Tuesday September 15th, 2014

Today's Quote: 

Recap:

Yesterday we met in the computer lab, 4-109 and we will be there all week. I returned the Simpsons homework to the classes and debriefed how it was graded. Students who scored less than a 70% were asked to have parents sign it and return it today or have silent lunch. They were also given the opportunity to correct their mistakes for 10 additional points. I reminded them that not all questions on my assignments are worth the same number of points and the ones that require more thoughts and actions are worth more. I equated that with this example: "If you are going to McDonald's and I ask you to remember to order me a small fry, in life, that's a 2 point problem. But if we are standing next to a nuclear missile and I ask you to help deactivate it, in life, that's a 50 point problem." The moral; don't skip the 50 point problems for a small fry.

We went over what would be included in the 4 week grades, what would be on today's quiz.

I modeled how students should do science research for their project by using this example.

I like to snorkel and one of my favorite places to do this is at Sebastian Inlet on the east coast of Florida. I like this area because it is the boundary of the temperate and tropical ecosystems (referenced 7th grade standards). These areas are referred to as ecotones and you find a diverse ecology where many different species from both zones overlap. One day while snorkeling, I turned over a rock and an octopus reached out touching me. This raised the question in my mind, "I wonder how many different types of octopi live in the inlet and why they live here. Before I can begin to answer my question or make a hypothesis, I have some basic questions to work out.

1. How many species of octopi might be found in this special area called an ecotone?
2. What conditions are necessary for octopi to thrive?
3. Is there anything special about this area that would allow so many octopi to be in this small area?

Now I need to go to the computer and start doing research. I asked students to open a blank word doc and save it into their drive. As they did research copy and paste what they think is important into the document and save. We will refine our data later.

NOTE: It was brought to my attention that students MUST save things they want to work on from home to their One Drive! 

Agenda: 

Quiz...Quiz...Quiz!  After the quiz students can use the computers to do more research.

Quiz:

1.  You think that a certain part of your brain is important in memory. To test this, you will remove this part of the brain from rats and see if they remember how to get through the maze. What is the independent variable in this experiment? A. Remembering how to get through the maze. B.Removal of a certain part of the brain.
2. Harvester ants often strip a bush of all of its leaves. Some people believe this helps the plant grow thicker, healthier stems. In an experiment, a student stripped off all the leaves from a set of plants. In a second set of identical plants, the student allowed ants to strip off the plants’ leaves. In order to improve this experimental design, it is most important to add a set of plants — A. of a different species of plants. B. with different types of ants on them. C. plants with their leaves on.
3. You want to measure the effect of different amounts of oxygen on the rate of yeast growth. What is the dependent variable? A. rate of yeast growth. B. amount of oxygen.
4. A florist wants to see if Product X will extend the life of cut flowers so that they last longer. What is the dependent variable? A. the life of the flowers. B. adding Product X.
5. A soap manufacturer wants to prove that their detergent works better to remove tough stains. What is the dependent variable? A. removal of the stain. B. detergent.
6. Put the steps of the scientific method in order (write them out on your paper) A. Share your results B. Ask a question or make an observation C. draw conclusions D. Make an hypothesis E. analyze data F.design and perform an experiment.
7. You've done your experiment and your results DO NOT support your hypothesis. What should you do next? A. Change your hypothesis to match your results. B. Start over and change your experiment? C Report on your experiment and be certain to share your data including any errors you think you made. 
8. A Hypothesis should be three things. What are they? A. an educated guess B. testable C. repeatable. D. different from everyone else E. logical F. written as an If/Then statement.
9. Who were the three people most important to the formation of our modern scientific method?  Einstein,  Plato,  Socrates,  Galileo, Heisenberg, Aristotle, Watson, Abu al-Hasar, Bohr.
10. What gets graphed on the X axis of a graph?  A. Dependent variable B. Control Variable  C. Independent Variable  D. It varies depending on the experiment.

BONUS: How many markers do forensic scientists use to determine a genetic match in DNA fingerprinting