Sunday, January 30, 2011

Nature Observation- January 29, 2011

Yesterday, I saw a goose on the sidewalk by the tennis courts by the brick wall . The goose was hissing when you came near it. The goose was eating snow and looking around to see if anyone was going to invade his territory. Goose or Geese are scary birds be careful when near them.

Another Interesting Article to Read-

COCAINE KILLING FORESTS IN COLOMBIA



This article was found on January 29, 2011. It is an interesting article so you should check it out. The title is interesting. I would read more to find out why cocaine is killing forests in Colombia.

Important Facts from the Article: 
* tropical forest have been chopped down to grow coca plants, whose leaves supply the world with cocaine
* surround coca plantations suffer particularly high levels of deforestation, too, found the first study to quantify how coca is reshaping landscapes in Colombia
* the relationships between coca plantations and deforestation are complex  
*60,000 families that grow coca in Columbia and this is a family enterprise 
* Davalos started studying the connection between coca and deforestation in Colombia more than a decade ago
* Peru and Bolivia, Colombia is one of just three countries that produce coca leaves for the world's cocaine market
* At first scientist thought that coca might actually help reduce or stabilize clear-cutting because it is such an efficient crop. Compared to root like cassava, which requires a lot of space and effort to harvest but bring in a relatively small amount of money, coca is valuable for its dense leaf cover, and it fetches high prices. That means that coca farmers can pack a lot of value into a little space. 
* by 1990s though studies started to suggest that instead of slowing deforestation, coca was actually speeding it up
* forest cover dropped  from 56 percent to 46 percent in Central region of Columbia, and from 82 percent to 78 percent in South  
* coca accounts for just a small percentage of total deforestation rates
* areas that are closest to coca plantations, the study found, suffer disproportionate rates of deforestation, even after taking into account the location of roads, cities, rivers, mountains and other factors affect how accessible those areas are.
     
    The article is about how cocaine is killing forests in Columbia. It focuses on the relationship between coca plantations and deforestation. There was studies down by Davalos to study the connection between coca and deforestation. 


   It is important to read this article to know about the rest of the world. This article will also be important to read that not just cutting down trees for paper but the forest is becoming deforest because of the coca plant. The article is important to read to see what is happening in the rest of the world that had to do with science and how that environment can affect us. It was interesting to learn how the coca plant with its plantations can be a part of deforestation. It is good that one scientist decided to study the relationship between coca plantations and deforestation. This way that we can try to stop or prevent less forest from being deforestation or we could come up with another way to grow the coca plants. 


  I would use this in the classroom as a current events article. I would use this article when talking about forests like if I was teaching third grade. It is important for students to know about the world. A good way to teach students about the world is through bringing in a current article. It would be a great idea as a teacher to have students to also bring in current event articles about something happening in the world protaining to science. It is a way for students to expand their horizons and look up something that the student is interested in. I would also teach the students about the jungle and use this article to expand about what is happening to the different forests in the world and about deforestation. I would also explain about what can happen to a forest and what can cause deforestation to a forest. This article will be very helpful when I talk about the South America forest.









 This video is about the deforestation in the Amazon Rainforest. This video is to help explain the causes of deforestation. This video will be helpful for the students that I teach to see what is happening in a forest and what can cause deforestation and that problem can be solved. 







This video is about the Deforestation in the Amazon Rainforest. This video explains through graphs and pictures about why the The Amazon Rainforest is a deforestation hot spot. 





This video explains about why we should save the Amazon Rainforest. It is important to teach students the reasons why to save a rainforest. 

Fun Experiment This Week- Week 2- January 24- 28 Float Sink Or

  The Experiment occurred on January 24, 2011.  Float, Sink or??? Observation Experiment. It was a fun experiment that included using three beakers and figuring out what liquid was inside each beaker. Beaker A contained water. Beaker B contained rubbing alcohol. Beaker C contained oil. We had to see if the slate, cork, pine would float or sink in these liquids. It was a fun experiment that included answering questions. See more information about the experiment under class 3. 


