Science Methods

  Lab  In the lab we used a torch to melt starburst to represent the melting together of rocks, we also classified the types of rocks based on the melting pattern created with the starburst. We also talked about how seeing improvements and understanding in students is ten times more important than a letter grade because our whole goal as a teacher is to teach and help students learn. The big question this week is, "How and why are certain rocks formed?"  Lecture  In the lecture today we learned what makes a rock a rock, a rock is only a rock it was naturally made by the Earth for example cement is not a rock because it is man-made. We also learned that sand came from distant mountains and landforms, not from the ocean. In the lecture, Allison talked about the different layers of the Earth: crust, mantle, outer core, and inner core. Once we found the basis of what the layers of the Earth are we talked about continental plates and oceanic plates, continental plates are...

  Lab  In lab today we learned about geologic time and how time stamps and important events were spread through the creation of the earth to when humans were created. The big question we were looking to answer in lab today was "What is the geologic time stamp of all things?" Discussion  This Thursday we did not have a discussion we took an exam, which I studied hard for and did not get the result I wanted so I am quite disappointed.  Pressbook  From the online textbook, I learned the order in which things supposedly appeared on Earth, prokaryotic bacteria, animals/plants, diversity/evolution, evolution of plants/animals, dinosaurs, and then humans. In the textbook they had this information spread out in time stamps and this was super interesting to see, because when I think of things evolving I think of them being super far apart but in reality, on a timeline (like in the lab) things are closer or farther then they seem. I also found this timeline to be most hel...

 In Lab  In the lab this week my table group and I presented our slideshow on the past, present, and future of space travel. We also learned from other groups about the origin of the universe, the lifecycle of a star, galaxies, the origin of the earth, and black holes. All of these sections we learned about from different groups were the big questions for this week in lab.   https://iowa-my.sharepoint.com/:p:/r/personal/olmayer_uiowa_edu/Documents/Space%20Travel%20-%20lesson.pptx?d=w23027ebf9c6943e88a6b1ff7f5b1c3b3&csf=1&web=1&e=geGb6Y Thursdays Lecture  In Thursday's lecture, we talked about how the universe was theoretically created through expansion and not an explosion, subatomic particles inflated to an extremely large size in a fraction of a second and that is what caused our universe to form. We also discussed the topic of nuclear fusion and through this process, stars can make up to iron on the table of elements, we also dove deeper into the ...

  Lab What did you do In lab today?  In lab today we talked about the big question "How big is the solar system?" to answer this question we designed a solar system to scale including the Sun, Moon, and the four inner planets. We first started by getting the diameter of the Sun and then scaling the Moon and four inner planets according to the diameter of the Sun. We used a globe as our Sun then used a measuring tape to put the size of the planets to scale, followed by measuring the distance between the planets. Here are some pictures of our lab activity:  Lecture  What did you learn in Thursday's lecture?  In the lecture today we learned that the Moon does rotate, and the rotation of the Moon goes the same exact speed as the Earth. We also learned it takes 28 days total for the Moon to circle the Earth, and that the distance between the Moon and the Earth continues to gradually increase. During the lecture we also discussed different theories on how the Moon was...