My Science Homework

Today’s objective: To learn how geologists determine the epicenter of an earthquake. The process is remarkably easy and after viewing some of the specifics in a brief, 7-minute video clip, students then worked in cooperative pairs to complete a lab utilizing data from various cities seismograph records to determine the epicenter of an […]

As we aim to complete our work on the geology unit over the coming week, students worked in cooperative pairs of their choosing to complete the “The Fossil Record” guide with help from the text.  We also discussed the importance and differences between several types of fossil specimens that were passed around the room.
Next week […]

We began today’s class by reviewing the absolute aging concepts covered in yesterday’s class period. We did this by going through the solutions for each of the four assigned problems that were part of last night’s homework. Students were allowed to keep the practice problem set and were encouraged to reference it for […]

After wrapping up work on determining the relative age of rock layers using the principle of superposition and recreating cross sections of rock layers, students were introduced today to the concept of absolute aging: determining the quantitative age of a rock layer or fossil.
These methods incorporate the principles of radiometric dating: the use […]

As a way to confirm understanding of all of the relative aging concepts covered over the last several days of class, students today worked to complete a reverse cross section of rock layers.  Instead of using a diagram to determine the order of events that occurred through time, students were given a list of ordered […]

The reaction essay to the National Geographic Tsunami video was due at the start of today’s class. We briefly discussed their reaction to the video before moving on to today’s topic: relative aging puzzles.
We began by finishing up the guided notes on relative aging that we had started back on Thursday of last […]

Today was a break from the lecture and notes format that we’ve followed much of this week as students watched the National Geographic special presentation:  Tsunami:  Killer Wave.  This special covers all angles of the tsunami of 2004:  the causes, how the event played out, and how the event impacted the lives of millions of […]

After finishing section 3.1 on The Earth’s Story yesterday, students have until Monday to complete work on their Geology Debate Posters (see Tuesday’s post for more details).  Today, students recorded guided notes on the definitions and applications surrounding Relative Aging.  We will conclude the notes in class Monday and then begin solving some “relative aging […]

Today’s class time was reserved solely for students to make progress on the debate poster project assigned to them yesterday.  See yesterday’s post for complete details on the assignment, including a copy of the scoring rubric.   Today is the final in-class work time that will be allotted for this project.  It is due on Monday […]

After discussing the definitions of uniformitarianism and catastrophism in class yesterday, today we compared and contrasted these two mutually exclusive theories. Remember - we can’t put these in a venn diagram because these would signify two seperate circles that do not overlap.
Additionally, we discussed what the primary tenets of a debate are. These include evidence […]