Humanities -This week we were assigned to read "Thank you ma'am" and respond to some questions. Because our first four weeks of zoom learning have come to an end, we also had a reflection about each of the readings thus far. Thank You Ma'am by Langston Hughes (PDF) 1)What is the lesson for Roger? What is didactic about the story? (didactic means intending to teach something) -The main themes in the story, “Thank you Ma’am” I think are trust and forgiveness. An obvious answer would be not to steal, but this story goes beyond that. Ms. Jones could have let him go after his attempt, and maybe he wouldn’t have ever tried to steal again. Yet the most important part of the story was when she explains her past, “You thought I was going to say, but I didn’t snatch people’s pocketbooks. Well, I wasn’t going to say that.” Pause. Silence. “I have done things, too, which I would not tell you, son—neither tell God, if he didn’t already know.” This quote shows that she too has made mistakes. Instead of punishing him for what he had done, she is kind and empathetic towards the boy and shares her own personal experience instead of punishing him. 2) Why does Hughes include the little blurb about her past? “Well, I wasn’t going to say that.” Pause. Silence. “I have done things, too, which I would not tell you, son—neither tell God, if he didn’t already know.” -Mrs. Jones uses that statement to show the boy that she was once like him. She didn’t go into much detail about this, but you can infer that she had done things in her past that she regrets. “The woman said, “Um-hum! You thought I was going to say but, didn’t you? You thought I was going to say, but I didn’t snatch people’s pocketbooks.” This quote shows that she has also made mistakes. This was a way for her to connect to the boy and maybe gain his trust. 3) Why does she give him the money? WHY?! -I think she sees a little of herself in him. He could have attempted to run away, “There was a long pause. A very long pause. After he had dried his face and not knowing what else to do dried it again, the boy turned around, wondering what next. The door was open. He could make a dash for it down the hall. He could run, run, run, run, run!” This quote shows that he could have ran away, even the writer seems to encourage the idea of the boy running away. Yet the boy stays. Ms. Jones explains to the boy that she has also done some things that she regrets. In explaining her past a little bit, I think she aims to teach the boy a lesson. She does this by explaining a scenario that she has gone through and gains the boys trust. Because she sees so much of herself in the boy it seems like she is kind of giving the money to herself?? Or more like a past version of herself. Final Writing Piece from Our Stories… How might we connect the age and background issues in “Thank You Ma’am” to those in “Everything that Rises Must Converge”, “Marigolds” and Barn Burning”? -In each of the stories, we see young adults accompanied by an older possibly “wiser” adult. We see these very impressionable young adults becoming their own person. It’s almost like you can see what the people around them want them to mold into, but then you see them turn in to their own person. This idea seems most prominent in the first story, “Everything that rises must converge”. “He looked at her bleakly. She was holding herself very erect under the preposterous hat, wearing it like a banner of her imaginary dignity. There was in him an evil urge to break her spirit. He suddenly unloosened his tie and pulled it off and put it in his pocket. She stiffened.” We see a mother who desperately wants her son to be a certain way when all he craves is to be anything but his mother. I think in these stories, we see these young adults who just want to fit in, and do what everyone around them is doing. In “Marigolds”, we see Lizabeth joining in with the other children to torment the old lady. In the end she grows past this and sees the old lady for who she is. In “Barn Burning”, we see a son who tries to please his father and his family. ““Does hit hurt?” she said. “Naw,” he said. “Hit don’t hurt. Lemme be.” “Can’t you wipe some of the blood off before hit dries?” “I’ll wash to-night,” he said” The son in “Barn Burning” sort of wears the blood with pride, to show that he stood up for his family. In the end he goes against this. He starts to think for himself, make his own decisions and do what is right. In “Thank you Ma’am”, we see a woman who teaches a young boy who tried to steal her pocket book a lesson. Instead of punishing him she explains a little of her past. “You thought I was going to say, but I didn’t snatch people’s pocketbooks. Well, I wasn’t going to say that.”” This shows that maybe she came from a similar background as the boy, and wants to help him. Science -This week in science, we wrapped up our four weeks by learning about vaccines. Notes from The race for coronavirus vaccines: a graphical guide article: -90 thousand vaccines being developed for corona virus -Corona virus uses spike to lock onto our cells -antigen presenting cells help to fight against virus -memory cells (b and t) help provide