Date Assigned

Date Due

Description of Assignment

PLEASE NOTE:  All work MUST be handed in before the end of this week (aka BEFORE BREAK) in order to receive credit for it.  I will not accept work over or after break.

Present on Newton's 3 Laws of Motion (Ch 4, 5, 6)
Here are the handouts from today:

Newton's First Law Handout
Newton's First Law Skit
Newton's Second Law Handout
Newton's Third Law Handout

Thanks to MAX for all your help reformuling this amazing Ballistics Table! 

And here are some helpful formulas that we used in the ballistics table.

Here is an updated version of the expectations for the tennis ball mortar challenge with (hopefully) a clearer explaination of expectations.

If you want the notes on how to solve for Vi using the launch angle and Dh, click here.

Here are notes we took on the stoichimetry problem Eric completed in class.

Start Tennis Ball Morter Challenge--have your launcher ready by Wednesday, write-up due on TUESDAY.

Ok, so we've covered the following things thus far:

     *velocity and acceleration-->movement in one direction
     *movement of falling objects --> acceleration due to gravity

Where are we going?
     * Analyzing the movement of two obejcts (one falling down and another moving in one direction)
     * projectiles --> essentially the movement in two directons, across and down (due to gravity) at the same time

Isn't physics great!

How fast do objects fall powerpoint/voicethread presentations!  Make sure you're ready at the start of class!

Review "busted" and check that you finished your 2-column notes/reading.  Here are Beth's notes.

Start Converting Units Activity: Measuring how fast a human can run in ft/s then converting it to mph.  Measure a distance in the big room, have students run that distance, then convert their time in feet per second to miles per hour.  (1 ft/sec=.68182 mph)

How fast do objects fall?  Introduce activity and student divide into groups.  Answer that question using a video or strobe photo then present findings in a PowerPoint or Voicethread.  (Due Friday 11-14)

Introduction to Physics!  "Busted" activity using the car footage on the server.

Homework: read pages 10-20 and make 2-column notes on your reading.
 
Example Problem below!
If you counted 16 frames for the first car then...

15 frames = 16 frames
    1 sec           x sec

16 frames = 15x
     15          15

x=.937 seconds

v=d/t
v=12.375m/.9375s
v=13.2m/s

1m/s=2.24 mi/hr
13.2m/s * 2.24 mi/hr=29.5 mi/hr
but they want it converted to km/hr!
1 mi/hr= 1.61 km/hr
so...
29.5 mi/hr * 1.61 km/hr = 47.4 km/hr

and at a speed limit of 35km/hr, they were SPEEDING!

INTRODUCTION TO PSYCHOLOGY!

Today we started psychology with a powerpoint presentation assignment.  Presentations which were supposed to be on MONDAY are now moved to TUESDAY and THURSDAY.

Here is the rubric for the presentations.

Recently students worked in pairs to research Biomes, make a poster, and present it to the class.

There are three major assessments coming up, and performance on these will be the key to earning an excellent report card for this half-trimester course: 

     1. On Thursday 10/2 there is a comprehensive written exam on the ecology concepts (see Ecology Exam Domain) we have studied. The test is not open notes, but we have been emphasizing the development of comprehensive notes from which to study. Students need to make sure they have good notes, and to spend time with the notes ahead of the exam.  Here is another handout on a great study stradegy utilizing smart cards and chunking.

     2. Due on Tuesday 10/7 is a lab report on the biospheres that teams of students created. Students were given a comprehensive guide for how to write this paper. Students should be encouraged to use this guide and be sure to address ALL parts of it. An excellent paper will be 2-4 pages in length, typed.

     3. Monday 10/6 is a work day on photo essays, biosphere lab reports, and course wrap up.  Tuesday 10/7 the lab report and photo essay are due.  Students need to assemble at least 6 photos and write a short paragraph caption for each, explaining the ecological concept which is illustrated by the picture. We have started taking and archiving pictures for this, and we will do more this week.  Mountain day will be another good time to get some shots!

Here is a list of most of the major ecological concepts we've covered thus far:

Cycles: carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, phosphorus, water
Succession: pioneer, primary, secondary, climax
Symbiotic relationships:mutualism, commensalism, predation, parasitism, amensalism, competition
Biodiversity: habitat destruction, extinction
Biomes
Biosphere: Closed/open systems
Niche
Competitive exclusion
Climate change
Carrying capacity
Predator/prey
Food Web

We will finish the biome presentations today and then we will have a 2-column note lecture by Beth & Eric on biodiversity & habitat destruction and ecological niche (r and k-selected species) and succession. For homework, make SWEAT PAGES on the abovementioned lectures (see Amah's biodiversity lecture notes for additional info).  For those of you interested in seeing the film Baraka (the Sufi term for blessing), you can email Beth (beth@compass-school.org) and I can loan it to you, or you can check out their website: http://www.spiritofbaraka.com/baraka.aspx

Today we worked on our biospheres and sealed 'em up!.
Students then were assigned their biomes which are due on 09-22.  Be sure you have ALL the required components!  Here are Amah's notes on symbiosis if you need them!

In class today we... (if you didn't get any of this done in class, please complete it for homework!)

• identified the species in the bioshperes and started researching their needs,
• decided where in the school building to keep it (in a sunny room? in a darker place?)
• made a sign explianing the project and directions to the observer, and
• designed a daily data collection sheet (decided whether or not to include a measuring tool, decided whether or not to keep a photo/sketch journal, etc.)
• start taking notes!  (For example, Mario observed his leopard frog eat a cricket!  This is important to note, as they now have one less cricket in their biosphere.)

HOMEWORK: research and list ALL 'living' and 'non-;iving' items in your biosphere.  Research the needs  of each organism.  What does it "eat" (bugs, sunlight, etc.)?  Does it need any gases/water?  Relate every object to the O2 & carbon cycle, water cycle, phospherous cycle and nitrogen cycle.  Justify why you're chosing to have this in your biosphere? 

Read over the biosphere challenge handout and write 3 examples of how you might measure, 3 examples of obervation techniques you will use, and 3 examples of types of evidence you will collect in your experiment.

FYI, you will most likely see the following vocabulary on the SAT and also on our end of the term test.

read 3-page article on cycles  and take 2-column notes.  Plan on doing a sweat page of this information in the next couple of days!  Here are Amah's notes on today's film, In the Shadow of the Moon.

make a sweat page on the notes you took on Eric's lecture.  Here are Amah's Notes if you would like to check them out.