Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Constructing a Topographic Profile

Aim: How do we map the surface of the Earth?

profile is a picture of what the landscape would look like from the side. It is a cross section of the landscape. You should be able to identify a correct profile, as well as draw one.


Given the topographic map above, which of the four choices below accurately depicts the correct profile between points X and Y?


Easy Peazy Steps to Constructing a Topographic Map Profile:

A profile may be constructed quickly and accurately across any straight line on a map by following this procedure:
a. Lay a strip of paper along a line across the area where the profile is to be constructed.b. Mark on the paper the exact place where each contour, stream and hill top crosses the profile line.
c. Label each mark with the elevation of the contour it represents. 
d. Prepare a vertical scale on profile paper by labeling the horizontal lines corresponding to the elevation of each index contour line.
e. Place the paper with the labeled contour lines at the bottom of the profile paper and project each contour to the horizontal line of the same elevation.
f. Connect the points.




Monday, September 23, 2013

Structure of the Earth

Important Ideas

1. How are the layers of the Earth's interior differentiated?
2. How does the composition of each layer
3. How does activity taking place in the interior affect the activity and physical nature of the Earth's surface?









Independent and Dependent Variables (Answers)

 
1.  A group of college students were given a short course in speed-reading. The instructor was curious if a monetary incentive would influence performance on a reading test taken at the end of the course.  Half the students were offered $5 for obtaining a certain level of performance on the test, the other half were not offered money. 
 
Independent variable:  Monetary incentive ($5 or no money)
 
Dependent variable:  Performance on reading test
 
Experimental group:  $5 group (receive monetary incentive)
 
Control group:  $0 group (no monetary incentive)


2.  A social psychologist thinks that people are more likely to conform to a large crowd than to a single person.  To test this hypothesis, the social psychologist had either one person or five persons stand on a busy walking path on campus and look up.  The psychologist stood nearby and counted the number of people passing by who also looked up.
 
Independent variable:  Size of group (5 people or 1 person)
 
Dependent variable:  Conformity (measured by number of people looking up)
 
Experimental group:  People passing 5 person group
 
Control group:  People passing single person.  (This group gets “less” of the independent variable)
 
 
3.  To test a new voice feature in a cockpit design a flight simulator was used.  The simulator was programmed to give visual readings of flight information, or to give visual and auditory (voice) readings of flight information.  All test pilots were put through a simulated emergency landing procedure, but were randomly assigned to the visual, or visual and auditory conditions.  Flight experts rated each pilot’s performance in the simulator on a scale of 1 (very poor) to 10 (excellent).
 
Independent variable:  Presence or absence of auditory (voice) readings.  (All pilots received visual readings, so that is a constant variable.)
 
Dependent variable:  Ratings of pilots’ performance
 
Experimental group:  Pilots in auditory readings condition (visual + auditory)
 
Control group:  Pilots in visual reading only condition (no auditory)

Thursday, September 19, 2013

Independent and Dependent Variables

1.  A group of college students were given a short course in speed-reading. The instructor was curious if a monetary incentive would influence performance on a reading test taken at the end of the course.  Half the students were offered $5 for obtaining a certain level of performance on the test, the other half were not offered money. Based on the situation presented, identify the:

Independent variable:
Dependent variable:
Experimental group:
Control group:


2.  A social psychologist thinks that people are more likely to conform to a large crowd than to a single person.  To test this hypothesis, the social psychologist had either one person or five persons stand on a busy walking path on campus and look up.  The psychologist stood nearby and counted the number of people passing by who also looked up.

Independent variable:
Dependent variable:
Experimental group:
Control group:



3.  To test a new voice feature in a cockpit design a flight simulator was used.  The simulator was programmed to give visual readings of flight information, or to give visual and auditory (voice) readings of flight information.  All test pilots were put through a simulated emergency landing procedure, but were randomly assigned to the visual, or visual and auditory conditions.  Flight experts rated each pilot’s performance in the simulator on a scale of 1 (very poor) to 10 (excellent).

 Independent variable:
Dependent variable:
Experimental group:
Control group:

Monday, September 16, 2013

Density

Densitya measure of the compactness of a substance, expressed as its mass per unit volume.

Density = mass (g) / volume (mL)
 
Mass - a measure of how much matter is in an object.

Volume - the amount of space occupied by a three-dimensional object or region of space.


 

Friday, September 13, 2013

Topographic Maps


Aim: How do we map the surface of the Earth?

Notes Given to Students: Guided Notes: Topographic Maps
Drawing Contours Practice: Drawing Contour Lines 
Calculating Gradient Practice: Calculating Gradients 

Topographic Maps 
maps showing the relief features of the earth's 
surface, usually by means of contour lines to show changes in elevation.

The picture above is an example of a field map. In this example, the numbers on the map represent the concentration of gasoline found at that location. So the map simply shows how much of something (in this case gasoline) is found at many locations.
Isolines are lines that are drawn on a field map to connect all of the points on that map that have the same value.



Contour Line -
 a line joining points of equal elevation on a surface.






Close line =Steep Slope


Contour lines bend upstream when crossing a river.

A contour interval is the difference in elevation between two contour lines that are side by side.

Highest possible elevation of a hill

Depressions are shown by small marks pointing inward off the contour line.

Gradient


Monday, September 9, 2013

Rick Wormelli: Redos and Retakes Done Right


Essential Questions 
  
1.  Who did Rick Wormeli write this article for and why did he write this article?




 2.     Identify three important ideas or points Rick Wormeli makes in his article. 



  
3. After you have identified three important ideas, state whether you agree or disagree with each idea. 





4. After you have stated whether you agree or disagree with each idea, find and use evidence in the text that support your response.

Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Fair Policies [Opening Assignment / Common Core Performance Task # 1]



Every year teachers work on determining a fair classroom policy that takes both the teacher and students into consideration. It’s tricky, it’s tedious, and sometimes controversial. However, education professionals like Rick Wormeli offer some answers. Rick Wormeli, one of the first Nationally Board Certified teachers in America, is a national education consultant and author. He has taught Math, Science, English, Physical education, Health and History for over 20 years.


Assignment #1: Performance Task
(September 3rd, 2013)

Read the article “Redos and Retakes Done Right” by Rick Wormeli. As you are reading, please annotate, which means you should highlight important ideas or ideas that stand out, make notes for yourself that will help you understand the text, and identify the article’s purpose for writing the article. As you are annotating, answer the following questions as you are doing the above: (Please complete this work on paper you can hand in)

1.      Who did Rick Wormeli write this article for and why did he write this article?
2.     Identify three important ideas or points Rick Wormeli makes in his article.
3.     After you have identified three important ideas, state whether you agree or disagree with each idea.
4.     After you have stated whether you agree or disagree with each idea, find and use evidence in the text that support your response.


We will discuss your responses as a class, so be ready to share your ideas. When you share your responses, try and use the text as you share out. 


Watch the following videos to help you in this assignment.


If the clip doesn't work, click this: Rick Wormeli Part 1



If the clip doesn't work, click this: Rick Wormeli Part 2