Partner Evaluation and Reflection

Well, the Socratic Seminar on Climate Change came and went. Hopefully you were able to share your knowledge and point-of-view on this subject with your classmates. I say this because your opinion/knowledge matters. A lot.
Below is a link to your partner evaluation and your own reflection on the discussion we just had (and the research that led to it). Please include anything you might have wanted to say, but did not get the chance to. Show me what you know about Climate Change. Thanks.

Partner Eval and Reflection Form

Socratic Seminar on Climate Change

Is "global warming" actually happening? If so, are humans causing it? Or, is climate change occurring because of natural fluctuations in the system? We will be discussing these questions and more in our Socratic Seminar on Climate Change, which will occur during class on Wednesday. Today, you will be preparing yourself to contribute (intelligently!) to that discussion. I will give you a list of questions that will be addressed, and you may use the links provided to research the issue of climate change. Remember to have an open mind, so that your arguments will be well-informed.

Here is the list of questions that may be discussed: Google Doc; Word Document). Open up the Google Doc if you have an account/Chromebook and "make a copy" to write on. If you don't have Google Docs, open up the Word document and save it to your home folder. Feel free to write notes on it as you research. You may use these notes during the discussion on Thursday.

Here is the list of links:

EPA for Kids (click on the "Climate Change -- what it is" and "Can we change the climate?")

Icecap Facts and Myths

American Policy Roundtable

Global Warming: Natural or Manmade?

Global Warming 101 (Roy Spencer)

Environmental Protection Agency

USA Today Interactive

Global Warming: Did We Cause It?

Global Warming Effects

AMNH's Climate Change

Temperature Anomalies
Climate Timeline
Bias in Scientific Research
ClimateGate Article

Riding the Booster Video

I know we learned about Astronomy during our 3rd quarter, but I found this video to be fascinating enough to put in the blog now. They hooked cameras up to a booster rocket (basically a metal cylinder filled with rocket fuel), and filmed what happens from launch to splash-down. It's pretty crazy.

"Thanks, Atmosphere" RAFT

Whether we are conscious of it or not, we owe a lot to our atmosphere. It protects us from harm, and provides us with what we need to live. I would like you to write to the atmosphere detailing how it is able to accomplish these things for us. This is your topic, but you may choose your "role", "audience", and "format". For ideas and instructions, click here (they are also in your packet):

Atmosphere RAFT Instructions

After reading the directions you can begin to write your letter, advice column, series of text messages, journal entry, or whatever it is you choose to write. Once you have made the necessary revisions and corrections, copy and paste your creation into a comment on this post.

Good luck to all of you. Let the creative juices flow.

The World's Deepest Ocean Trenches

Check out this link that helps you explore ocean trenches. What's the most interesting thing that you saw? Would you want to be the next person to go down to the Mariana Trench? Why? Why not?
Ocean Trench: Take a dive 11,000 m down

If you have the time, also check out these videos from National Geographic about plans to once again go to the Mariana Trench.

Density: Coke vs. Diet Coke

Crazy 8s: Don't let the title of this post fool you. This is not a taste test . Instead, we will test these objects' densities. Please follow the directions that are given below the slideshow.
Coke vs. Diet Coke Density

• Click on "comments". Like always, this will open up a new window where you may type your blog response.
• Advance to the next slide by clicking on the right portion of the slideshow. You can also click on the left portion if you want to go back to the previous slide.
• In your blog response, answer all questions that appear on the purple-ish slides.
• Do not advance to the next slide until you have completely answered the questions that appeared on the purple-ish slides.

Density and other stuff Form