the Brazil current, the Subpolar Gyre, then the Australian current, and finally towards Australia. But these currents also have differences such as salinity and some currents such as the Gulf stream, the South equatorial current, and the Brazil current have less salinity which means that they have more salt in them. But other currents such as the subpolar gyre, the West wind drift current, and the West Australian current have more salinity." the fisherman said as he finished explaining.

"But why does the Gulf stream, the South equatorial current, and the Brazil current have less salinity?" one of the children asked. "Well that's because there are other differences besides salinity such as temperature and density. The warmer the water the less salinity and density it has and density is the weight, mass, or thickness of something. But if the water is cold then it has more salinity and density because when things get cooled down their Molecules slow down causing them to get closer together and it occupies a smaller volume making the density increase. If something has less density then that means it doesn't have that much mass and isn't that heavy." the fisherman explained. 

"What about wind, how are the currents connected to it?" asked the father. "Well as for wind it's connected to ocean currents because wind creates currents. If your wondering how they're connected well it's because the winds go into a certain pattern like if the wind goes right then a current will also go right and now let's find that family." They all set off to find the Bredis - Ruiz family and they eventually did find them. They rescued the Bredis-Ruiz family and they all lived happy lives knowing that they learned something.