E & E Final Blog Reflection

Earth and Environmental is over

This is the last week of school and Earth and Environmental is already over. This is the end of all of it. It really was a good year and it had a really good end to it too. I am quite happy since I got 99% on it! This is much better than last year where I was extremely disappointed with my grade. I thought this one was easier too, but I hope I also did good due to my new studying techniques!

        Looking back on the year, two labs were really fun for me. The first was the Cookie Bake-off Lab. In this lab, we had to make our own cookies and vary one variable for each one. This was to help us understand how an experiment works. The best cookie was the one with extra eggs. I remember that our group was supposed to be the control group until one member messed up the ingredients. It still tasted good though. My other favorite lab was the Properties of Seawater Lab that my friend Andrei and I did ourselves. We researched Cyanobacteria and their detrimental effects on marine ecosystems. This was really fun since we had a lot of freedom in how we could do the lab. It still wasn't as good as the cookie eating though!

        This year was also really special because it opened up my mind. Before this year, all I really knew and cared about was chemistry. I would always study chemistry and think that all the other branches of science were stupid. I barely even studied physics! I was dreading E & E, but in reality it was really fun. Now I can learn about more branches of science because I learned that Earth and Environmental is actually interesting. It wasn't as fun as chemistry, but I still liked it much more than I would have thought one year ago.
        Since this year was so much better than I expected, I actually look forward to biology next year. I can't wait to dissect stuff. I also want to learn about about cells and how they communicate.
        Next year I want to improve two things. First is the quality and time taken to do my blog. I want to make it better while also finishing it faster. I spend about one hour per week more than I should on my blog. This hour could be spent doing something really fun and it should. I also want to increase my performance on labs. Labs are where one can learn the most from everything we do in science class. If I perform better in labs, I will be able to learn more and get better grades. Next year I hope to get A+ honor role every quarter and to get an A on each lab. At the beginning of this school year, I received a bad grade on a lab which really hurt me in the long run. My goal is to always do good on labs to prevent this from happening again.
        Lastly, I want to give some advice to future Earth and Environmental students. Firstly, learn as much as you can from the labs. The labs we do are not only fun, but very interesting. Also, keep your binder organized so you can always refer to the information that you have in it. This will  help you study. One useful point to make is that you will only have to study minimally if you pay attention in class. Mrs. Giacomelli will review for the test the day before and if you listen closely, you will see that she gives out all the answers on the test and puts emphasis on the things that will be on there. This is how I get good grades. I barely study at all! The last thing I would like to say is never give up. I once had a C in this class and was able to bring it up to a 97 by the end of the quarter. You can make things up and you can do good in this class.

Knockerball

Looking at Mercury's transit of the sun

Goodbye!!!

Earth and Environmental Blog Week 25

Monday or May 9, 2016 C.E.:

Today a professor who is the astronomy coach for Science Olympiad came with his telescope for us to witness Mercury crossing the sun. He brought in a very large telescope and put a film over it so we could look at the sun. We took turns looking at Mercury. It was extremely small and was just as big as this period. . It was a really cool experience because it doesn't happen very often. The last one happened in 2006! The professor also gave us a presentation about it which was also interesting. After this, Mrs. Giacomelli taught us about moon phases. 

Tuesday or May 10, 2016 C.E.:

No science today!

Wednesday or May 11, 2016 C.E.:

Today we learned more about moon phases. We took notes on them. There are 8 different moon phases. They are new moon, waxing crescent, 1st quarter, waxing gibbous, full moon, waning gibbous, 3rd quarter, waning crescent. We also completed a diagram of the moon and sun at each phase. We also answered questions about the phases of the moon. Once we were done, we got our sheet checked by Mrs. Giacomelli. After this, we either studied for the quiz tomorrow, or did homework. The quiz will be the last of the year and I think I will do good.   