immunity for months and years to come -vaccines aim to give the body an antigen and “block out” the virus -developing vaccine by using the virus -inactivated virus vaccines, weakened virus vaccines, and viral vector vaccines -virus like particles, look like virus sort of mimic the virus more difficult to manufacture -clinical trials on animals :( then people Notes from How long will a vaccine really take? article: -corona virus vaccine=“ultimate weapon” -vaccines take a long time -vaccine could take 4 years → long time to be social distancing -at least 254 therapies and 95 vaccines being worked on -vaccine then has to be approved by food and drug adm -side effects and effectiveness -head start of research for vaccine -clinical trial for vaccine end of this year -questions being raised about vaccine being a magnet for getting the virus -learning curve and human live risk -millions of doses -nobody has ever made an rna vaccine for humans -would it even work? -once vaccine is actually made approvals from the fda take a long time -corona virus doesn’t mutate significantly -our return to normal is gonna be a while How do you see science changing after the pandemic? In what ways do you think science will be different in the years to come? -We know for a fact that this pandemic is going to change the way we live. I feel like science will continue to evolve. I’ve heard talk about vaccines with gps trackers in them, along with some other crazy ideas. I think that this will cause more people to consider careers in science to help prevent anything like this to happen again. Math
-This week in math, we had some skill practice, a desmos activity, and practice with definite integrals. Still working on it
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Humanities -This week in humanities, we had another short story followed by some questions. This story, Marigolds, was my favorite so far. Below are my responses to the questions. Marigolds by Eugenia W. Collier (PDF) Discuss the idea of “coming of age”? The literary term is Bildungroman...How do we know that a character or a real-life person has “come of age”?-I think that there comes a point in one's life where something clicks. You are no longer a child, yet not quite ready to fully be an adult. In Marigolds, we see a “coming of age” in Elizabeth that happens rather suddenly. One moment she was having fun tormenting an old lady, and the next she was feeling ashamed. Her feelings shifted into bewilderment when she overheard her father crying. “Everything was suddenly out of tune, like a broken accordion. Where did I fit into this crazy picture? I do not now remember my thoughts, only a feeling of great bewilderment.” This quote shows the moment leading up to the destruction of Miss. Lottie's marigolds. “The witch was no longer a witch but only a broken woman who had dared to create beauty in the midst of ugliness and sterility.” After Lizabeth had destroyed the flower garden, she had an epiphany. This was the moment she had matured into a woman, and finally understood Miss. Lottie for who she was. How might we connect the generational struggle found in “Marigolds” to that in “Everything that Rises Must Converge” and Barn Burning”? -In each of these stories we see characters similar in age, young adults. In Marigolds, we see the main character, Lizabeth, starting to question why someone would grow marigolds amidst the squalor they live in. In the story this is described as, “Miss Lottie’s marigolds were perhaps the strangest part of the picture. Certainly didn’t fit in with the crumbling decay of the rest of her yard.” Lizabeth and the rest of the children share a hatred towards this old woman. This could be described as an age gap/ generational struggle. This also shows that you can never understand someone by what they look like. In the other two stories, “Everything that Rises Must Converge” and “Barn Burning”, we see disagreements between children and their parents. The parents and children live in completely different times and this comes across as a generational struggle. On the last page Collier writes: “In that humiliating moment I looked beyond myself and into the depths of another person. This was the beginning of compassion, and one cannot have both compassion and innocence.” *Take a position here. Agree or not? -I agree. I think that the innocence as described by the author is a sort of a feeling of being unaware as a child. The feeling of compassion describes a maturity that you gain as you grow up. “People think of the loss of innocence as meaning the loss of virginity, but this is far from true.” This quote squashes a popular belief, and shows that innocence may be described as something else. In the story we see Lizabeth gain compassion towards Miss. Lottie, by finally seeing her for what she was. I’d imagine that after this moment, Lizabeth would continue to be compassionate towards other people. Science -This week I chose to do the "Glowy Waters Assignment". This assignment consisted of me explaining my experience with the red tide as well as answering some questions about red tides and bioluminescence. You will find those