1/26 Clyde

Today in class, we did a POGIL that walked everyone through the relationship between force, displacement and work, essentially the equation W = (FcosѲ)s. The POGIL is on pages 115-117 in your lab manual, but does not have to be turned in. The POGIL was pretty interesting, considering that every table was missing at least one person, so somebody in each group played two different roles. In the POGIL, there was a section about a retired science teacher who payed someone to do work (the scientific definition of work), and in the end that person earned about $850 for doing things like crushing cans, lifting boxes, and flicking rubber bands. I think that the lesson here is that it's always good to help out retired science teachers, especially if they're offering money per N x m. We also briefly got our quarter exams back so that we could look them over and see how we did.

QOD: I think that the most difficult question on the quarter test was the matching section, simply because of the all-or-nothing format, leaving little to no leeway for mistakes. Aside from that, the exam wasn't too bad.

1/26 qod

What did you think was the most difficult question on the quarter test?  Why did you think it was difficult?

--ch

1/25 qod

What was your favorite station?  What were the energy transformations at that station?

--ch

1/24 Bloomberg

Today in class...
First, those of us that bring cellphones to class took them out and texted in answers to our homework that we had done the night before. Then Mrs. Coats- Haan passed out the paper titled "How to Read an Electric Meter." So that the class would know how to do the work sheet Mrs. Coats- Haan showed us a power point on how to read electric meters. From this we learned that some dials go clockwise while others go counterclockwise because of the way the gears mesh. We also learned that if the dial looks to be on a number then it is probably the number before it if the previous dial is a high number like a 9. We then practiced reading electric meters on our own and Mrs. Coats- Haan had the answers on the board. After this we were given the Home Energy Survey which is due January 31st. Next we got out lab pages 107 through 109 which are for the energy explore stations. Then our student teacher Mr. Ebersole demonstrated energy by dropping a brick on a rope and having it swing away from him and then frighteningly close to his face (without flinching!) Following this display Mrs. Coats- Haan demonstrated all the energy stations for us and we spent the rest of the class going from station to station. Something interesting that happened in our class was our discussions about Lauren and Hunter. While some predict a relationship between the two I think it is more likely that they will drive each other crazy. There is no homework due tomorrow but it is recommended that we start recording the readings on our electric meters.

QOD:If the dial on the far right reads 9 and the dial next to it is just on 8. Is the value 7,8,or 9?

Answer: the value of the dial is 7. I know this because if the dial on the far right is a high number then the value of the next dial will be the number that it just passed and not the one it it presently on. Like when you think about a clock, if the minute hand is on 59 and the hour hand appears to be on 5 then it is 4:59 not 5:59.

1/24 qod

The dial on the far right of an electric meter reads 9.  The dial next to it appears to be just on the 8.  Is its value 7, 8 or 9?  Justify your answer.

--ch

Alaimo 1/23

Today we started off class by going over the new blog schedule.  We then wrote our team farewells and shared some to the class.  Some of them were very deep, like Nathan's farewell to Ashley.  We were then given new make-up policy sheets.  After, we were assigned new seats with new lab partners.  We then went over the windmill assignment we will do with our lab tables.  We have the choice of creating a windmill or a Rube Goldberg machine.  After, each table was given a piece of paper and the option to use glue and scissors.  Every table had to try to make the highest free standing object with nothing but the paper, glue, and scissors to use.  Our class was not very successful, but James, Johnny, and Seth built the highest free standing object.  Our homework tonight is the Pondering Energy worksheet.

Question of the Day:What has to happen for you to do work?
Answer:  In order for you to do work, there must be a displacement and a force must cause the displacement.

1/23 qod

What has to happen for you to do work?

--ch