Thursday or May 12, 2016 C.E.:

Today Mrs.Giacomelli wanted to make an experiment. She decided to try to use an app that would scan grades similar to how a Scantron machine would. If it works well, it will be used in the final. This will be awesome because we will be able to know how we did instantly. This quiz was probably the hardest one so far. It may be because we just didn't have that much time or something, but the test was bad. After some grueling decisions, I handed in my test. I now feel like the luckiest person in the world because I got a 100%!!! It was between two for four questions and I guessed them all right. :-)

Friday or May 13, 2016 C.E.:

No blog today...

Summary: This week was a great week. I got a 100% on a quiz that I should have gotten an A- on. Although this is great, I do need to be more prepared for assessments. For this final, I will make sure to study more. 

Earth and Environmental Blog Week 24

Monday or May 2, 2016 C.E.:

Today we started Unit 10. Unit Ten is about space and astronomy. We started notes on distances in space.We talked about AUs and Light-years which I have mentioned already.We went a little more in depth, with parallax and discussed it a little more. We also talked about parsecs. After finishing notes we started our Scaled Solar System lab. We didn't have much time today so we just filled in the distances from each of the planets to the sun and the planet's diameters in a table. Eventually, we will construct a model of the solar system. 

Tuesday or May 3, 2016 C.E.:

Today we did a Kahoot review quiz on our unit. I was in second in the beginning and then I kept my lead all the way until the last question. I read it wrong and then answered it wrong. It was really funny, though. We took just a little bit of notes about the Celestial Sphere and that there are constellations found on it. After that, we continued on our lab. We completed the distance tables in the lab and began to measure out all of the distances that will be in our model. Tomorrow we will complete the model.


Wednesday or May 4, 2016 C.E.:

Today we did a Kahoot again. It was really fun, but I didn't do as good as last time. Right off the bat I got the first question wrong. I thought it was a question related to quantum physics. I was wrong and so I lost. We also did a lot of notes. We mostly talked about orbit. We talked about Kepler's Three Laws of Planetary Motion. We also talked about how orbits are ellipses and that the object in the center is not actually in the center. We also finished our model. Earth was a peppercorn in the model. Jupiter was a racquetball. I also did all of the questions in the lab.

Thursday or May 5, 2016 C.E.:

Today we did a Star Wars themed Kahoot even though it is not May the Fourth anymore. The questions were so trivial that it was mostly guesswork. Too bad I am not good at guessing :). I reviewed my questions on my lab and turned it in. We also did just a bit of notes about rotation and satellites. There is no blog for Friday because Mrs. Giacomelli was not here.
Summary: This week was a fun week. The many Kahoots were quite entertaining. I can still improve the quality of the blog if I blog at the end of each day. This I will do.

Earth and Environmental Blog Week 23

Monday or April 25, 2016 C.E.:

Today we underwent my favorite review game. In this review game, there are twenty questions. They come up on the projector. The questions are both multiple choice and fill in the blank. They are 5 points each. There are 5 bonus questions for 1 point each. They are not science related, but are usually very fun. At the end there is a wagering questions. You can wager up to 5 points. We wagered 3 points which is good since we got it wrong. The question asked for the axial tilt of Earth. I answered 23 degrees, but it was 23.5 degrees. My group still did good and there will be another game in the near future where we can win.

Tuesday or April 26, 2016 C.E.:

Today we completed a review sheet for the Unit 9 quiz tomorrow. It had a lot of good questions on it. I thought the review sheet was quite useful. We also studied the techbook. Studying the techbook is really important because many of the questions on there are used in the quiz. The assessment I took was well rounded and good. It tested us about Adiabatic and Advective cooling, cloud types, and other things in the unit. It also reviewed a little bit from last unit which is good. I think I am ready for this quiz and it will be good for my grade.

Wednesday or April 27, 2016 C.E.:

Today we took our Unit 9 Quiz. We will not take the test for the unit since we will now move on to the next and last unit. The quiz was good. I think I will get a good grade on it. It seemed shorter than last time we took one, but maybe that is just because the font was smaller than last time. I was finished relatively fast at the end of the quiz and was able to work on homework a little bit. This was nice.