responses below :) -I went to see the red tide last Friday. This was before the beaches opened, so I couldn’t get too close to see it. When waves crashed, you could see the glowy blue water. I was near impossible to capture this on my iphone camera, but I’ve attached an image of what I got. It’s been pretty foggy the past few nights, so I’m going to try to capture the red tide again with a better camera. Image of bioluminescent waters @ Powerhouse park/beach in Del Mar. Really bad quality photo but you can kind of see it, right? These were taken in Carlsbad. What organism causes the red tide? And why are they glowing at night? What causes them to glow? -The red tide is caused by a bloom of algae. More specifically phytoplankton known as dinoflagellates. The movement of the ocean causes them to react with the glow. We are only able to see them at night, because during the day they are photosynthesizing. The phytoplankton collect energy during the day and then use this energy to produce bioluminescence. Link to article I used for research- https://scripps.ucsd.edu/labs/mlatz/bioluminescence/dinoflagellates-and-red-tides/ Here are some photos I found that exemplify a toxic algae bloom. These are from a bloom that happen in Lake Erie last year. Are there any environmental dangers to this event? -Some red tides can be harmful to birds, animals, and humans. This is known as a toxic red tide. The dinoflagellates during a toxic tide produce neurotoxins that can be harmful to other species. These toxic chemicals accumulate within shellfish. When shellfish are consumed by other species it can lead to neurological effects. Where were the images taken, what day/time specifically? -My image was taken near Powerhouse Park in Del Mar. I also drove past Torrey Pines beach and was able to see the bioluminescence, but couldn’t capture it on my phone. [update this if you end up going again] How did witnessing the event make you feel and what questions does this make you think of? -I thought that seeing this event was really cool. I feel glad to live in a place where I was able to witness this. I’m curious about the function of bioluminescence. When researched, I found that bioluminescence can help attract and find prey. A quote from a Scripps Institute of Oceanography article I read states that, “In the dark ocean, dim glowing can be used to attract prey. Fish such as the anglerfish use a light organ filled with bacteria that dangles from their forehead. Prey are attracted to the light in the same way that a fisherman might use a glowing lure for night fishing. When the unlucky prey gets near the anglerfish it is engulfed whole.” I thought that this was really interesting how other fish are attracted to the light. Which makes sense why fisherman use the bright colored lures. It’s also crazy to me how angler fish have their own bioluminescent powered “fishing rod”. Math -This week in math we had some more derivative practice and some implicit differentiation. Humanities -This week in humanities we had another short story. This one was much harder for me to understand. Below I have my responses to the seminar questions. Barn Burning by William Faulkner (PDF) Cliffs Notes-Faulkner's Short Stories | Barn Burning | Book Summary & Study Guide Sparknotes-Barn Burning: Plot Overview Our Questions: What would be an appropriate balance of loyalty to family and doing what is right for Sarty from “Barn Burning”? -Throughout the story it seems that Colonel Sartoris tries to balance this idea of staying loyal to family. His father strongly believes that family comes above all else, and that you need to stay loyal to your blood. This belief becomes quite literal when Sartoris is beat up, and left with blood on his face. “His mother’s hand touched his shoulder. “Does it hurt?” she said. “Naw,” he said. “Hit don’t hurt. Lemme be.” “Can’t you wipe some of the blood off before hit dries?” “I’ll wash to-night,”he said.” He wears this dried blood on his face with pride, to show that he took a hit for his family. Yet at the end of the story Sartoris goes against family morals. He fights free from his mother's grasp and warns De Spain that his barn is going to be burned. Sartoris goes against his family by doing the right thing. “He cannot articulate why he warns de Spain or ultimately runs away, but his actions suggest that Sartoris’s core consists of goodness and morality rather than the corruption that his father attempts to teach him.” This quote from sparknotes seems to sum it up nicely. I think that Sartoris finally listened to himself instead of his father’s brainwash. How might we connect the generational struggle found in “Everything that Rises Must Converge” and Barn Burning”? -I see similarities between the parents in both of the stories. In “Everything that Rises Must Converge”, we see differences between the mother and her son when it comes to race. The son in this story, Julian, acts like he is so much different than his mother, and that he understands social equality. Yet as the story unravels we see that Julian isn’t much different from his mother, he only speaks of African Americans to annoy her. In “Barn Burning” Sartoris’s father is overbearing and pushes Sartoris to stay loyal to family. In the end of the story we see that Sartoris is nothing like his father, and he strives to do the right thing by telling De Spain his father's plan to burn the barn. The stories are similar in the sense that they have opposite things happen. In “Everything that rises must converge” we see a son who wants to be nothing like his mother, but ends up being just like her. In “Barn Building” we see a son who maybe wants to stay loyal to the family no matter what, yet in turn does the morally right thing by going against his family. In both stories we see a struggle between staying loyal to family and doing the right thing. What does Faulkner mean in these words from his Nobel Prize?