This Week In Science #15

This week in science what I did was my group and I redid the marshmallow challenge.  We had two opportunities to try to make our marshmallow sculpture the highest. This week I also made a tenth grade introduction video where I talked about my relationship with science and if it changed over the year. I also talked about how I expected tenth grade to go for me.

Diamond is drawing out ideas of what she think will work.

Chantel and Kaitlyn are working together to see if their idea will work.

Chantel is working to make the tower more efficient.

This year in science my ability to work in groups has expanded. The marshmallow challenge the first time was difficult because we did not each other. Our skills to communicate was lacking skills because even though we did not know each other we could have communicated better. The second time it wasn't as nerve wrecking but it still was very difficult. We had a little more experience working together because of this class and others. It was our tallest marshmallow challenge tower. I think that is because we weren't as shy so everyone put their ideas together. Lastly, at the end we had a few difficulties. It was our shortest marshmallow challenge. Everyone was participating and giving their opinions on what they thought would work. I think that, that caused our marshmallow tower to be short. Everyone was giving their ideas which made it a indecisive battle to see whose idea would be used. Personally I think it is easy to work in groups but in occasion it is also difficult to speak up when someone else has different ideas that they think will work. Throughout the year my communication skills have changed for the
 better. You do not to feel like you shouldn't share your ideas. Even though I do not find it difficult to work in groups I did not like working in groups because I think that I work better alone.

This Week In Science - 10th Grade Intro Video

I am Elizabeth and I am a current 9th grader which means in a few months I will be in 10th grade. I enjoy art, reading, and writing. School wise I have always been a fanatic of english because I like to read but science is a subject I enjoy. I still haven’t gotten to a point where it fascinates me completely which is where I would like to be because science is everyday life. I think I have grown in science this year because I have gotten better with skills such as communication because of the group work we did throughout the year. What I liked about science this year was everything. It was delightful to do all the different projects.The project I liked the most learning about the spiders environment and the necessities it had in order to survive. I was thrilled to put the tank together because it was fun but most of all because it taught me many new things about spiders. I didn’t struggle with anything this year because I found most of it exciting which made it easier for me to learn. I think next year will go as nicely as this year because I am  open-minded to new things.

This Week In Science #14

This week in science what I did was make a Marine Digital Food Chain. I think that is was very easy because during class I got a clear understanding. David did a lesson about Biodiversity. Toward the end of the week we made a presentation about overconsumption with our group. Each group got a certain topic like, natural gas, hydropower, petroleum, wind basics, solar basics, or coal basics. We had to answer some questions like whether or not the resources were renewable or nonrenewable. I think that my group did pretty well but we could have done better. I think part of it was due to not having time to rehearse. We were disorganized in who got to speak and not.

This week in science I learned about what is biodiversity. Biodiversity means the "variety of life." Bio meaning life and diversity meaning variety. My group worked on hydropower and we learned some new interesting facts. I found out that hydropower is nonrenewable. Hydropower produces the most electricity in the United States. Also hydropower relies on the water cycle and it makes sense because of the name hydropower. Hydro means water.

This Week In Science #13

In our tank there is a plant. It is somewhat alive. If we were too seal the tank and removed the plant the spiders are more likely to die than survive. I think that the plant is helpful because it helps complete the cycle of photosynthesis. If there were no plants in the tank the spiders would die because there would be no oxygen. There would be too much carbon dioxide because the spiders would keep producing CO2 without any plants taking it in. 

This Week In Science #11

This week in science we shared our knowledge on what words like plant cell, photosynthesis, water cycle, carbon cycle, and produce meant. We brainstormed ideas for our design for the tank. On Tuesday we went to the park to gather materials we thought would be necessary for our spiders cage. Later on both Zayra and I researched about what else we could put in our tank for the spiders chances of surviving higher. We modified it by adding additional things like water and a cave since the spider likes the dark.

This week in science I learned new vocabulary that can be useful for our cellar spider project. I also learned about a spiders environment. When we went to the park I learned what things where needs and where crucial for the spiders survival. At first I did not know much when I went to the park. I just knew some basic things for something to survive. On Wednesday I researched about what the spiders ate, the different sizes of the spider depending on the sex of it, and the type of environment a cellar spider live in.

This Week in Science #10

In science we went out to the schools community in groups and surveyed people about whether they cared and what they did to help the environment. They were numerous amount of answers. Some people seemed to care and some just didn't care at all. The most recent thing we did was put together our t-shirt design for Human Impact. Our design had to send a message about abusing energy and short and to the point. This task was harder than it seemed. There were many great ideas being thrown but we had to choose one.

For the last few weeks in science I have learned mostly about the environment. We learned about how all the humans that are living on this earth impact our own environment. Most of the impacts we cause are not positive. We pollute our own neighborhoods with litter, harmful gases, and other types of pollution. I learned how to care more for the environment through several information sources, one being the survey. The people I surveyed cared and I thought I should care more.

Watt's the problem?

This picture shows that New York City is very bright due to the overuse of light in places like Times Square. NYC uses to much light in comparison to other places in the United States.