Thursday or April 28, 2016 C.E.:

Today, we reviewed the quiz. Unfortunately, I did not do as well as I had hoped. I made a careless error and thus missed a multiple choice problem.We also started some vocab cards for the next unit. I completed the words astronomical unit, celestial sphere, declination, parallax, and right ascension. One astronomical unit is the distance from the Earth to the Sun. The celestial sphere is cool. It is a sort of round sphere around Earth with unknown radius that contains the stars. It doesn't actually exist, but when we stargaze, it seems like the whole thing we are looking at is a big dome. This is the celestial sphere.

Parallax

Friday or April 29, 2016 C.E.:

Teacher workday today, so no school for us! Yay! :)

Summary: This week was a good week. We finished up Unit 9 and now we are in the final Unit. I can still improve my efficiency while writing my blog and I will continue to do so.

Earth and Environmental Blog Week 22

Monday or April 18, 2016 C.E.:

Today we started notes on Unit 9 Section 1. I think we will only do one section in the next units because we don’t have enough time. The section is about the weather. We talked about the different types of clouds and precipitation. Clouds cannot form without dust or other small particles. Water condenses onto them and that is how clouds form. We also talked about the three types of clouds, Cirrus, Stratus, and Cumulus. We also talked about fog and how it forms. I am quite excited about this unit. Our teacher, Mrs. Giacomelli, told us that we would be able to go cloud gazing. Too bad we don’t have clouds right now.

Tuesday or April 19, 2016 C.E.:

Today we did a lot of notes. We looked at all the types of clouds again and went more in depth into the unit. We talked about Latent heat. Latent heat is the heat that is taken in or released when water undergoes a phase change. If water evaporates, it takes heat from the environment. This is why we are cold when we are wet. We also talked about saturation. Saturation is the point when air can no longer hold any more water vapor. The warmer the air, the more water vapor it holds. If air is cooled, it condensates quickly because it reaches its saturation point. This happens when water condensates on a glass.

Wednesday or April 20, 2016 C.E.:

Today we took some more notes. We talked about how the dew point is the temperature that air must cool to in order to reach saturation. Fog often forms at dew point, but quickly disappears when the ground below it is heated by the sun. We also talked about absolute humidity and relative humidity and adiabatic and advective cooling.  Adiabatic cooling happens when rising air cools as it expands. Advective cooling occurs when air moves alongside a cold surface. Absolute humidity is a measurement of the mass of water vapor in the air. Relative humidity is the percent of water vapor in the air, with 100% being the saturation point. We also started the Air Pressure Lab. It contains many small stations.

Thursday or April 21, 2016 C.E.:

Today we took some more notes.We studied temperature inversion. Temperature inversion happens sometimes when a warm front comes in. Normally, temperature decreases with altitude. In special circumstances, a warm air mass moves up and stops convection in the area. This sometimes traps smog in cities. We also talked about how severe weather happens when cold, dry air masses mix with warm, wet air masses. Also, rapid convection can cause cumulonimbus clouds. These can cause anything from thunder and lightning to hail and tornadoes. Today we also worked on our stations. I am almost finished.

Temperature Inversion

Friday or April 22, 2016 C.E.:

Today we had a substitute because Mrs. Giacomelli had already left for the Science Olympiad competition in Raleigh. I wish the contestants luck! I finished the stations. After this, we worked on blogs and reviewed the unit.
Summary: This week was a good week. I finished my blog faster and worked efficiently. Next week, I aim to finish my blog a day earlier, as this will help me complete other things. 

Earth and Environmental Blog Week 21

Monday or April 11, 2016 C.E.:
Today we did a lot of notes for the next section of the atmosphere unit. We talked about how air has weight and that it is similar to the ocean. We also talked about air pressure, and that it is not constant. We then went into detail of each layer. We also talked about the differences in temperature of the layers. Between the Troposphere and the Stratosphere is the tropopause. The air in the two layers doesn't mix because of their temperature differences. Sometimes ash or another airborne particle makes it into the stratosphere. It will usually stay up there for years. I found this quite interesting. Now the studying for the test shall begin.