“...the human heart in conflict with itself which alone can make good writing because only that is worth writing about, worth the agony and the sweat.” -Faulkner explains the struggle of writing meaningful literature. It seems that a lot of the time writers write about what people want to hear vs. writing about things that are real. Writing about the stuff that is difficult for us all to deal with, the stuff that is often sugar coated and tiptoed around. I think what Faulkner is trying to say is if you want to write something meaningful you can’t be afraid to write about those kinds of things. To be a good writer and to produce good literature, you must write what comes from the heart. Science Viral Biology Continued: "Last week you reviewed what basic characteristics of life are with a focus to discuss whether viruses should be considered living, nonliving, or somewhere in between. To continue with our learning about all things viruses we will start by hopefully answering some of your questions regarding mutations. Please read below and work through any instructions/prompts as you read along." -Mary What comes to mind when you hear the word mutation? Please elaborate as much as possible. -I first think of the process of growth and change. How something can change subtly over time. I know that viruses can mutate. That it is common for a virus to mutate into different strands of the same virus. The flu also has different strands . Maybe mutation isn’t always bad, it could help us to better understand how viruses change. Mutation Game: But what happens when there is a mistake? Did you make any mistakes during the game? -This game shows how the different pieces of DNA go together. There are four different nucleotides repeated in different orders. These nucleotides are called Adenine, Thymine, Guanine, and Cytosine. In the game when you make a mistake it replaces it with the correct nucleotide. After one of the rounds it compared DNA to ingredients in cookies. I thought that this was a great analogy to show how changing an ingredient in cookies could either be a good or bad thing. The same goes for DNA these mistakes can result in something good, bad, or neutral. How has your understanding of mutations changed? -I now know that mutations are mistakes in our DNA. These mistakes are happening all the time, and they aren’t good or bad. These mistakes happen when cells are copying their DNA before dividing. Like in the game, sometimes there are errors in this process. A base can be replaced with another, deleted, or added. The cells are able to fix most of these errors, but after each round of division there are a few changes that aren’t repaired. From the video, I learned that Pretend you are going to a 5th grade classroom. How would you explain how viruses infect a host cell? -I would explain a virus as a type of germ. We wash our hands to get rid of germs. Sometimes these germs get inside our body. Our bodies up of 37.2 trillion cells. Cells are found in every living thing. Inside of our cells they have what is called DNA, DNA is what makes things different and changes how they look and function. Some germs have DNA too, like viruses! So, these viruses enter our bodies and find a cell to copy its DNA into. This makes the cell have the same kind of DNA as the virus. When this happens sometimes we can get sick. How would you explain to 5th graders how viruses mutate and if all mutations are bad? -Sometimes when viruses infect a host cell, it changes how the virus looks and acts. This is called a mutation. These mutations are usually not good or bad. Our DNA has mutations all the time. These are what make us different. Changes in your DNA code occur randomly. These changes can either be positive, negative, or be neutral (have no effect). Describe three changes that have happened in the past year with your own life that had a positive, negative, and a neutral effect. Coronavirus- negative Now I can’t go to school and have to stay home all the time. Getting into college- positive I am very excited to be going to college to further my education. Zoom classes- neutral Not the same as being at school, but better than nothing. Math -Math has been my favorite part of school. Although its been super tricky, I feel like I am learning a lot. I'm starting to see the patterns with the derivative’s and using the different formulas. Here's what I've been up to