Earth and Environmental Blog Week 19

Monday or March 7, 2016 C.E.:

Today we continued writing our research paper. I am almost done with my Controlling N and P factors paragraphs. I am writing about how to decrease Phosphorus in aquatic environments. We also started to take notes on the next and last section of this unit. This unit has two large sections instead of five or six small sections. We talked about the ocean floor. The ocean floor is divided into two regions, shallow and deep. In the shallow ocean, there are continental slopes, shelves, and rises. In the deep ocean, there are mid-ocean ridges, trenches, and rift valleys.

Tuesday or March 8, 2016 C.E.:

Today we continued our notes. We talked about the ocean floor. We talked about the continental shelf. We also talked about how the continental slope marks the boundary between continental and oceanic crust. In the deep ocean floor, there are really interesting land forms. The first is the mid-ocean ridge. It is usually at the center of the ocean and is a massive 80k kilometer mountain range. There are also extremely deep trenches and underwater volcanoes called seamounts.The most boring type of seafloor is the abyssal plain. It is just your average, flat, and sandy seafloor except that it is 4,000 meters under the sea. I also finished the N and P factors paragraph today.

Wednesday or March 9, 2016 C.E.:

Today we talked about the two main depth zones in our oceans. They are the Photic and the Aphotic zones.The Photic zone receives a lot of sunlight and the Aphotic receives less than 1 percent of the sunlight at the surface. Photosynthesis only occurs in the Photic zone. This zone is plentiful in food. The zone near the shore is the Neritic zone. This is also plentiful in food and biodiversity. The Benthic zone is the ocean floor and the Pelagic zone is the water above the floor. We also discussed the characteristics of each zone. I also started my last paragraph for the research project. Soon we will wrap up our writing.

Thursday or March 10, 2016 C.E.:

Today we finished Unit Seven's notes and I finished the writing for the research project. In notes today, we expanded upon the notes of yesterday, but we did learn that the zone between the Photic and the Aphotic zone was the transition zone. After notes, I finished my last paragraph for the project. I am still not close to done, however, because I still need to format it so it looks formal. I also need to edit it which will not be easy since it is over 1,000 words. The hardest part, however, will be the citations. We have around twenty sites and I am going to have to cite them all.

Friday or March 11, 2016 C.E.: 

Today many people were not at school because the Science Olympiad state competition is tomorrow. Thus, the class period was really fun and we had a lot of room. We had almost no instruction so I could spend most of class editing our paper. Andrei wrote much more than I did, but I found and cited our images. The editing process will take forever because Andrei tends to write in fragments and because Google Documents, the program which we wrote in doesn't catch mistakes very well. I might have to get a Grammarly free trial just in case I forget things.
Summary: This week was good. We finished notes for Unit 7 and I finished the writing for my project. I finished my blog with greater efficiency than last week's blog, but I can still improve.

Earth and Environmental Blog Week 18

Monday or February 29, 2016 C.E.: 

Today we researched extensively for our project during class. We will try to use fifteen to twenty sources. For each sources we will paste in important paragraphs and take notes. Once we have done enough research, we will analyze what we have accumulated. We will then write a research paper. After writing the paper we will create a PowerPoint to suggest ways to improve the situation. I have already started research on the Nitrogen and Phosphorus factors that cause Eutrophication and the harmful effects of Cyanobacteria. This project is really exciting and it is really fun to find and read interesting articles.

Tuesday or March 1, 2016 C.E.:

Today Andrei and I continued doing research at an even faster rate. We have already found many sources and have two whole pages of useful material. While Andrei researches the Biology aspects of the project, I research the Chemistry aspects. We both do what we are best at. One example, is that Andrei is researching the types of Cyanobacteria and their anatomy and I am researching the conditions they flourish in and their environmental impact. The project is going along well. We are also collecting pictures and figures to include in our presentation or paper.
A planetarium also came to our school

Wednesday or March 2, 2016 C.E.:

We declared today the last day of research for our project. We might still do a little research here and there, but we have already accumulated 5 pages of really good stuff. The only problem with our research is that my friend, Andrei researches too broadly. When you are making a paper, you should research broadly at first and start to narrow down your topic. While Andrei is hardworking and smart, he keeps branching out farther as the project progresses. He doesn't seem to like to not include information he reads. He keeps writing all these paragraphs about Cyanobacteria that don't have anything to do with Eutrophication and CyanoHABs. I guess I shouldn't complain because it can be easily corrected, but it is still funny how he works very different from me. Now we are both quite knowledgeable about the subject and ready to write the paper.

Thursday or March 3, 2016 C.E.:

Sadly we were not able to work on the research project today. We have to review for the quiz tomorrow. We had a also had a substitute, Mrs. Trainor. We talked about ocean currents and plankton. We also reviewed dissolved gases and Thermohaline Circulation. We also discussed the Coriolis effect and the global conveyor belt. I think we covered the material well and the quiz shouldn't be hard at all.

Friday or March 4, 2016 C.E.:

Today we took the Unit 7 Section 1 quiz on the Hydrosphere.  The quiz isn't too many points which makes sense because it is rather easy. I think I will do good. The only problem is that I kept day dreaming while doing the assessment. I hope I didn't make any stupid mistakes because of this.
Summary: This week was productive. The project is going along well and the paper is about a third way done. I need to get some more sleep in order to stop day dreaming during class. I will start to achieve this by doing my blog faster. I need to write my blog every day to make it as fast as possible.