Science Methods II - Lauren Hird

      Monday's lab focused on the issues of climate change. The big questions were: 1. What is the albedo effect and how does it affect climate? 2. How does the greenhouse effect interact with the albedo effect? 3. Is the albedo effect a positive or negative feedback look? We discussed how bad climate change is, how scientists know what they know, who is influencing these decisions, fossil fuel emissions, environmental rules, insurance, and our impact. We then moved into the topic of the greenhouse effect and infrared radiation. We learned that certain gases in our atmosphere act like a blanket around Earth and protect us from the sun's radiation, but greenhouse gases absorb radiation and re-emit it into the atmosphere, burning a hole in the atmosphere. We the discussed the idea of the albedo effect and an albedo of 1 means radiation is completely reflected, while an albedo of 0 means radiation is completely absorbed. This positive cycle happens due to all surfaces having...

     In Monday's lab, we discussed in more detail the ideas discussed in Week 12 about how agriculture is affected by climate change and higher precipitation levels. We talked about how Iowa has a longer growing season, wetter spring, more simmer precipitation, higher humidity, and drier autumns. We then moved back to the idea on the key question: how does climate change affect the sea level? We came to the conclusion that land glaciers will cause sea levels to rise because water runoff will enter the ocean, but sea ice will not cause it to rise because the volume in the water is already accounted for. We then debated how melting impacts further melting. We learned that as white ice becomes blue water, it absorbs more sunlight and melts faster. Once there is no ice left, the ocean will no longer be a convection cell and nutrients will no longer be able to be distributed between the poles and the equator. We then moved into the specifics of the Paris Climate Agreement abou...

 In Monday's lab, we began by reviewing the idea that climate is a 30-year average of weather. We then discussed how best to teach climate change to elementary students, especially students in the Midwest. A big consequence of climate change is ice melting and causing sea levels to rise, but since we are not coastal, it does not hit home for children in the Midwest. We brainstormed and came up with an idea that could motivate students to learn about climate change: how agriculture is affected. We then discussed the Paris Climate Agreement that we learned about in the movie Before the Flood  and came up with some different topics were were interested in learning more about. We finished lab with exploring precipitation levels in different areas throughout Iowa and how climate change has caused Iowa to receive more precipitation. We connected it to flooding and soil runoff and how that damages our environment here in Iowa. My group explored Northeast Iowa and discovered that the ...

      In lab this week, we began by discussing pedagogy and the article "Teaching for Conceptual Change: Confronting Children's Experience. We talked about the different aspects of student exploration such as when we should allow it, how long we should allow it, and the barriers preconceptions have for learning. We then moved on to looking at different forms of sand through microscopes to see more closely their characteristics. Here is what my lab group found:  Original Sample: rough to touch, multicolored, mixture of smooth and rigid rocks Sample 1: rough to touch, rigid edges, mostly earthly colors with some clear Sample 2: soft to touch, smooth edges, mostly shiny and clear Sample 3: beady to touch, rough pointy edges, shiny black, look cracked/speckled Sample 4: smells like ocean, smooth to touch, contains shell particles, fine grained besides shell particles, crystal-like White Lid Sample: extremely fine grained, white/yellow, soft to touch, small particles, cry...

      We begun Monday's lab by discussing what makes a rock a rock. While we sat on this question, we discussed the Activitymania article and how inquiry is long-term and process-oriented with the goal of student-led investigations, which is the opposite of what the Activiamania is. Turning towards assessment, we discussed the idea of grading based on growth instead of final understanding. Students should be rewarded for the effort they put in. Those students who understand enough often don't try to learn more, so they check out and make no progress. While this is not always a realistic way to assess students, it should definitely be taken into consideration.      When then bounced back to our inquiry of what makes a rock a rock. We discussed the three forms of rocks: igneous (melted then cooled), metamorphic (heated and pressed together), and sedimentary (cemented and compacted together). We used starbursts, a knife, tin foil, and a small blow torch to cre...

      This week in lab, the main questions we were answering were about the relationship in time between when each part of the Earth was created. We talked about things such as human life, plant life, animal life, pangea, the moon, the great oxygenation, and many others. The point of this is to understand how relatively small things are in compared to the time the universe has existed, and many things happened longer ago then we have comprehended in the past.      We ended discussing the idea of convection and were assigned a video project to see how convection works.