besides school work... Humanities This week we were required to read a story, Everything that Rises Must Converge, and respond to some questions for our zoom seminar on Thursday. Below I have linked the pdf version of the story as well as the Sparknotes and Cliff Notes. Everything that Rises Must Converge by Flannery O’Connor (PDF) Cliffs Notes-"Everything That Rises Must Converge" Sparknotes-Everything That Rises Must Converge: Study Guide Summary from first read through- (my apologies if it doesn't make any sense, just a rough summary) The story begins by talking about how this woman needs to lose 20 pounds. She does this by attending a “reducing class” at the Y. On this day, she wanted her son to go with her to the class. She makes a lot of comments towards her son like, “rome wasn’t built in a day”, and that soon he will be successful. Through the dialogue, it seems that her son doesn’t feel that way. While they were waiting for the bus, the woman straightened her hat and stood tall. Her son takes off his tie. She gets mad at this and he puts it back on. I feel that he wants to blend in, he doesn’t want to be seen as above anyone. Whereas his mother seems like she’s trying to flaunt her “wealth” or maybe “class”. As they got on the bus, his mother smiled and sat down. She made some sort of comment to her son about how they had the bus to themselves, implying that there were no black people on the bus. The son then reads the newspaper to avoid listening to his mother. That is when the story talks more about how his mother made “sacrifices” for her son's education,for him to get straight teeth, kind of a summary of how she thinks she “brought him up”. The bus made a stop and an African American man got on. Again his mother made some sort of racist comment, like “this is why I don’t ride the bus alone.” Her son got up and sat next to the African American man. This was his way of teaching his mother a lesson. At the next stop, an African American woman and her son got on the bus. The African American woman was wearing the same hat that Julian's mother was wearing. They arrive at their stop and get off with the African American woman and son. Julian's mother digs through her purse looking for a penny to give the little boy. The African American woman says that he doesn’t want the penny. Julian's mother says that they aren’t going to the Y and they start walking home. Julian yells at his mother about her behavior. At the end of the story his mother collapses, and she seems to have had a stroke. Julian feels guilty and sorry. Questions I had after first read- Why did his mother collapse? Is it because she knew he was right? The title of the story is kind of tricky to break down. I see that there were many ups (“rises”), this could be the fights, or when Julian was happy to see his mom so uncomfortable by him moving seats. I am unsure when they came together, convergence usually means to come together in ideas or characteristics. Maybe the death of his mother shows that she finally understood what Julian was trying to tell her. {this was only after my first time reading it, so I had a lot of different ideas and wonderings. What at first seemed to be a simple story unravels into a much deeper meaning} Our Questions: What inequities of care and security feel most exposed during this time? In a time of crisis we should insure that everyone is receiving the same quality of care they deserve. A quote from an NPR article states that, “"Experience has taught all of us that if you're poor, if you're of color, you're going to get services second," he says.” This shouldn’t be the case. Healthcare should be provided to anyone who needs it regardless of their wealth or racial background. Taken from a New York Times article, “The coronavirus is spreading quickly in America’s jails and prisons, where social distancing is impossible and sanitizer is widely banned, prompting authorities across the country to release thousands of inmates in recent weeks to try to slow the infection, save lives and preserve medical resources.” This quote shows that it is inevitable for those in prison to contract the corona virus. Some have been fortunate enough to have been released early, but those stuck inside aren’t so lucky. There could also be carriers of the virus who are released and infect others without even knowing it. Links to article I quoted - Racial Bias Showing Up In Coronavirus Testing And Treatment : Shots - Health News How do worldwide events impact generation gaps? Or vice versa? This pandemic has exposed a variety of generation gaps. We know that those who are older and have pre-existing medical conditions are more at risk of developing more severe cases of the virus. Most people have been following the stay at home order which has helped “flatten the curve”. One of the articles that I read explained the struggles one woman had with trying to keep her family members following the stay at home order. A quote from the article states that, “Health officials say older adults may be among the most vulnerable. But anecdotally, they’ve sometimes shown as little caution about their health as youth, earning