The atmospheric Layers

Tuesday or April 12, 2016 C.E.:

 Today we completed the study guide for Friday's test. It was more difficult than the notes. The study guide also had things about the next unit on it. The next unit has things about clouds, but we were still able to answer them because we have learned about clouds before. Essentially all of the other questions in the study guide were similar to those we have done before, except that they had a little more application, and were phrased differently. After this, I had a little extra free time, which was also nice.

Wednesday or April 13, 2016 C.E.:

Today we took our Vaseline air quality samples back in. Ours had an extremely small amount of airborne particles. Even those inside had more. Some of the inside samples had nine or so one average. We had two. The ones outside had around forty. I think this is because the trashcan has very little air circulation. It was really cool when we looked at the particles inside the microscope. At the end of class we put all of the things people had into a table in order to make a graph next class.

Thursday or April 14, 2016 C.E.:

Today the rest of the class looked at their samples. One group had seventy particles! Theirs was outside, obviously. The sample was also right in the path of the wind. The sand and dust probably took flight with the wind and fell onto the vaseline, which is why they had so many particles. After this, we typed in all of the rest of the data into our tables. We then we created our air quality graph. It was quite striking to see that the outdoor ones had so much more particles. We also reviewed for our test tomorrow. I think I will do good, but we will see.

Friday or April 15, 2016 C.E.: 

Today we took our Unit 8 Quiz on the Atmosphere. I thought it was quite easy and that I will do good on it. We had less short answer questions than normal, so I was done faster. We had to construct a graph on air pressure instead. I think I will get a 100%.
Summary: So it turns out I did get a 100%. I am thrilled! This really brought my grade up a lot. This week was a great week. I just need to make sure I finish my blog on time next time.

Earth and Environmental Blog Week 20

Monday or April 4, 2016 C.E.: 

Today we reviewed our information for Unit 8 quiz. It is about the atmosphere. The first section begins talking about the atmosphere. The second section, which we will learn about after this quiz, just goes into more detail on the structure of the atmosphere. We reviewed the composition of the atmosphere. It is 78% Nitrogen, 21% Oxygen, 0.9% Argon, and 0.1% trace gasses (Neon, Hydrogen, Carbon Dioxide). We also reviewed the origin of the atmospheres. There have been three atmospheres. The first appeared after ancient volcanoes released gasses in a process called outgassing. This was blown away by a large meteorite. Then a new one formed similarly. This was changed by Cyanobacteria which added the present levels of Oxygen to our atmosphere.

Tuesday or April 5, 2016 C.E.:

Today we started a new lab. It is the Air Quality Lab. We will be measuring the air quality of different areas in the school. We taped a clear plastic sheet to an index card. We put a dab of petroleum jelly on each plastic sheet and hung them in different places. I hung mine up inside the dumpster because my original idea was already taken. When we take them back in, we will look at the amount of particles that are stuck to the jelly. We will then compare the different places together.

Wednesday or April 6, 2016 C.E.: 

Today we took our Unit 8 Section 1 quiz. I think I did well on it. I don't think I got a 100, but I still think I did well. The test had some questions that are harder than normal. The problem is that one multiple choice question missed is four points. This is a lot so there is no room for error. This test was about the application. We could not just memorize the definitions and make it through this test, so I think it is a good test.

Layers of the Atmosphere

Thursday or April 7, 2016 C.E.:

 Today we didn't have school because of IOWA Assessments.

Friday or April 8, 2016 C.E.:

I scored a 96% on my test. This is not good or bad. I missed one multiple choice question, but that isn't really that bad. We reinforced our samples with duct tape so they wouldn't fall down. It didn't seem like there were many particles in the trash can. Maybe this is because there are no airborne particles or moving air, just heavy bags of trash.We also started the second section. It is about the structure of the atmosphere. We also talked about how the atmosphere is like an ocean of air, and that we live on the bottom of it.
Summary: This week was a good week. I did ok on my quiz, but I still could have done better. I made a careless error and thus I got a 96%. I have to stop making these errors next time.