Tidal Power Rolls In

Tidal Power Rolls In

          In the intriguing article it informs us about wind turbines and it's affect on our environment. The main point of this article was to tell us about the consequences of wind turbines. They back up their information by citing and links. The author was arguing that the new installation being made underwater are not harmful. It says that these turbines will be a benefit to us all and that there shouldn't be any concerns with this because it is fish friendly."In fact, while conducting a two-year study of the impacts of the tidal turbines on a surprising abundance of East River fish, analysts did not see a single instance of a fish being struck by a rotating blade." The investigators of the turbines found that the number of fish in the water did not decrease. They noted that large fish would simply avoid the rotating blades. 

I think that this article is interesting because it is probably still a topic that is being disputed. I am not very informed on the topic yet but based on the article it does not see very harmful though further investigation would be have to be done on my behalf. I still would like to know if it has any other effects to our community and not just to the fish. I would like to know if it has effects like sickness, or simply pollution. 

This Week in Science #9

This week in science I dissected a cricket and a skate. Both dissection were sickening yet incredibly fun. I learned a lot about those animals during the dissection. I think that this was something we benefited from and learned a lot from. I would to for there to be more hands-on extreme experiments like this.

This week in science we learned a lot about dissection. IWe learned new terms that would help us during the dissection. For example, ventral, dorsal, proximal, and distal. My parenter, Alexa, and I learned about the parts of the skate. We found organs such as the liver. I think this is an experience I will never forgot.

This Week in Science #7

1. This week in science what I did was make a video with my group. We each put our work to make our video.  I made slide about the vegetation in the Epipelagic Zone. I also did a slide about the secondary consumers in the ocean like the octopus. I drew a before picture of the ocean.  It had drawings of all the animals in the ocean by layer. Lastly I drew a picture of my animal I created. It was called the octosoa and it was an after picture of the octopus. The ocean dried out because of global warming. The octopus evolved because of their new environment. The got new features like their claws and a sponge like skin that absorbed and stored water to keep itself moist. 

2. What I learned this week in science is that the epipelagic zone is the only water zone that has plants. That it because that layer is the only layer that has direct sunlight. Some of the plants in the epipelagic zone are algae, phytoplankton, and seaweed. I learned about the landforms of the epipelagic zone. I saw the ocean currents of the ocean. I learned about the different animals that are in each zone. I learned about primary consumers, like the shark, and secondary consumers, like the whale, and the octopus. 

Challenge Activity

Kingdom:	Animilia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Artiodactyla
Family:	Suidae
Genus:	Sus
Species:	S. scrofa

Animalia means it is an animal. Chordata means it has a back bone. Mammalia means its nurses the young. Artiodactyla meant is an order of mammals that comprises the even-toed ungulates. Suidae means that it is in the pig, boar, hog family. Sus means it is a genus of the Suidae. Lastly S. Scrofa which is a wild boar. 

The other members of my group chose a chicken, cicada, and. They are similar to the pig because they are all in the animalia kingdom. 

The Wild Boar is the "wild" ancestor of the tamable pig. The wild boar, also known as the Sus Scrofa, is the "wild" ancestor of the pig. It is commonly found  in woodlands across much of Central Europe, the Mediterranean Region and much of Asia and has reached down lower to Indonesia. Wild Board can weigh as much as 900 lb and can be up to 9 ft long. Wild boars can be highly dangerous and aggressive. When it comes to eating they eat both meat and plants making them omnivores. They prey on reptiles, eggs, and amphibians. They also enjoy eating fruits.

Cricket Investigation

Question: Does the cricket prefer a light or dark environment?
Hypothesis: If the cricket spends more time in the light then the cricket prefers the light because it is more attracted to it.
Background Research: They are approximately 900 types of crickets. Crickets have good vision and good hearing. Crickets have compound eyes which means that they are able to see in many directions at once. When it comes to chirping crickets chirp more when the temperature is hotter. They chirp by rubbing parts of their body together. When the temperature is 52 Fahrenheit, crickets chirp about 60 times a minute. The reason crickets chirp is to attract female crickets. Only male crickets chirp. Crickets diet consist of fresh fruits, tomatoes, fresh seedlings, fungi, alfalfa, apples, bananas, grapes, and etc.