reprimands from their children as they continue to attend exercise classes at the pool or meet friends at coffee shops.” This quote struck me the most because it is something I can relate to. My 80 year old grandma suffers COPD (Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) from years of smoking. If she were to get the virus it wouldn't be something she would likely recover from. We have delivered her groceries each week and talk on the phone with her everyday. Yet she has left the house a few times to get non essential items from the store. It seems as though she is unfazed by the fact this virus could potentially kill her. I think that it is so important for all of us to remain safe and distance ourselves from others. I think of the younger generations like mine. If we were to get the virus, we’d probably recover. This doesn’t mean that we shouldn't still distance ourselves from others. On the other hand, something I’ve been thinking about a lot is the carriers of the virus. My parents, for obvious reasons, wanted me to stop working (chick fil a). I think about someone coming through the drive through infecting one of the employees who has taken their order. And then that employee now exposes each person having their order taken after that. It seems I have gone off on a tangent. Link to the article I quoted - https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Society/2020/0324/Coronavirus-generation-gap-Mom-fights-to-keep-kids-and-grandma-home Math This week in math we had some derivative practice. These problems ended up being much harder than any of us had anticipated. Me and a few other seniors had a zoom call with Brian for him to help us with the math packet. This was extremely helpful to see some examples worked through. I am feeling much more confident in my derivative math capabilities ;) Below is a link to my work. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1PWp_PBboEvW5-oJzZByt20iCWtntGcGtwFcNKTCeHUE/edit?usp=sharing Science This week in science we studied Life, and what defines something as living and non-living. We showed our work by creating sketchnotes. Without research, first respond to the question: What do you believe defines something as “living?” What about “nonliving?” -I think that living things are made up of either one or more cells. They may be defined as something that has the ability to change, grow, adapt, and maybe even reproduce. Something that is nonliving would then be something that doesn’t do these things. More specifically, I’m thinking of a plant (living) vs. a rock (nonliving). The plant needs water and sun, and adapts to changing temperatures to achieve homeostasis. Whereas a rock doesn’t do any of these things because it’s not a living thing. Review common characteristics of life by reading the attached Kahn Academy Article titled, “What is Life. Create one page of sketchnotes about the article. Be sure to define any words that you are unfamiliar with using words, doodles, or both! Sketchnotes from video, What is Life? Are viruses alive?, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phgASkTaIW0 Are viruses alive? -A cell has numerous components that go together to create the cell. These components when separate from the cell would be considered non living. Yet, a virus which has DNA, and on its own is not living until it enters a cell. Kind of a turning point for me was when he said in the video that, “But a virus inside of a cell is performing life just like the components of that cell.” I still think that a virus is non living because it needs the cell to perform life. Another comparison made in the video was a parasite infecting a host, which is kind of similar to a virus. Here's what I've been up to besides school work... 1. Photos/videos at the studio and a 200-300 word reflection about your experience at Plum Pottery. How well did you and your partner collaborate, what went well/ what could have gone better? What are your hopes for your design? Include an additional image of your final reef design poster. -I was sick on this day, and was not able to visit the pottery studio. 2. Include a link or an embedded document of your final literature review. In a short 1-2 sentences reflect/summarize your review. Here is an excerpt of my review- Thinking of Cannery Row, the whole book, it shows that no place is perfect. Society as a whole is never going to be perfect. There will always be cracks, and little problems. I think that the idea of “Utopia”, and living in perfect balance is dangerous and scary. Humans can’t be programmed to be perfect, as it is inevitable for us to make mistakes. Here is a link to my final lit review- https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ZV1VB2AmhEsM9IcsppddJNcEPsE85QgMa6G-mT7WPBc/edit?usp=sharing 3. Look through the class library, chat with classmates or reach out to teachers and choose your next book. Include an image of your book choice cover and why you picked it. I chose "Ender's Game" as my next book to read. I chose it because it was recommended to me by Aaron. 4. Choose a short excerpt of raw footage from your group's video folder. Link to video of tide pools at Swamis.