   This experiment will be successful if first guided by the teacher. It is important for the students to have teacher guidance. It is important for the teacher to show the three beakers and ask the students to write down their observations. This way the students can show off their observation skills while using some of their five senses like smell, sight,and feel. It is important for students to also coporate with a group of two or three other students to see what observations the students made about the beaker's liquid.  Then it is important to for the teacher to have enough of the three liquids for the number of groups in the class. The three liquids and the cork, pine, and wood should be placed at each groups table. Students make predictions about whether the cork, pine, and wood will float or sink. The students then will answer questions and write in their science journal about what the students did during the experiment and liked about the experiment. This how the experiment is successful.  



  There are many ways to use this experiment in the classroom. This experiment should be first be shown by the teacher at the front of the classroom with the three beakers filled with liquid and students writing down their observations. Then a set of beakers for each liquid should be placed in front the students. The teacher should tell the students to read the directions and explain that the three objects the cork, the pine, and the wood are to be placed in the liquid to see which one floats or sinks. It is a good thing for the teacher to walk around the room and to see how the students are doing. The teacher should come to each group to ask questions and to make sure that the students are on track with their experiment.  The teacher should serve as a facilitator but should let the students do the experiment on their own and be there to help the students if the students are struggling with the experiment.  
If the teacher does not feel that the students can handle the experiment of Float or Sink then the teacher should just do the experiment as a demonstration.


  I like that this experiment is a good way for students to work in groups.   It is a great way to see if the students can use the information about density to help them with doing the experiment. This is a great hands on experiment. I like how the experiment can have students work together and solve the problem of how to put the liquid in and this experiment can also give jobs to students. Like one student in the group is the recorder, another student measures the length of the object and how much the object says a float, and the third students puts the object in each beaker. These jobs can be changed for each beaker. This a great experiment for students to see what objects float and sink and to learn about density.




Reaction to the Float, Sink , or??? Experiment: 

I think that the Float, Sink, Or activity was really fun. I think that I would use this activity in my class. I would have students work in groups of three or four. It is an interesting experiment. I would do whole class observations and  mini group of three or four observations .

Interesting Article Click on the Link to Read All About .....

Article Title
Carbon Tax on Carnivores 


This article was found on January 29, 2011. It is an interesting article so you should click on the link and read what the article is all about. Check out the interesting video below. It is a short video filled with a lot of information and I advice you check it out. 


Important Facts or Points  from Article: 
* tracking about $82, onto the cost of beef for every "ton of carbon dioxide equivalent" would reduce Europe's beef consumption by 15 percent. 
* By taxing all meats and milk, Europe's greenhouse gas emissions would be reduced by about 7 percent
*The greenhouse gas produced by cattle is methane, a gas 20 times more effective than carbon dioxide at trapping heat. 
* Cow produce methane in their stomachs. 
* gas exits the cow through both ends, mostly belches , but some as flatulence 
* the study proposes taxing pork less than beef and chicken less than both. 
* this makes sense since beef requires the most food and water to produce and the cows themselves release more gas than the other animals 
* benefit of the tax is that it doesn't require new technologies and could be implemented as soon as legislation was passed
* economically encouraging people to change their eating habits would not only be good for the environment, but would free up land for other uses 
* far more food can be produced on land farmed for beans, corn, and other crops, than if it was used for cattle pasture or producing animal feed 
* that food can be used to fill the bellies of millions of hungry people on the planet 






   The video above explains about how a farm works. It explains how there are only 50 thousand family farm now supplying the country and how the price for milk has gone up. It also explains how one family uses the cow manure to use for fueling their home. 

    It is important to know about how the carbon from the cows will affect the greenhouse gas. It is important to know how people could possibly improve their eating habits by reading this article. The article shows that it is important to change economically so that there is more free up land. 

