Were Scientists Fair?

No, I don't think the scientists were fair when they rejected Wegener's hypothesis mainly because he wasn't geologist. It isn't fair because he had evidences — same fossils were found on each side of the Atlantic Ocean, the continents seem to fit together, there is the same kind of rock on each side of the ocean — and he had researched on it a lot so that he knew as much as other geologists. So, just because he isn't geologist, saying that his hypothesis is wrong isn't good.

Isolating the Variable

For the SMASH day, we did an activity where we had to make a small boat and try to make it hold as much weight as it could without sinking.
The activity isolated design as the variable because we started with the same materials, the same rules for everybody and we put the same kind of weight on the boat. We tested the boats on the same water.
The variables that were not controlled were mainly the design, how big you made the boat, where you put the straws. But also where you put the weights, and how you put them.
Every variable affected the outcome!

Puzzles and Drift

In class, we tried to make puzzles. We had pieces of blank paper and had to reproduce an double A4 piece of paper. And then, we had to reproduce a newspaper page.

Continental drift is the moving of continents. The parts of the Earth are arranged in many pieces that come together and move apart. This is the idea of continental drift.

The puzzles related to continental drift because the pieces of a puzzle are a lot like tectonic plates (which make the continental drift), when they are together, they make a whole thing, a piece of paper, or the Earth.

Submarine SMASH Day Reflection

Summarize:
For SMASH day, we tried to make a periscope, the thing submarines use to see above water. We had to see what was inside a box that was on a table, keeping our heads under the table. We were given a cardboard box, 10 pieces of paper (that our group didn't use), 1 meter of tape, and 2 pairs of scissors.

Reflect:
We modified our design only once, first we did a simple way, and then we consolidated our periscope. We knew that we should modify it because usually, the first way isn't the best. We knew what to modify, because we were trying every time we changed a little thing. Everyone gave ideas of how to change it. For example, someone might say that we need to make a part stronger, the other might say where we should put the mirrors, etc...

Tips and Suggestions:
First, do something very simple where you can kind of see what is in the box.
Then, improve it.

Research Reflection and the Magic School Bus

Research Reflections:

For the past month we have been researching body systems on our own.

One good thing about doing it this way is that you find more information. A teacher would give the information necessary. That way you get all the information you find, and this is much more than what the teacher would have said. And it sometimes makes the class more interesting.

One thing I didn't like about doing it this way is that you find a lot of useless information. You waste time. And it is easier to understand or remember something when the whole class is on it and a teacher is explaining, because the teacher would use simple words and try to make the thing interesting.

I think Mrs. Smith planned it this way because that is how most classes work at HIS. And I think she thinks that students like learning individually more than having a teacher talking for the whole class.

One suggestion I have for Mrs. Smith is doing half the class explaining things and the other half working on our own.

Another suggestion I have for Mrs. Smith is doing exercises with lots of questions that wouldn't be so long to answer. Doing about twenty questions easy to answer exercises instead of doing 5 really hard ones.

The Magic School Bus:

Today we watched a video of the Magic School Bus about the digestive system. The bus became really small and went into Arnold's mouth and went through the digestive system, at the large intestine, they went backwards.

One thing that was right in the Magic School Bus was that they put all the main organs of the digestive system.

Another thing that was right is that they didn't forget any part of the mechanical digestion.

One thing that was wrong is that they only talked about the chemical digestion of the stomach. They didn't talk about enzymes. They didn't say the mouth and the small intestine produced chemicals.

Another thing that was wrong is that I don't think gum wouldn't be digested. Because in the movie the gum still wasn't digested in the large intestine.

Grading

Why do you think Mr. Truchon and Mrs. Smith do this?
I think they do this to let students improve, not just give a mark.

Why do you think this might be important in your learning?
It might be important because we learn from our mistakes, so that way we will learn more.

What do you like about this approach?
I like this idea of redoing because if we just forgot something we can put it again without just getting a bad mark.

What do you dislike about this approach?
I dislike the idea of red, yellow, green because when we get a green we don't know if it's a 100% or a 90%. Or when we get a red, we don't know if it's a 0% or a 60%.

The Lab

Community Contributor:
I've been a community contributor because I helped for the qualitative observations.
I haven't been a community contributor because I didn't help to set the stuff and everything.

Person of High Character:
I've been a person of high character because I wasn't playing or watching videos on my laptop.
I haven't been a person of high character because I didn't take the work very seriously.

Active Learner:
I was an active learner because I listened to everything that Mrs. Smith said.
I wasn't an active learner because I don't remember that well what was our result.

Effective Communicator:
I was an effective communicator because I asked questions.
I wasn't an effective communicator because my group didn't listen to me.

Critical Thinker:
I was a critical thinker because I answered all the questions that were on the sheet.
I wasn't a critical thinker because I didn't find the answer to Mrs. Smith's last question.