https://youtu.be/cum-z-WiDl0 -What is the shot about? The image shows muscles that are surrounding a few of the rocks. This was taken at low tide, and I was able to see the full rock exposed. I'm proud of how this image turned out, as it was shot on my phone. The video that I attached shows one of the tide pools I was observing at swamis. The quality of the video is terrible, as it was shot on my phone. I plan on going back to swamis at low tide with a better camera (my sony) to capture the beauty within these tide pools. -What is the plan for your film moving forward? I think our plan is to consolidate our footage, and start creating a raw edit of our film. Photos/videos and 200-300 word reflection about your two experiences at Mission Point. Overall, how was this experience for you, what do you do while you were there? Elaborate. What was striking for you to see in the water? What questions do you want to further pursue about this specific environment? Include the video that you made with your partners from Wisconsin. How do you feel that your group collaborated on this project? (mini film we made won't open :() -The Mission Point trip was a lot of fun. I was paired up with Luana and two of the visitors from Wisconsin (Tim and Bernie). The visitors and I went in the water to snorkel while Luana stayed outside the water to capture footage of birds. I used one of the gopros to capture some video of fish, and other underwater wildlife. Because there were so many of us getting in and out of the water, it was tough to see anything when swimming along the surface of the water. I kept diving underwater to look for fish towards the rocks and sand. I kept having trouble with my gopro video not working, and water seeping into the waterproof housing. On this trip I didn’t see anything too striking underwater. I was trying to stay with my group of visitors instead of breaking off from the group. The trip felt a little disorganized, and I wish I would have had time to explore on my own to capture some better footage. In the next trips we have to mission point, I hope to see some of the octopi and other sea-creatures. My group collaborated well in creating our video. Bernie chose the title for our video and storyline. I put the videos together. Together we looked through all the footage. We are at the midway point of Cannery Row. How was the Socratic Seminar for you? How are you feeling about the story and your experience as a reader? Are there topics or story elements that you would like to discuss as a class? -I felt like the Socratic Seminar was very helpful in seeing other people’s points of view of the book. It was a good way to summarize what we have read so far, and talk about some of the important characters in the book. So far I am enjoying reading Cannery Row. I like how each character is so unique yet it feels like they all deep down have a similar interest in helping others. I think once I read the next few chapters, I’ll have some more to discuss in class. Why are logarithms significant? -Logarithms are significant because they allow us to express larger numbers. Logs can be important in other forms of math such as exponential functions. What are you curious about with regard to logarithms? -I’m curious if we will be using logarithms in real life situations. Such as measuring acidity and alkalinity of the ocean. What do you understand about them? -I understand that a log written by itself has a base of 10. A logarithm is also known as the inverse of an exponential function. What questions do you have? -What kind logarithm problems will we be doing? What do you understand about derivatives, rates of change and tangent lines? -The derivative shows the average rate of change at one particular point, this is called an instantaneous rate of change. The instantaneous rate of change at a point can be thought of as the slope of the tangent line at that point. The average rate of change between two points can be thought of as the slope of the secant line between those two points. How are derivatives interesting? What questions do you have about them? -They are interesting because they can help us find the average rate of change at one particular point. I wonder if we'll be using calculus in real life applications. Post the two math assignments from this week and answer the following questions related to it. 4. Post your marine food web assignment.
