The Conn: Thursday and Friday, February 9 & 10, 2017

Today's Quote:

'Forests, lakes, and rivers, clouds and winds, stars and flowers, stupendous glaciers and crystal snowflakes - every form of animate or inanimate existence, leaves its impress upon the soul of man.'
~ Orison Swett Marden

Image by Lee Jin-man

Recap:

6th graders worked on the Chromebooks to complete the movement of continents through time. To accomplish this they had to use their created map overlays of earthquakes and then find the seismic monitor on HILO, Hawaii. Using real-time GPS data, students tracked this station's movement over a period of 1 year. They then had to predict the Hawaiin island's location in 10 years, 100 years, 1,000 years and 1 million years. We ran into a bit of a snag as the county website was blocking access to the GPS data page so we found a different website ad students had to develop a conversion factor to compensate for the lack of a printed page. I explained that this is how real researchers sometimes have to do things too. You can just hit a wall and sit there.

7th grade began the speed of a neural impulse lab and will finish it today. In the lab students have to catch a falling ruler using three cues; visual- looking at the ruler, auditory- with eyes closed their partner says "drop" as they release the ruler, and tactile- the ruler is touching their hand as it falls. We will run the calculations today and graph our results.

8th graders finished up the unit on reading speed, time, distance, and acceleration graphs and how to use slope to discover the speed or acceleration of a moving object. Today we will take the hovercraft out into the courtyard to demonstrate Newton's three Laws.

Become an Earth Guardian Leader. Short Application (Deadline today!)

Brain Bender:

Picture a bridge four kilometers long and strong enough to hold ten thousand kilograms, but no more. A loaded transport truck weighing exactly 10,000 kilograms drives onto the bridge. At the halfway point, a Sparrow weighing 30 grams lands on the truck, yet the bridge doesn't collapse. How could this be?

Agenda:

(This should be written in your planner every day)
Vocabulary Builder word list

NOTE: There is no vocab this week and You may take a break from IXL for the week!

7th Grade- Finish Speed of a neuron lab and graph results in Google Docs. E- mail results to me. Turn in your answered questions by the end of the period.

8th grade- Newton's Three Laws using the hovercraft

Motion Webquest

6th grade- Finish Task 3 and answer the questions. Move onto mapping volcanoes on map overlay and answer the questions. Due at the endof the period.

Dynamic Earth website-

Geology.com

Musical Plates- A webquest
Introduction to GPS (Global Positioning System)
Hilo GPS data
Current Volcanic eruptions worldwide (Use this map for activity #4)

Periods 1 &2

Human Reproductive System

Speed of a Neural Impulse Lab.

How to see your blindspot where the optic nerve attaches.

Periods 3 & 5

Musical Plates- A webquest

Periods 4 & 6

Take notes over these videos:

Lab and web quest

Egg Lander Pricing list: As we discussed in class, businesses must balance their choice in production materials with the goal of making a profit. Everyone wants to use the BEST materials, but everyone ALSO wants to make a profit. What happens is, you have to make trade-offs. Choosing alternative materials allows you to ensure quality and safety while still maintaining a healthy profit margin. This is a RISK you take in business. We are going to apply an element of this risk to your egg landers.

The fine print:

You may work individually or as partners.
You must form a corporate name.
You will purchase ALL materials for your egg lander vehicle. (I may have some of them in the class, but I cannot supply everyone, everything) I will supply one "eggstronaut" to each individual or partner group.
You must use the following "risk" points guide when purchasing materials:
If you manage to successfully land your vehicle with your eggstronaut intact and within the target zone, you will get all of your RISK grade points back.
As payment, you will also receive one "get out of test free" card, usable on any regular class test or quiz.
The landing zone: you must land within the target zone. Two grade points will be subtracted from your overall total for every .5 meters outside the target zone. In the real world, precision and accuracy are extremely important and costly in both time and money if they are not part of the constraints of any project.

Materials cost sheet:

Item purchased: Grade point spent:
Food products (Peanut butter, Marshmallow cream excluded) 20pts
Consult with an expert 15 pts/10 min

Tissue paper (like you wrap gifts in) 10pt/2 sheets
Legos 1 pt per Lego

Styrofoam anything 10pt/2 items

Bubble wrap 10pt/3 square inches

Aluminum foil 10pt/ 3 square inches

Cotton balls/batting 10pts/5 each or 1 snack bag loosely packed

Sponges 10pts/3 square inches
2- liter bottle or plastic bottles 5 pts
drinking straws (10) 5 pts
Popsicle sticks (10) 5pts
Small boxes (1) 5pts
AC filter media 5cm x 5cm square 5 pts
Ziplock or plastic bags 1 each 2pts
Papertowels each 2pts
balloons each 2pts
sand/soil per 5 g 2pts
grocery bags paper or plastic each 2pts
newspaper 2 pts per sheet
rubber bands 5 each 2 pts
hot glue 2pts/stick
Index cards 2pts/5
string 2pts/ft
coffee filters 2pts each
Scotch tape 1 pt/foot
Heavy tapes- duct, packing- reinforced, book binder 10pt/foot

Speed and acceleration Notes

Parachute Egg Lander Goals:

Be able to understand Newton's Law of Gravitation and how to apply it.
Know Newton's three laws and how they apply to everyday life.
Be able to describe the motion of a two and three-dimensional object
Show proficiency in designing and building a device capable of landing an egg safely on the ground and calculate how much force it would experience if dropped on Mars.