Wednesday September 9th, 2015

Today's Quote:

Recap:

Students were reminded that we are reporting to Bldg 4- 109 all week to work with the computers. Don't be late. Today we will go over how to create graphs using Excel. Thursday and Friday student will continue on their graphing project and have time to do science fair research.

I collected homework and those students who had signed up for REMIND thanked me for sending them text messages reminding them of their homework assignments. All parents and students should take advantage of this incredible tool; it is very helpful.

We discussed some graphing basics and I pooled each class to find out if they could, in fact tell me which was the X and Y axis. Seeing that some students had difficulty, I taught them my way of remembering; I taught them that " I see dead people."When I graph I have to draw cartoon stick figures, since I'm certainly no artist. My cartoon figure is usually asleep under my graphing board , (because making graphs is boring.... unless he's dead?) I can't tell the difference until I put X's over his eyes (because that's how you know when a cartoon figure has died) Now I know he's laying down, and he's dead since he has X's on his eyes, the X axis is the one that lays down- because I see dead people.After we covered graphing basics I reminded students to do their homework which consisted of watching the video on graphing and take notes and also visit the link to make certain their  graphing terms are correct. We will need this information tomorrow.Students were called to the board to start going over our scientific methods with The Simpsons. Many students did not take advantage of the tutorial I provided on calculating % difference for Smither's experiment so I offered them the opportunity to do it again and turn it in tomorrow. Students who did not do the homework were told that they can turn it in tomorrow for one letter grade less than they would have earned had it been on time. Student worked through a few examples as I pointed out that one or two word answers will not suffice to transmit their scientific date to an audience. For example, in Homer's experiment it doesn't suffice to say that his independent variable is the coconut juice. This doesn't give someone reading your conclusion sufficient information to duplicate your experiment. Instead, a better answer would be, "It appears that the application coconut juice to half of the green slime growing in the shower over a period of three days has no noticeable effect on green slime growth."  Students complained that that requires a lot of writing to which I replied, "Science is a harsh mistress and demands your best."

Today's Agenda:

Essential Question: Wait, What gets graphed where in a science experiment?

In the computer lab working with a partner, students will be given a data set from Planet Earth, and begin creating a graph in Microsoft Excel. Once we go through the steps of setting up our graph you will watch Graphing by Spreadsheet. I suggest opening this video and going step by step  in your open excel spreadsheet.
When you get to the computer lab, sit at a computer and get logged in immediately. All data will be saved to your student drive.
Don't forget to turn in your late homework or your redo of the Smither's percentage. (If you were absent on Thursday or Friday of last week, Please write "Absent" on it before you turn it in so I know to give you full credit.