http://www.penguinwatch.org

SEND YOUR NAME TO MARS!!!   CLICK ON THIS LINK
 http://mars.nasa.gov/participate/send-your-name/orion-first-flight/

TO REGISTER FOR

OR

VITAL SIGNS FIELD TRIP PREP

Students are working on getting ready to go out in the field for Vital Signs - We are learning how to

Collect Quality Data that Scientists Can Depend On!

Your science class will be participating in a Vital Signs project.  The goal of this project is to collect quality data that scientists will use.  To help prepare you for this task we will be previewing and practicing some skills you need.

Skills necessary –

• Photography
• Collect data and use the data to make a claim or argument : explain why you think you found or did not find your species.

1) Species in Focus – Critique some of the images posted on the VitalSigns website.    Find TWO that you think are excellent, TWO that are OK, and TWO that are pretty poor.  Take a screenshot of these photos and put them into a presentation, either Keynote or Google Slides.  Click on the picture that  goes with the entry. rather than viewing the tiny thumbnail on the page.  Choose photos of the same species to critique.  

1. Use this link - http://vitalsignsme.org/best-evidence-photos to locate  examples of  excellent photos.
2. Use this link http://vitalsignsme.org/explore/search to locate  examples of okay and poor quality photos.

For each photo,  take a screenshot of your examples, add them to your presentation, and include a few brief comment on your slides. Your comments should explain your ratings  and  answer the following questions.  

• What do you like about the photo?
• What don’t you like about the photo?
• What does the photo show that would help someone identify the species?
• What would you do differently to improve the photo?

2)   What makes great data?  Evaluate claims, evidence, and reasoning.  Vital Signs data is used by professional scientists, governmental agencies, the public, and students to better understand invasive and native species in Maine. For that reason, observations need to be of high quality.  You are going to explore and decide what quality data looks like.  

Find one example of poor observations/reasoning, one example of OK observations/reasoning, and one example of excellent observations/reasoning.   You need to be able to explain how well  the entries link their claim (found or not found) to the evidence presented.  Are they good scientific arguments?  

Use these links for examples of excellent reasoning:

http://vitalsignsme.org/best-evidence-written     

http://vitalsignsme.org/best-observations

Use this link to find examples of okay reasoning:

http://vitalsignsme.org/explore/search

Be sure your examples are all for the same species.

Screenshot your examples, and add them to your presentation.   Include  comments about why you chose these slides as examples of poor, okay and excellent observations.

Total eclipse of Blood Moon on night of October 7-8

"There is a total eclipse of the full moon on October 8, 2014. This is the Northern Hemisphere’s Hunter’s Moon – the name for the full moon after the Harvest Moon. It’s also aBlood Moon, and this eclipse is the second in a series of four so-called Blood Moon eclipses. For North America and the Hawaiian Islands, the total lunar eclipse happens in the wee hours before sunrise on October 8."

VITAL SIGNS

Science classes are beginning to use the website Vital Signs Go check it out -- it is part of the Gulf of Maine Research Institute, we will be conducting a mission here in Cape Elizabeth -- looking for invasive species.

OH DEER __ WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN?

OH DEER __ WHAY DOES IT ALL MEAN? Create a graph using the numbers in the table, the graph should illustrate the life changes that the deer population went through. Write a description of what the graph shows happened to the deer population over the rounds (or years) the game was played. The following questions should be answered in your description: - How did the native species population change over time? What caused those changes? - In what years did the native population increase / decrease most dramatically? What happened to cause those changes? - What impact did the predators have on the native species population (explain)? - What impact did the invasive species population have on the native species population (explain)? - What conclusions can you draw from your data? You must use the vocabulary words listed below correctly in your writing - please highlight, bold, or underline each of the vocabulary words the first time you use it. Habitat Native Species Invasive species Limiting Factors Competition

MAGIC 8 BALL PROJECT

MAGIC 8 BALL FINAL PRODUCTS 

DUE MON 9/22

1. Individual report on Magic 8 Ball

The report answers two questions:

#1) Is the Magic 8 Ball really Magic?

*use your evidence to support your answer

#2) How do you think the Magic 8 Ball works?

*use your evidence to support your answer

REMEMBER TO  INCLUDE THE FOLLOWING VOCABULARY 

WORDS IN YOUR REPORT: Theory Evidence Polyhedron  

Geometric Shape Probability Sphere Solution Buoyancy 

#2 Group presentation on how does your group think the Magic 8 Ball works.