Scientific Method in Basketball

You all use the scientific method more than you think -- in sports, music, fixing things, etc. Here is a video of Mr. Hannemann trying to use it for success on the basketball court against me.

Signing Up for Stuff

Welcome Crazies!
Please use the written instructions and/or the video tutorials below to accomplish the task of "signing up for stuff".
1) Ediscio: It's a website where you can study interactive flash cards that have been made and assigned to you by your teacher. This will be a great way for you to review concepts throughout the year. It is also used so that I can give you feedback on certain assignments. You are going to sign up for an account, join the Crazy 8 2010-11 Class, and "chum up" with me, your teacher. (Then I can give you feedback on stuff..... we don't have to be "buds" if you don't want to be, but we do have to be "chums".) The video tutorial is on the "Memorial Science Vodcasts" wikispace.

2) The Blog: Now let's use this site -- our Crazy 8 Science Blog. This blog is a place where people (like us and your parents and the rest of the world) can take a look at what we've been doing in science class. It's my way of bragging about the excellent students we have at this school and on this Crazy 8 team. Many times during the year, I will have you post a comment on a blog post.... which shall be called your "blog response". The post below this one contains a couple of questions I'd like you to answer to practice this "blog response". To do this correctly, again follow the video tutorial (on the wikispace) and/or read the written instructions below.
-- Go to the post, titled "Nice to meet you, Crazy 8s". (It's just below this one.) Leave your comment on that post. Awesome.

3) Wikispaces: Click on the "My wikispaces" button along the left side of this page. It will bring you to our "Memorial Science Vodcasts", which is where all of the instructional vodcasts will be located and viewed from. You probably didn't know this, but you have a wikispace account already! Your username is your first initial and last name (no spaces). The password is your student ID number.

4) Our Science Website: There is is link for our science website on the upper left part of this page. This will be a place where you can find a tentative schedule for our class. If you're unsure about what will be going on during a given week, check out the schedule here.

Nice to meet you, Crazy 8s

Questions to answer in your blog response:
a) Describe something that will be a part of, or that describes, mastery learning from the prezi yesterday (if you don't remember or were not here on the first day of school, this prezi is embedded just below this blog post).

b) On a scale of 1 to 10 (one = get me out of here fast; ten = I'm so psyched that I cannot contain myself), how excited are you to have a science blog such as this one?

Mastery. It's What We Do.

What is "Mastery Learning"? on Prezi

Seriously.... the year's over already?

Tomorrow is the last day of school. For you Crazy 8s out there, this is your second-to-last day at Memorial. Has it sunk in yet? Are you excited? Worried? Happy? Sad?

Hopefully you're looking forward, at least in some degree, to the summer break. It will bring a new routine, and will be followed by another transition (high school). You will face many challenges, but that is a great thing. It gives you a chance to rise to the occasion, solve problems, and learn how much you're capable of achieving. I am looking forward to seeing what all of you do in the future because you all have many talents that are worth sharing (whether that's in the classroom, field, stage, court, concert hall, or all of those places). I will be your fan.

Feel free to visit the old alma mater. Feel free to leave comments/memories on our blog -- it should be here to stay. Good luck!

End-of-the-Year Essay

Choose one activity from this year and identify the steps of the scientific method that were included in the activity. Be sure to include an activity that involved all of the steps.
I'm also including a form for you to fill out if you have the time.

GPS Contest

That was pretty fun wasn't it? I enjoyed watching each team in action on Thursday. Hopefully the cold, rainy weather wasn't too tough to overcome -- it didn't seem to be. You all did very well, and every one of the film canisters was found...... eventually. Here are the results from the 2010 GPS Contest -- 2010 GPS Standings
Congratulations go to the winners of each class!
Period 3: Fighting Squirrels (32 points) -- Bailee H., Carter R., and Kendra S.
Period 4: Penguins (29 points) -- Cierra S., Kalynn S., Sarah Q., and Spencer P.
Period 6: TOT (35 points) -- Noah W., Brittani M., Cole H., and Hunter D.
Period 8: Echo (29 points) -- Mason S., Kyle S., and Michael L.

Feel free to leave comments that you have about the GPS contest. How was your experience? Were there any waypoints that you just couldn't seem to find? What was the best strategy? If you had to do the contest again, what would you change?