In about a paragraph please choose which diet would you suggest is more sustainable: one that consumes tuna or one that consumes beef? Why? Please use evidence from the videos or your work to support your opinion. -It would be more sustainable to eat the tuna. Consuming beef is a lot less sustainable because the whole process pollutes our environment. Current Events - Week 2
As Wildfires Hit Australia... -What is happening? -How might this affect policy, culture, nature? -What is your personal connection to this? This article was primarily about the heat waves and wildfires that have faced Australia. The article highlights different perspectives about these events. Rodney Dilllon noticed one day while he was diving that the kelps were dying, yet there was nothing anyone could do about it. Climate change has affected the giant kelp forests that once thrived in the cold water. As the ocean temperatures rise many species are at risk of going extinct. This causes ocean life to migrate to regions where they wouldn’t usually be able to survive. For example, sea urchins are moving from the north closer to the south pole. “It’s a geographic climate trap, Johnson said. Marine animals unique to Australia — the wallabies and koalas of the deep — could easily vanish. So there’s going to be a whole bunch of species here that we expect will just go extinct.” This quote struck me because it refers to the effects of climate change as a geographic climate trap, soon there weren’t be anywhere else for these animals to migrate. “Australia is a poster child for climate change. Wildfires are currently raging on the outskirts of its most iconic city and drought is choking a significant portion of the country.” These fires have led to the death of nearly a third of the population of koalas. Others have been severely burned and pushed out of their habitats. The rising temperatures due to climate change could cause there to be hotter summers leaving Australia at risk of more fires. I think that the events happening in Australia are eye-opening for many people, and show climate change in action. Mini Documentary - The Grey Seagull How well did you and your partner collaborate together? -Me and my partner worked together in deciding what we wanted to film. I then edited the video in premier. My partner created a script and recorded the narration. How comfortable are you getting with the equipment and software compared to last week? -I felt more comfortable using premier for editing my film. What are some areas of improvement that you are still working on with photography/videography? -I think for improving the quality of my mini film, I should have used one of the cameras vs using my cell phone to shoot the film. Ocean Science and Numbers Below is a link to my Ocean Science and Numbers. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1rRwcqmgwLBCcWI9LsihUvnebAgw2eif0wcFaG0hu8nU/edit?usp=sharing A reflection on the nature of infinity. Why is it essential in mathematics? Why is it unknowable? Does it intrigue you? Why or why not? Are characteristics of infinity present in the ocean system? How? Please reference the video and article from class. Infinity is essential in mathematics, because it can be referenced and used in many other branches of mathematics, such as calculus and set theory. The video we watched in class, “The Infinite Hotel Paradox”, aimed to explain the concept of infinity by using the example of a hotel. Infinity is quite intriguing to me because it is not a number, yet if it were a number it would be the largest number possible. Infinity also confuses me which leads me to want to know more about it. When thinking about the ocean and infinity, I think that there are an infinite set of waves. Current Events Week #1
Becoming Ocean - When you and the world are drowning -What is happening? -How might this affect policy, culture, nature? -What is your personal connection to this? In the article, a woman shares her story living with polycystic kidney disease (pkd), a disease that has affected generations of her family. She draws parallels between her life and the ocean. She was diagnosed with pkd at 22, letting the disease control her life. Depriving herself from doing things that could make her ill. Each year, she thought the pain of pkd would come, and when it did, she found ways to cope with the pain. She lives her life to the fullest, learning about climate change, and issues within the planet. A quote that struck me was, “we have only to take the power from the water, we have only to insist on our survival, on the dignity of all the vulnerable lives depending on that decision to become ocean, not ocean as a thing of fear and annihilation, but as the giver of all life, sustainer of the planet, mother of us all, mystery at the centre of all life on earth.” More than 70 percent of our planet is ocean, yet most of it has been left undiscovered. It is our job to explore the ocean and see how we can protect it from the effects of global warming and human activities. I think that this article aims to inspire others to be activists for our planet, and to remain mindful of the affects we have on our planet. Cell Phone Mini Films Mini film about skipping rocks at the bay. Reflection: How well did you and your partner collaborate together? -I worked with Nick and Marco, and I felt that we worked well together in creating our film. How comfortable are you getting with the equipment and software compared to last week? -I feel more comfortable using adobe premier, but I would like to continue to learn how to use this software. What are some areas of improvement that you are still working on with photography/videography? -Editing photos Link to our Mini Film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhwuzbLbGhI&feature=youtu.be Ocean Circulation Blitz! My group was given Ocean Water Density and Thermohaline Circulation to present on. Ocean water density is determined by the differences in water temperature, salinity, and depth. Thermohaline Circulation, also known as the oceans conveyer belt, is a system that transports water around the world. https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1OQEtc-mifLFHNb1343afqkgYOlUoieY2AIo79k7IlFI/edit#slide=id.p Ocean Based Problem Set 1 |
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