POWER POINT: "ATOMS AND MOLECULES"

. For all of Mr. Hatfield's Classes, because ALL scientists (and thus, ALL of my students) have to know about atoms and molecules!

Students should use these Power Points to complete their Lecture Guides, and use both items to make sure that their Cornell Style Notes are complete and perfected!   So, in case you haven't completed this item, for all my classes, here are the notes on 'Atoms and Molecules.'

****UPDATE****

THE LIVES OF THE STARS

The following episode of Carl Sagan's Cosmos, 'The Lives of the Stars', forms the basis of a student homework assignment. Click on the icon below to play the video within the blog:

 

COSMOS

The following episode of Carl Sagan's Cosmos, 'The Lives of the Stars', forms the basis of a student homework assignment. Click on the icon below to play the video within the blog:

You can also go to Snag Films directly here.

HOW TO "COPE" WITH TESTS IN MR. HATFIELD'S CLASSES

Tomorrow, Biology students will have their first tests returned to them. Results of that test were mixed, and often not what they could have been, due to poor student CHOICES.

Students who earn a percentage score higher than that earned on the first test can not only expect to earn a higher grade, but they are eligible for grade change on their previous test.

To achieve that, students need to consider the following, using the anagram 'COPE'.

C....(ontent)

Students need to know what's on the test. To make sure that students know what content will be covered on the exam, they need to obtain a copy of the Study Guide, which becomes available the weekend before the test. The sooner they get this, the better!

O....(rganization)

Students need to plan their time. For the next test, there will be a Study Session after school on the day before the exam (date to be announced later this week). They earn points by attending, and get valuable feedback about what is likely to be covered. In addition to attending the Study Session, students need to consider using time on lunch or after-school on the day of their exam as needed to complete their test. Plan ahead, students!

P...(reparation)

Students need to provide evidence that they have prepared for the test. One way to do this is to attend the Study Session before the next test (date to be announced later this week). Another, powerful way is to make sure that they bring their COMPLETED Cornell Notes to class on the day of the exam. Cornell Notes, if completed, have questions and comments in the margins and summaries of the major sections. Students who have these items completed will be allowed to use them throughout the exam. Bring evidence that you have prepared for the test, students, and you will be rewarded!

E...(ffort)

Students need to finish what they start. There is nothing more important than giving our best effort, all of the time. On an exam day, a good effort means that students attempt everything, even if that means they need to come back at lunch or after school. Show a work ethic, students, and you will not only do better on the test....you will do better in every aspect of your life.

PARENTS, ENCOURAGE YOUR STUDENT TO USE THESE STRATEGIES TO EXCEL!

LECTURE GUIDE: THE NATURE OF SCIENCE

This post contains the Power Point notes for "The Nature of Science" given in BOTH Mr. Hatfield's Biology AND Environmental Science classes..........

Students in both classes should make sure that their Cornell Style Notes are completed and perfected in their composition books, for two reasons:  1)  their comp books will from time to time be graded; 2) their comp books, if complete, may be used on exams.

To help make sure students complete their Notes, Mr. Hatfield makes them available for download through the class blog and also gives assignments (Lecture Guides) based on the lectures which students can compare with their comp books.

NOTE:   Usually Biology and Environmental Science will have different notes.   In this case, they are the same, because discussions of scientific method and the nature of science are generic.  They are likely to cover almost identical material in the same sequence in high school courses.

Students! Here is the Power Point for the notes on 'The Nature of Science'. You will receive a Lecture Guide based on these Notes sometime this week! If you don't have Power Point on your computer, don't worry . . . you can download a free program, Power Point Viewer, to see the notes!

KEEP IN MIND...this year, in Mr. Hatfield's Classes, we will try to reduce the amount of class time spent taking notes. There are dozens of standards to cover, hundreds of vocabulary terms and other items to master. We need to decrease the amount of time spent in lecture so students can have more time to do activities. Remember: we want to engage as many different parts of the brain as possible, and to do that, we need to have more time to do things other than notes.

At the same time, your Cornell Notes must be complete (all the notes, original questions and comments in the margins, your name/date/course on every page, and summaries of major sections of notes). Therefore, it is the student's responsibility to download and complete any notes that they were not able to finish in class!!

BIOLOGY: OPEN HOUSE

Parents and Students:


You are cordially invited to attend Mr. Hatfield’s “Open House” for his Biology students, which will occur on Tuesday, Sept 4th, at 7:00 P.M. , in Room N-63 on the Bullard campus.

Room N-63 is on the last wing right before the band and theatre building currently being remodeled, and is best assessed from the Palm parking lot.

During “Open House”, Mr. Hatfield will review his Course Rules and Policies with parents, and will provide parents important feedback on the research-based strategies used in his course that can help parents assist their students. We hope that you will consider attending to support your student.

A MARTIAN SAFARI!

How can you tell if something is alive?   

What are the characteristics of life? (Ch. 1.3, Miller and Levine)


It turns out that these are NOT the easiest question to answer!   How, for example, would scientists be able to tell if something they found on another planet was alive, or not?   To explore this question, students have been given an assignment called "A Martian Safari".  

Using their textbook, and what they've learned in class about forming hypotheses and answering questions (the RA Guide), students will apply the "characteristics of life" from their textbook to an imaginary situation: that they are explorers on the planet Mars, who've discovered something mysterious....

Far out!   Or is it?   After all, the mission in the video below became a reality on August 6th, just a few weeks ago.   One of the main goals of the Curiosity mission is to pursue evidence for past or present life on the "Red Planet."   Something to think about!

ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE: "COSMIC VOYAGE"

Environmental Science students will be viewing a 36-minute IMAX video in class and completing a worksheet based on part of the video. 

The film, 'Cosmic Voyage', was made in 1996 for the Smithsonian Institute and was clearly inspired by a classic science education film called 'Powers of Ten', originally produced in 1977 by the husband-and-wife team of Rae and Charles Eames.

'Cosmic Voyage' approaches the idea of using the metric system, which is based on powers of ten, to explore the question: "What is really large, and really small?" The film first zooms out from an acrobat's ring in St. Mark's Square in Venice, the place where Galileo first trained his telescope on the heavens.


Through 23 powers of ten, we leave first the Earth, then our solar system, then the Milky Way Galaxy behind, until we reach the limit of modern astronomy, where we can see images from about 13 billion years past.


Reversing course, the video then zooms in on drop of water in the Dutch town of Delft, where Antonie Van Leuuwenhoek first trained his early microscope to discover the hidden world of microbes.



As we zoom in on a paramecium, we penetrate its cell nucleus, then zoom in on a molecule of DNA.


Within that molecule is a carbon atom, and the world within that atom is mostly empty space! Within the atom, the atomic nucleus contains virtually all of an atom's mass, made of particles called protons and neutrons. These, in turn, are formed from even smaller particles called quarks.

The film continues with a discussion of the search for a fundamental theory in physics through the use of particle accelerators like Fermilab, along with an overview of the likely "recent" events that led to our sun, our solar system, the Earth and life itself.

Here, presented on YouTube, is the first segment (Chapter 1) of the film who wish to review the material or share it with others. As the narrator (Morgan Freeman) intones, 'we are all travelers on a voyage of discovery!' Chapter 2, and Chapter 3 can be assessed at YouTube directly or by clicking on the hyperlinks