Shield Volcanoes

What did you think about the volcano lab we did on Wednesday?  Which lava flow went the fastest?  Which went the slowest?  What would you have done differently with this activity?

USGS Shield Volcanoes

Read the following information on shield volcanoes.  What do shield volcanoes look like?  What are shield volcanoes made of?  Where are shield volcanoes located?

Summarize the reading section on plate tectonics and shield volcanoes.


Summarize the section on Hawaiian shield volcanoes.



http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/Glossary/ShieldVolcano/description_shield_volcano.html

Earth's Interior and Continental Drift

What are the three layers of the earth?  What is the lithosphere?  What is the difference between oceanic and continental crust? What is the core made of and how hot is it?  What is the mantle?  What is magma?  Click on the link below to answer these questions and tell why scientist might study earth's interior

Earth's Interior
Who first came up with the concept of Continental Drift?  What is the name of the super continent that existed over 1 million years ago?  What are convection currents and what do they have to do with Continental Drift and Plate movement?  How does convection currents cause movement in the mantle?  What is subduction?  What might crustal movements cause?

Continental Drift

Plate Tectonics

Next week we will begin our unit on Plate Tectonics.  What do you think we will be discussing in this unit?  What topics will we discuss?  What possible labs would you be interested in doing?

In the News

Where Shall We Build

As we come to a finish on out unit covering Erosion & Deposition, what are your thoughts on where Boomtown should build their new hotels, houses and shopping?  You have had a chance to examine various soil types found in the area, you have seen how the land has changed over the past 100 years, and you have looked at specific areas in Boomtown and how erosion has affected each one.  With all of this information, which area would you chose to build:  the seaside cliff, the green hill, or the marsh?  Explain why you chose where you chose

Hurricane on the Bayou

How are wetlands formed?  What important roles do they play environmentally and as a storm surge protector? Do you think that the effects of Hurricane Katrina would have been greater or less if the wetlands were still in place?  What can be done to restore the wetlands at the mouth of the Mississippi River.  View the link to the Hurricane on the Bayou website and give us your thoughts

Hurricane on the Bayou

Tangled - untangled

What would it be like to have 72 ft of hair?  Disney animators observed the movements of a person who had 6 ft of hair to draw Rapunzel and how her hair would move.  What is the physics of hair?  View this video and see how the animators did their homework
hair phyiscs

Beach Erosion

After reading the following link please explain. what is beach erosion?

California Coast




What is beach erosion?  WHat are they trying to do in California?  Would you be willing to help in these efforts?

Beijing

Read the following article

water shortage

How would you feel if we had to collect and melt snow in order to conserve water?  Would you be willing to do this?  What would your main concerns be in doing this?  Do you think that we could have a water shortage in Cincinnati?  Why or why not?

Blast Off!

Check out this link

Discovery set to launch

Did the Discovery shuttle launch on Friday?  How would you feel about going up in space knowing a shuttle had technical difficulty before the launch?  
If you were to go up in space would you prefer to do the work from inside the shuttle or would you want to be one to go outside the space craft and do the space walk?
What are yoru thoughts?

Erosion

Try this crossword puzzle out when you get a chance!


erosion puzzle

Erosion

Now that you have made you first post and read this link, how would you define erosion? Explain what happens during erosion and the various types.
What is erosion?

Erosion and Deposition

When you hear the word erosion, what do you think?  What about deposition, what does that word mean to you?  Do you know anything that either of these two processes create?  Is there anything you would like to do in class when learning about erosion and deposition?

Pumpkin Physics

In honor of Halloween being this Sunday we have a little mixture of science and Halloween!
Check out the following video!

Pumpkin Physics

Lunar Update

Listen to the following link and leave your thoughts!

Lunar Update

Black Holes

I am always asked about black holes. Read this and see if you leanrn anything about them. Are they really black? Go to the link and click on Learn More, then read Black Holes Stranger than fiction.  could black holes be a way to travel through the universe?  When were they discovered?


Black Holes

Planetary Update

Listen to all the information about the solar system and its amazing 98 Worlds and Counting

http://www.sciencefriday.com/program/archives/201010081

What is meant by only a Seltzer Moon?  What would you think if life would be found on Titan?  Why should we study Titan more?  Why is Mars so small?

