Addy's Science Blog (Elem Science Methods I)

  Addy Junge Week 13: Local Climate Change 1. What did you do in lab today?​ In our lab this week, we split up into groups and completed presentations about climate change. For our presentations, we focused on three categories, all dealing with climate change: temperature, agricultural plant life, and precipitation. My group was assigned the topic of temperature and climate change, where we discussed local, regional, and global data, as well as questions and statements.  2. What was the big question? I would say the big question during our lab was "What are the different effects climate change has on our environment, and how do these problems continue to get worse?" 3. What did you learn in Thursday’s discussion?​ Here are my notes from our lecture: 4. Read the online textbook: What did you learn?​ When reading this chapter, I learned about many events and effects climate change has had on our local community and world. Overall, I read more about hotter temperatures, more pre...

Addy Junge Week 12: Climate Science 1. What did you do in lab today?​ The first thing we did in our lab was check over our exam, looking at questions, asking questions, and discussing the curve. After that, we reviewed our Weather Apps assignment, talking about our discoveries and challenges with it. With that, we talked about our other assignment, Before the Flood, and answered questions with our group and as a class (answers in the following paragraph). We talked about the difference between climate and weather, along with a follow-up on our knowledge of the water cycle. Then, we did an activity where we researched different parts of Iowa, observing the increase/decrease of rainfall over the years. However, our driving question for the lab was "Is the goldfinch, Iowa’s state bird, in danger, and how do we know?" Here is a picture of our findings from Northwest Iowa: What are the primary points in the video? The primary points in the video were how humans have been destroyin...

Addy Junge Week 11: Weather 1. What did you do in lab today?​ At the start of our lab, we filled out our formative assessment! Then we talked in a group about the water cycle and made our poster without using any resources. After that, we talked about the water cycle as a class, to discuss things we may have missed. This topic set us up for talking about the weather and what it is. We talked about common sayings or sightings in the past that would help people determine future weather patterns. This led to the talk of convection cells, air pressure, and moisture. We then did a reverse jigsaw with a different group researching about warm, cold, stationary, and occluded fronts. For our homework this week, we are determining whether weather apps are accurate when AI is incorporated.  2. What was the big question? I would say the big question is "What is weather and how does it play a part in our environment?" 3. What did you learn in Thursday’s discussion?​ Here are my notes from...

  Addy Junge Week 9: Earthquakes and Volcanoes 1. What did you do in lab today?​ At the start of our lab, we filled out our formative assessment! Then we sta rted off with the question of "Why do we have earthquakes & volcanoes NOT on boundaries?" and a map of the midwest. We started discussing in our groups how this could happen and we talked about ancient faults and oil/gas fracking and their contribution to these "random" earthquakes. We then switched groups to share our convection cell videos/ideas, which was helpful to see different points of view of what a convection cell truly is. Our class continued to talk about cell convection and how it works (in water and in the earth). With that, we also dicussed the earth's layers and where convection cells occur within those layers. Switching gears to our (fun and yummy) lab, where we worked with divergent, convergent, and transform plate boundaries with different materials! Lastly, we wrapped up with talking ...

   Addy Junge Week 9: Earthquakes and Volcanoes 1. What did you do in lab today?​ At the start of our lab, we filled out our formative assessment about volcanoes. After that, we individually jotted down what we already knew about earthquakes and volcanoes on whiteboards. We then continued to watch a video of an earthquake and a video of a volcanic eruption. Our class started talking about questions or comments we had on the videos. Switching gears to our activity, my group and I made predictions about where we think earthquakes and volcanoes are. Once we were done with our predictions, we started to discover where they actually were based on a website. We talked about it as a class and whether our predictions were right. Finally, we ended our lab by talking about the earthquake waves, discussing different types of volcanoes, and creating a poster for our future classroom.  2. What was the big question? I would say the big question during our lab would be "How are earthqua...

  Addy Junge Week 8: Geology That Kids See 1. What did you do in lab today?​ During lab, we started off by discussing the Sweater article with our peers in our table groups. After that, we jumped right into our sand investigation, where we used a microscope to observe different types of sand from all around the world. We would jot down the specific characteristics that we saw in each of the sands, such as size, shape, and color. After our sand investigation, we did another hands-on activity, but this time with fossils. This was a really entertaining activity because all the fossils we found were straight from Iowa. Once we determined a fossil, we started to categorize it based on a sheet we received at the beginning of our lab. Towards the end of class, we got the opportunity to go to the MacBride museum and observe different types of rocks, Earth's timeline, how Iowa was covered in water, and more! 2. What was the big question?​ I would say the big question during our lab would be...