   It is important to teach students about what gases are apart of the greenhouse. Some of those gases are carbon, and  methane. Greenhouse gases are  important to know about in order to understand global warming. This article talks about methane and its effects on cows.This article also talks about a carbon tax on beef.  Greenhouse gases are affecting global warming. It is important for students to know  about the different gases and as a teacher I will teach the students about the different gases through experiments and videos and notes. 

Science Stories: Chapter Two: Questions and Responses

Question 1:  What do you think the textbook means by your “scientific self”? When do you feel scientific?

     I think that textbook means a few things by “scientific self.” I think that the textbook is telling you to look inside yourself and find your own scientific approach and don’t rely on others unless you need some help. It is important for you to find your scientific instincts and to develop them. The feelings and attitudes about science help to shape you and can help to make you a great teacher of science. Your attitude toward science is also connected to your personal beliefs and your sense of yourself as a science learner. This is what I think the textbook means by “scientific self”.

   I feel scientific when I look at the stars at night and which stars form a constellation together. I also feel scientific when I plant a tree or plant vegetables in my garden at home. I feel scientific when I read a poem about nature or think about all the science that I have learned through all my years of school. I feel scientific when I do labs or read something that has something to do with medicine. I feel scientific when I do experiments. These are some of the things that make me feel scientific.   

Question 2:  Can you think of one of your own teachers whose positive or negative feelings about a subject influenced your own reactions? 


   My sixth grade teacher Mrs. Prebeck had positive feelings about a subject influenced my own reactions about science. She really made science fun by doing experiments and demonstrations. The plate tectonic demonstration, ph paper and acid and base experiment and the hot chocolate volcano experiment really made the subject of science in sixth grade really fun for me. These demonstrations made me want to learn science and enjoy science.    

Question 3:  If you made a drawing of a scientist while reading this chapter, think about it. What does it tell you about your attitude toward science? 


   I think that most scientists are white male nerds who hold instruments such as breakers, test tubes, and graduated cylinders based on the picture on page 43 in the textbook Science Stories by Jane Koch.

Question 4:  Can you name two women or minority scientists? Can you describe their work? 



http://www.wadsworth.com/images/spacer_tr.gif
  The two women are Madame Cure and Virginia Apgar.

      Madame Cure was a chemist and physicts. Madame Cure developed methods for separation of radium from radioactive residues. Madame Cure received many honorary science, medicine and law degrees. She was awarded half of the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1903for the study into the spontaneous radiation. In 1911 she received a second Nobel Prize in Chemistry for her work in radioactivity.

     Virginia Apgar had a career path of diagnostic and therapeutic services: anesthesiology. She designed and introduced the Apgar Score. “Apgar Score was the first standardized method for evaluating a newborn’s transition to life outside the womb.  She began studying obstetrical anesthesia—the effects of anesthesia given to a mother during labor on her newborn baby—where she made her greatest contribution to the field, the Apgar Score. This was the first standardized method for evaluating the newborn's transition to life outside the womb. "Five points—heart rate, respiratory effort, muscle tone, reflex response, and color—are observed and given 0, 1, or 2 points. The points are then totaled to arrive at the baby's score." The score was presented in 1952 at a scientific meeting, and first published in 1953. Despite initial resistance, the score was eventually accepted and is now used throughout the world. Apgar first planned the score to be taken one minute after birth, as a guide to the need for resuscitation. Others began to take measurements at longer intervals, to evaluate how the baby had responded to any necessary resuscitation. Eventually, the one- and five-minute Apgar Score became standard.