World Space Week

Last was world space week (Oct 4 - 7)  Read the following article.  How many of the questions can you answer?  Do some research to answer as many questions as you can.

World Space Week

What do you think should be done with old satellites?  What responsibility do we have to outer space?  What should be done about our trash problem on Earth?

Stars

Read the link below

A Star is Born

Stars like humans are born live their life and then die.  Read this and find out how it happened

A New Planet Found Could Have Life

Last week there were discoveries made leading up to what scientists believe is a new planet.  Read the following link and then leave your thoughts!

Goldilocks Planet

Noble Prize Physics

The Nobel Prize for Physics was released Tuesday, October 5, 2010.
Read the following link:
Nobel Prize

Do you ever try simple experiments around your house with things you have found?  
How many of you have heard about putting a mentos candy in a two liter of pop and watching the geyser that will occur?  
How many of you have tried experiments like this at you house?
Did you learn anything new from experiments you have done on your own?

Imagine taking that creativity many steps further as an adult and creating something that would win you the Nobel Prize.  How would you feel?

Once in a Blue Moon

Many of you have asked "what is a blue moon?"  Check out the following link!

Blue Moon

Many of you have asked "what is a blue moon?"  Check out the following link!

Harvest Moon

Did any of you see the moon last night (Sept 22/23)?
What are your thoughts on this link?

Harvest Moon

Good-bye Summer

http://whoknew.news.yahoo.com/?nc&vid=22016149

Check out the following link:

Hello Autumn

Did you know this is what caused the change of the seasons?  If you did not know this, why did you think we experienced the season changes??  I would love to see all of your thoughts on why this happens! Think about what we talked about in science on Wednesday

Monarch Metamorphisis

Julie Zickefoose is naturalist located in southwestern Ohio.  She has caught a Monarch caterpillar making his chrysalis and then becoming a beautiful butterfly.  Watch this event, read, the article and tell me what you think. This is amazing

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129878708
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129878708

Venus in the Sky

View Venus from your own front yard

http://earthsky.org/tonight/venus-brightest-for-2010-around-september-19

Venus is known as the "Morning Star" because this planet often looks like a bright "star" in the morning star.  See if you can locate it in the sky.

T-Rex

Considered by many to be the most interesting of dinosaurs, T-Rex sparks the imagination of all kinds of people.  Read or listen to this article and post your thoughts.  Could T-Rex survive today?  What are your thoughts about T-Rex?

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129915205

Living in Space

Listen to the following link about living in space

http://stardate.org/radio/program/living-space-ii

How would you feel about going to space knowing you would be putting your body at risk to these numerous factors?  Would these factors hinder you from going to space?  Would you be concerned about losing bone density or having your fingernails removed?

New Zealand Earthquake

On Friday an Earthquake occured in New Zealand. Read the following article and reply to the questions I have listed.

New Zealand Earthquake

1. Where in New Zealand did this earthquake occur?


2. What was the magnitude of this earthquake?

3. What prior quake did they compare this one to? Why was the damage less in the New Zealand quake?

4. What happens to the tectonic plates in New Zealand?

5. When was the last major quake in New Zealand?

6. How many earthquakes occur each year in New Zealand?



Any other thoughts, comments or concerns .....

Two weeks in

Now that we have been in class for about 2 weeks I wanted to get your input. 
I know we have had some different schedules and shorter classes, but with the time we have had together, what do you think about our science class so far?
Also, how do you feel about this blog site.  I know many of you have said you have not blogged before and I would like to know if you like it or not?  How do you think we could use this in the most beneficial way?  What would you think are exciting activities we could run through our blog?

Remember to reply to other students' posts and take part in some engaging conversations!

Katrina Song

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3k-0rskSk_c

5 Year Anniversary of Hurricane Katrina

Please go to the following link and read the article:

Hurricane Katrina


Once you have read the article, please answer the following questions:

1. How would you feel if you were forced to leave your home because of a hurricane?


2. If your home was restored and you were able to move back after 5 years, would you move back or would you be afraid another hurricane would come through the area?

Welcome!!

Welcome to Mrs. Martz's Earth Science course!
Last week, when we went  over our syllabus, we discussed the topics we will be covering this school year.  Please tell me what topic you are most excited to learn about.  Include why you are excited and anything you might already know about the topic!