Behavior         15 sec.                  30 sec.                  45 sec.                 1 min

Walking:                     
Standing:              |                             |                           |                             |             Trial 1
Jumping:

Dark/light:        Dark                     Dark                      Dark                  Dark
                 
Behavior         15 sec.                  30 sec.                  45 sec.                 1 min

Walking:                           
Standing:              |                            |                              |                            |             Trail 2
Jumping:

Dark/light:        Light                    Light                      Light                    Light

Behavior         15 sec.                  30 sec.                  45 sec.                  1 min

Walking:                                                                          |
Standing:            |                              |                                                                        Trail 3
Jumping:                                                                                                     |

Dark/light:        Dark                      Dark                     Light                 Light

Behavior          15 sec.                  30 sec.                  45 sec.                  1 min

Walking:              |                 
Standing:                                            |                              |                           |             Trail 4
Jumping:

Dark/light:        Light                    Light                     Light                  Light

Behavior          15 sec.                  30 sec.                  45 sec.                    1 min

Walking:                                    
Standing:             |                            |                              |                           |               Trail 5
Jumping:

Dark/light:        Light                    Light                     Light                  Light

Explanation: In my data table what I did to collect my data I did 5 trials. I collected data by observing what the crickets were doing in the tank every 15 seconds. If they were walking I would put a tally mark next to it and if it was simply standing I'd put a tally mark next to that and the same thing with jumping. Along with seeing where they were every 15 seconds I wrote down if they were in the light or in the dark.

Conclusion: Based on my data table the cricket liked to spend more time in the light. At first the cricket was just in the tube which is the dark part of the environment it is in. Then it began to jump onto the tube which is considered as the light  part. My data supports my hypothesis because my hypothesis states that the cricket would spend more time in the light because it is attracted to it. When I started recording data the cricket was mostly in the tube but then it spend the rest of the time in the light.

This Week in Science #6

1. This week in science we did our cricket investigation. We researched about crickets. We  researched about their diet, and what type of environment they live in. We also came up with some ideas for investigation questions. Another thing we did in science this week was observe some crickets. We tried to collect data about whether the cricket like a wet environment more than a dry one. We used charts to collect our data. On Wednesday we classified jelly beans by their appearance. To me the word classify means to separate a group things by their appearance. We classified them by whether or not they had dots, or a specific color of dots. We made a dichotomous key for our jelly beans. The dichotomous key made it easier for us to understand and track which jelly bean was which.

2. This week in science I learned about crickets. On Monday I researched about crickets. I learned that they have good vision and hearing. Crickets have compound eye which means that they are able to see in many directions at once.  I learned about crickets diet which consists of tomatoes, garden fresh fruits, fresh seedlings, fungi, alfalfa, apples, bananas, grapes, and etc. I also found out the reason why and how crickets make music. The way that the crickets are able to make music is by rubbing their body parts together. They do this to mate with the female crickets. I learned how to make and use a dichotomous key. I used the dichotomous key to help me classify the jelly beans David gave me.

This week in science #5

1. This week in science we completed our rocket investigation. We all worked on our individual conclusion. We finished our rocket investigation and we are currently working on our next investigation which involves animal behavior. We watched some videos on youtube of animals and we wrote down some of their behaviors. We observed how they acted whether they were aggressive or friendly. We saw how one bird tried to mate with a human being. We also observed some crickets that David had in the room.

2. This week in science I learned how to write a better conclusion than last time. We learned how our independent variable affected our rockets distance. In my group the size of the fins did affect the distance of the rocket. That is because our rocket with the smallest fins flew the farthest and the one with the biggest fins few the least farthest. We learned about what were some of the behaviors of the animals we watched on youtube.

1. This week in science we did our write-up. Each member of our team contributed something to put our write-up together. I had to do the team members, background paragraph, experimental set-up and outcome for dark. Right now my group member and conclusion and after that we are done with everthing. Everything went pretty good.

2. This week in science I learned how to get a good grade by following everything on the rubric David gave us. I learned how to work even more cooperativly with people. I also learned how to do some tricks on Google Docs. Learning some tricks on the laptop made it more easier to work with the laptop.

This week in science #3

1) This week in science we our driving question was "How can we as scientist, conduct and publish a plant investigation that satisfies all the NDHS requirements and get us an A?" We did a list of things we needed to know about being graded. My groups testable question is "How doe the amount of light affect the Brassica Rapa's height? Our hypothesis is "If the amount of light changes then Cup B and C will not have any color because of the lack of sunlight. Throughout we did some observations and drawings from our plants.

2) This week in science David gave us a rubric. I learned about the requirements I need to fulfill in order to get a good grade in this investigation project. On Tuesday we learned more about hypothesis and procedures. I learned that our procedure has to be thoroughly written in order for everyone to be able to follow it. As for our hypothesis it is suppose to be written in the if-then-because format.

This Week In Science #2

1) This week in science we played with poppers and began our second plant investigation. On Tuesday we played with the poppers and did some observations. Some of the poppers were small and some of them were really big. We talked about dependent and independent variables. Then the next day, Wednesday, we planted brassica rapa in three cups. My groups question for this plant investigation is "How does the amount of light affect the brassica rapa's height?" Our independent variable is light and our dependent variable is the height of the brassica rapa.

2) This week in science I learned about the brassica rapa. The brassica rapa is a dicot. It has several different names it can be identified as. The brassica rapa grows better in moist areas and well fertilized areas. The brassica rapa is also used as a remedy, folk medicine. People believe it helps in curing breast, and skin cancer. To be used to help you have to boil the roots with lard. It is also occasionally suspected for poising pigs and sheep. I also learned a few things about the poppers. You can change the independent variable and that will affect and change the result of your experiment.