Era report WAC

   My era is the Mesozoic era when dinosaurs ruled the earth. The reason why it's called the Mesozoic era is because Mesozoic means middle animals. The Mesozoic era is separated into three different periods which is the Cretaceous period, the Jurassic period, and the Triassic period. The two continents Europe and Asia both slammed into North America and Pangaea was formed. Pangaea is a super continent that soon drifted apart which formed Laurasia and Gondwana. The rest of the continents started to drift apart (continental drift) and they kind of had the look of what the earth is today.

   In the Mesozoic era besides dinosaurs and other animals, there was plants. Some plants that existed during the Mesozoic era was ferns, gymnosperms, and flowering plants. Ferns are plants that appeared after the Permian extinction along with gymnosperms. Gymnosperms are plants that had very good reproductive systems. Their reproductive systems were good because their seeds and pollen could go through a drought and then grow into the infant plant. Then the flowered plants entered in the Cretaceous period attracted many insects such as butterflies, ants, termites, and bees. In return the insects would spread the pollen to other plants. The flowered plants appeared on the trees such as maple trees and magnolia trees.

   Animals in the Mesozoic era included dinosaurs, small mammals, amphibians, and some sea creatures. Some dinosaurs in the Mesozoic era is the Apatosaurus and the Brachiosaurus which lived in the Jurassic period. There was also a small lizard like creature that was alive. They were called Diapsids and you could recognize them by their holes on their heads just behind the eyes. There are also the small sea creatures which is fish, corals, and Mollusks. Besides the sea creatures, some lizards started to be able to breath in the water and on land. This caused them to become the top of the food chain in the Mesozoic era.

   The climate in the Mesozoic era was tropical and it had a higher temperature than the Paleozoic era. In the Mesozoic era, there was also more deserts and less swamps since it was also dryer in the Mesozoic era than the, Paleozoic. Other than climate though there was also some important events, such as the Triassic extinction and 2 extinctions in the Jurassic period. During theTriassic extinction the creatures that became extinct was the labyrinthodont amphibians, conodonts, and all marine reptiles (the reptiles that could breath in water and land). Then in the Jurassic period the first extinction happened. Shallow water species and 80% of marine bivalve species went extinct during this time. Lastly the 2nd extinction happened near the end of the Jurassic period and some species severely affected by this, was the ammonoids, marine, reptiles, and bivavles, There was also some dinosaurs that were affected by this such as the stegosaurus and most sauropods. These dinosaurs didn't make it to the Cretaceous period.

   In conclusion there were some important events and some non important events that happened during this era. There were different plants and a variety of animals, some lived and some didn't. Some animals may have even only been alive in one period. But some I think evolved and survived to our modern world, or they might have just stayed the same and still survived. There may even be some animals that we didn't know existed in the Mesozoic era.

Weekly blog 9/17/17

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Image link: https://www.pinterest.com/rebeccagebers/history-~-world-prehistoric/

Summary: This week I learned about radioactive dating and about the prehistoric eras (Mesozoic era). Radioactive dating is a way for scientists/geologists to tell how old layers of rocks are and how to tell how old fossils are. Radioactive dating helps scientists/geologists know more about the Earth's history. The way that it works is that scientists read the radioactive signatures of rock layers to tell how old they are. As for the prehistoric eras, there are three different eras such as the Paleozoic, Mesozoic, Cenozoic, and the Precambrian eras. I studied the Mesozoic era which has three periods which are the Triassic, the Jurassic, and the Cretaceous. The Mesozoic era is the era when the rocky mountains formed and when Pangea happened. Pangea is when a part of land split from another part of land.

SP6: Constructing 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?

(This may be when you researched something)

Yes in class we got into groups and we each researched an era. We wrote down the information on a paper with questions asking things like 'name an important event from your era' and what era we were doing. We explained something through our work because we answered the questions and our answers explain what happened in the era.

Weekly blog 9/10/17

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Image link: https://www.nps.gov/subjects/fossils/significance.htm

Summary: This week we learned about fossils and about different layers of rocks. There are also different types of fossils. Some types are when an insect get stuck in sap and their body is preserved or when a plant or shell is stamped onto mud and the mud hardens creating the shape. Another is when a dinosaur died and it gets buried until a couple years later when a geologist digs it up. There are also different terms being used to describe certain rock layers. Some of which include relative age, absolute age, extrusion, intrusion, and more. Relative age is when you compare an age of something to another thing. An example is " she's older than him by 1 year" the example is comparing someone's age to another's. For absolute age it shows the exact age for something or someone. An example is "this car is 5 years old" or "my dog is 4 years old". These examples show the age is the car and the age of the dog. Then extrusion is when magma cools on the surface and it's younger than the rock underneath it. Lastly intrusion is when magma cools underground and the rock is younger than the rock surrounding it.

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. 

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

Yes we discussed different types of rock with each other. We took notes and when a question was on the presentation the teacher asked us to discuss with our table. We also did a worksheet about a certain type of fossil that appeared in one place and in another. We discussed this and people provided evidence from the paragraph when we went over the answers.

Weekly blog 9/1/17

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Image link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Featured_picture_candidates/Rock_Cycle

Summary: This week I learned about the rock cycle. The rock cycle is like a regular cycle but it has different paths for different rocks or for weathering/erosion. You can do the cycle a different way each time to get the same thing you started with or with a whole different rock. There are 3 types of rocks such as Metamorphic, Igneous, and sedimentary. Metamorphic rocks can be created when pressure is applied to Sedimentary rocks or when an igneous rock gets eroded. Then sedimentary rocks are formed formed from an eroded igneous rock which then goes through sedimentation to become a sedimentary rock. Lastly an igneous rock is formed when metamorphic rock is melted and becomes magma. The magma then crystallizes and becomes an igneous rock. But there are 2 types of igneous rock such as extrusive and intrusive. Extrusive is when the magma crystallizes above ground and intrusive is when the magma crystallizes below ground. To shorten it igneous can change into the other 2 types of rocks besides itself and so can metamorphic and sedimentary. Igneous: sedimentary and metamorphic, Sedimentary: metamorphic and igneous, and lastly Metamorphic: igneous, and sedimentary.

SP3: Planning and carrying out investigations

. A major practice of scientists is planning and carrying out systematic investigations that require clarifying what counts as data and in experiments identifying variables.

Did you plan and carry out an investigation?

(Mostly when we do a investigation, lab, or experiment)

Yes we did an experiment using gizmo and we saw what actions would create a certain type of rock. Just like how if magma crystallizes above ground then it's an extrusive igneous rock and if magma crystallizes below ground then it's an intrusive igneous rock. Also if you were to erode an igneous rock which could become sedimentary or metamorphic.