Collecting Data

Today we moved onto a practical. If we want to understand how we vary from each other we must measure the different types of variation that we have.

So- as a class we collected data on: height, shoe size, hand span, tongue rolling ability, eye colour. This was recorded in either an electronic form (if using a computer) or in written form as a table in an exercise book.

The next stage is to process the data to visualise it clearly.

Intro to DNA Revolution

First of all, apologies about the lateness of this post. The school Google connection failed, blocking access to blogger.

Today I introduced the new topic, DNA Revolution.

We can all trace our ancestry back in time. Ultimately we share a lot of our physical traits with our ancestors. For example, if you are of Maori descent then it is likely that you carry some genes from Kupe and other Maori who first colonised New Zealand.

But that is not all. If we go back far enough all humans on the planet share ancestry with the first humans who arose in Africa.

We had an extensive discussion about physical traits.

Climate Change

Bit of a mixed lesson, unfortunately- with the wifi failing in the lab. So, we had to change and look at some book work and then a discussion on climate change.

This means that there is some homework that I need completed by the end of the holiday-

Research the causes of climate change (leading to global warming), including the effect of carbon dioxide.

Then- share all documents so far (Ollie- email me your 365 files, OR try sharing with me- there is a function to do this in 365).

Next term we start a new topic: DNA Revolution!

Accessing the Science Moodle Site

Students in the class can access the Moodle Site, where they will find a large number of supporting resources.

To access these, goto:

mymbc.school.nz

Then, login to your account (top left hand side of the screen).

 This uses your school gmail account (which will look something like 14XXX@student.mbc.school.nz

Enter your password and make sure Marlborough Boys' College has been selected.

Once you are in, choose science from the Curriculum menu (3rd tab in)

You should then see the following screen:

Choose year 10 science and then you are inside your science resources.

Choose Natural Events and you will have lots of resources to support you.

Remember, you will have an exam in this topic towards the end of the year!

Tukutuku

Today we created Tukutuku panels linked to the topic Natural Events.

Tukutuku panels are a brilliant way of telling stories and a number are crafted to tell the story of our environment.

Students had a go at creating tukutuku panels to represent aspects of the natural world, e.g. Matariki, the mountains, volcanoes and the earth itself.

These are incomplete, some students did not get very far. I have discussed with Mr Christian ways to ensure all students to take part and will be talking to Whaea Helen for further help with this project.

A number of students have not completed their homework.

In the first instance I have region through the homework requirements, showing how to log in and access the video. I have also given an extension until Monday.

After this time I will be issuing home detentions (and still requiring the homework to be completed). If the students still do not do the homework, then I will be meeting with the student involved and potentially calling parents to school for a meeting.

Ions

Today we investigated ions in solution. Most compounds in the hydrosphere are dissolved into water. this means that water is a mixture of many different substances.

Scientists can measure the ions in the water and also extract chemicals from them.

The Salt Works at Grassmere Lake, near Seddon, is an example of humans taking a needed chemical (salt) from the water.

We carried out an experiment to show ions- we added barium nitrate to copper sulfate and made a milky white powder (barium sulfate).

I also re-reminded all students about their school username and password and showed how to access the Caption site to complete homework (due tomorrow).

Water cycles

Today we looked at the water cycle. Most students are aware that water cycles continuously on this planet, so this was a little revision.

I also set homework which is to visit http://zapt.io/t82mpspy

Once there, students log in with their school google account. Typically this starts with 14 and the rest of their number, followed by @student.mbc.school.nz

Every student present was shown their username and password.

Once in, students watch a short video and answer the questions (online) as the video progresses. The video is short and the homework shouldn't take longer than 15 min.

Students need to have seen the video by Thursday. If they cannot access a PC at home (or mobile phone), they will need to access school computers tomorrow.

Welcome!

As promised at the recent Meet the Teacher session, I have created a blog for the class.

Obviously we have already been learning science whilst at school, so this blog will start giving more information about what we are doing as the terms progress.

This is an update on what we have done so far:

The topic that we are studying is Natural Events. This is a unit that explores our planet, and New Zealand's place on it, using a key idea- convection.

Scientists have subdivided the planet into spheres: the geosphere (the solid part of the planet), the atmosphere (the gas part), the hydrosphere (all of the liquid water) and the biosphere (the living things).

Chemicals move through each of these spheres and the form of the chemicals depends on the sphere they are in. E.g. chemicals in the hydrosphere tend to be soluble, in the air very small, light molecules and in the geosphere they tend to be insoluble (otherwise they would dissolve in the rain).

We have looked at the geosphere and atmosphere, learning the names of layers and along the way talking about particles and pressure.

Students have had three tests so far- one on the geosphere, one last week on the atmosphere and a Science Thinking With Evidence test.