Shaolin Acrobatic Tortoises- Scientific Inquiry

Today we (Sondos and Anita) walked over to the duck pond to find something to find to investigate. As we walked, we looked around, talking about the various phenomena we could understand and asking questions.

We noticed that there were a lot of turtles on the rocks and almost all of them had their necks extended. We decided to investigate why the turtles in the duck pond stretch their necks out and up. We sat down and starting making observations.

Photo by Steve R. Harris

Observations:
1)  It was a hot, sunny day and there were about 20 turtles perched on the heated rocks.

2) They were all, except for one, balancing on their bellies, with their limbs outstretched and their necks extended out and up.

3) The water must be extremely cold for the cold-blooded creatures such as the turtles and the koi.

4) Most of the turtles did not visibly move for the half hour that we observed them.

Hypothesis:

The turtles are warming themselves and attempting to maximize their solar gain by exposing as much of there skin as possible to direct sunlight. The heated rocks warmed the bottoms of their shells and the sun on their backs heated the tops. Turtles are cold-blooded, as such, they spend as much time as possible heating their bodies in the sun. The hot rocks and the sun on their backs heat their shells a good deal, which transfers heat to their bodies. By stretching their limbs and necks, they maximize their bodies solar gain.

After coming to these conclusions we had gotten very hot sitting on the grass. We noted that the turtles on the rocks must raise their body temperature by a large amount.

We also observed  that the turtles managed to remain perfectly still for long periods of time while stretching quite far. We talked about how difficult it would be for us to extend our limbs and necks for much less time and agreed that the turtles must not find it uncomfortable.

My Reflection on The Nature of Science

Throughout this class I have learned so many different aspects pertaining to science and I really feel that I can take those to my own classroom. This class has a lot of active learning in it and with science, that is one of the best ways to have it taught. The way that we are taught is such a great way to learn because it makes us work on different projects before we actually know what concepts apply. By doing so I believe this makes a student retain more of what they learn. When you are able to see how Newton's 2nd Law works (F=ma) in action it is easier to understand it. For example with our turbine project we began it without actually talking at all about physics but were later asked how we thought it applied to it.
One other project I really felt was something I'd like to try in my own classroom is the bean one where we had to move it exactly one meter with only some tape, index cards, and paper clips. My physics teacher in high school, Kevin Gant, taught in a very similar manner and I felt I learned so well because of that. I myself have a science endorsement and this class is really a great one for learning different ideas of teaching science to my own students one day.

Electric Generator Project

Turbine Model

Here's my turbine model that I built over the weekend:

Water Turbine Project

As of now we are working on building different turbine models to see which ones work most effectively.
So with our Forces and Newton's Laws Concept Checklist we chose 3.0 g-To understand and apply the relationship between force, mass, and acceleration.
We found that the mass is the turbine and the force acting upon it is the flowing water that hits it, which causes it to accelerate. Since F = ma, the greater the force of the water acting on the turbine, the greater the acceleration.

With the Velocity and Momentum Checklist we chose  3.0 g which asks to Explain real life phenomenon in terms of v and m:
 With our turbine we can look at the momentum of both the water and the turbine itself and set them equal to each other to theorize about what will happen. Since p= mv we will have the mass of the turbine times the velocity of the turbine set equal to the mass of the water times the velocity of the water: mt vt = mw vw. With a greater velocity and mass of water and a small mass of the turbine that would mean that the velocity of the turbine would go up. On both sides of the equation the mass and velocities are inversely related to each other so with the decrease of one that would be the increase of the other.

This is the link for Anita and Helen's blog who are also working with me on this project:-
http://merelynion-naturalscience.blogspot.com/

http://unaspreguntillas.blogspot.com/

Bean Project Part 2: Hit Another Bean and Move It

Our free body diagram basically has acceleration as the little box holding the bean goes down to the tower and a little force pushing up on the paperclip while it heads down.

Here are a couple pictures of our project that we took today in class. The object of our project was to hit one bean with another and move it. The little box holding the bean basically moves down the string and then hits the bean sitting on the platform After hitting the bean it would fall and slide through the tower on to the little chute and out the back. We created this model so that we would have gravity helping the little box go down.We also made the string at a steep angle so that it would accelerate as well as ensure that the box would go down. 

Nicole, Helen, and Sondos

Baloney Detection Kit by Michael Shermer

 The Baloney Detection Kit relates to the Harwood Model because the ten steps that the former follows is basically what the latter is made up of. The Baloney Detection Kit implies there is large amount of false information out there and people simply believe it, which is where the kit comes in and is supposed to be used to test those claims. Similarly, the Harwood Model has a list of questions to ask when testing some such claim. The Harwood model seems to imply that not everything follows the same path when being tested. You ask different questions throughout your testing.