     Apgar went on to relate the score more closely to the effects of labor, delivery, and maternal anesthetics on the baby's condition. Colleagues Dr. Duncan Holaday and Dr. Stanley James helped her make these connections, providing new methods of measuring blood gases and blood levels of anesthesia, and contributing specialized knowledge in cardiology. Together, they were able to demonstrate that babies with low levels of blood oxygen and highly acidic blood had low Apgar Scores and that giving cyclopropane anesthesia to the mother was likely to result in an infant's low Apgar Score. Finally, the Collaborative Project, a twelve-institution study involving 17,221 babies, established that the Apgar Score, especially the five-minute score, can predict neonatal survival and neurological development.”[1]

Question 5:  What opportunities do you have to explore nature? Describe them.

   The opportunities that have to explore nature are through walking around campus and seeing the birds fly in the sky overhead. I also see the mountains with the snow in the distance by Aquinas Hall. I also see nature when I search on my computer through the search engine of Google images of different flowers. The snow piles on campus are another way to explore nature.

Science Stories: Chapter One: Questions and Responses

  1. What is an example of someone’s exhibiting a scientific way of thinking?
     An example of someone’s exhibiting a scientific way of thinking is a scientist or teacher of science. Scientist exhibit scientific ways of thinking through doing experiments. Astronauts exhibit scientific way of thinking through making rockets and different satellites that orbit the galaxies and planets to find more research about space. Medical experts and lab technicians use scientific way of thinking through discussing new cures for diseases and discovering better cures than the ones that exist already. Medical experts discover cures for certain types of cancer, small pox, and other diseases. Teachers of science exhibit a scientific way of thinking through doing labs and experiments. Doctors who make discoveries and do research to find cures for diseases exhibit a scientific way of thinking. Scientist exhibit scientific ways of thinking through doing medical and clinical trials for new drugs. These are some of the people and how they exhibit a scientific way of thinking.
  1. Can you think of a time when you had a significant misconception or alternative conception about the way things worked? How did you realize your thinking had to change?
     No, I can’t remember a time when I had a significant misconception or alternative conception about the way thing worked. If I did something wrong or had a misconception or alternative conception, my teachers were there to help me understand what I did wrong and explained to me what I did wrong through stepping-stones. My teacher’s showed me that thinking had to change if it was wrong.

  1. Why is it important for students not just to recite what they have learned but to demonstrate it in a new context?
       For a teacher to know that you know the material; you need to be able to demonstrate the material in your own way. Reciting the material is all well and good but it is like reading off the paper. When you become creative and demonstrate the material you learned in an original way like through a project you demonstrate that you understand the material in depth. By showing the teacher in a different way, he or she knows that you know the material that they taught you and that you also understand the material. 
  1. In your own life, how, if at all, has technology helped you learn? 
       Technology has helped me learn in many ways. Technology has broaden my horizons and has interested me to explore the Internet. I have used the Internet for research for different courses. Technology has helped me learn how to do references, save me time on research that I would spend in the library. By using technology and Internet the resources and websites are now at my finger tips. Computer search engines help to look up information in seconds where as in the past it would take a few minutes to look up the book in the library catalog and then go to have to find the book and then read through the book and see if the information is important. Now you can read the information from the website and see if the information is useful. If the information is useful then you can have it at your finger tips. Technology with computers and looking up articles has in a way saved less paper so in a sense you are going green. Technology with the invention of youtube can show videos of science experiments. Technology is an important tool to learn and use.

   Computers have been very helpful to me in terms of papers because typing papers can be a lot faster than to write out papers and word has spell check to help make sure that you spell words correct. By typing paper you can send your paper to your teacher and save trees in the process. Computers have email through the Internet so email makes it easier to communicate with others on a project. Skype is a communication program and you can communicate with friends and people you are working on a project with. Technology and computer help to save trees and lets me communicate with my friends.

    Technology has made it easier to communicate, learn, and easier to stay in touch with others and to learn from the Internet new information in a much faster way then before. Computers and the Internet have helped me learn a lot about technology. Technology helped me learn how to gather information on a topic that I was researching. Technology has helped me stay connected to people who I have worked on projects with and people who I am friends with.