Tectonic Plate Boundaries- African Plate.

Our western, southern, and eastern boundaries along the African Plate were very similar to the actual boundaries portrayed on Google Earth. It was made known that the redish color along the western part of the African plate showed characteristics of a divergent boundary. These characteristics include it gets older as the boundary is pushed out, volcanic activity was scattered, earthquakes are spread out by boundaries and shallow, and usually include higher elevation. The western, eastern and southern parts of the boundary also had signs of transform boundaries (the blue) scattered throughout. There were no signs of volcanic activity, shallow earthquakes, higher elevation, and younger ocean floor is in the center. The only difference we noticed between our two maps was that we labeled the NE part of the boundary differently. In our original map we noted that there was less volcanic activity in that region. The Google Earth map portrayed it as very similar to the rest of the southern and western boundaries.

Along the top part of the African plate there are convergent boundaries (purple). Here, earthquakes are more spread out, earthquakes are considerably deep, and volcanic mountains are noticed here. This is where a subduction zone is found.

The orange part of the map shows no significant data.

Mel, Erin, Cassandra, Marissa

Student Driven Ed.

More than anything, I think that this video is an inspiration. Not only for educators, but for parents and children who do not have as many opportunities as others. I loved that it showed us how it worked for children in other countries--so amazing how technology is becoming a main source for education. The hole in the wall project gave other countries a chance to grasp technology--and it was proven that they were able to learn on their own just by practicing. Here in America, its rare to see anyone without a smartphone, even young kids. They are growing up in the technological environment and learning how to play computer games or using the internet is very simple. To those who do not get that opportunity, it is great to see how functional they became with the equipment.

I thought the Granny Cloud was great. It just portrays opportunities suchas using Skype or other video learning tools to the classroom. I was never given this opportunity growing up, and I think if something like this was available I would have potentially been able to learn more about other cultures (or even know anything about them, really.) Because we have such easy access to the internet in America, it actually might not be as useful as it was in other countries.

Technology is going to play a major role in our future as educators--and even now as a student. This blog here is a prime example of that. And all of the emails create constant communication from students and teachers that asking questions and being able to recall everything makes learning that much easier. I use the internet to help study. I usually can form flashcards online, or look up extra information right as I need it. The only inconvinience I see in technology is if it becomes unavailable. This weekend I have been moving, and without Internet, my roommates and I have been going crazy. Most of our classes include online submissions or just information and when it become unavailable, it is so stressful. I love it though--and plan on using it everyday. Especially as a teacher. The web especially provides so many ideas for educators and it is so helpful when thinking of lesson plans or fun activities.

Mel

Motion.

This is our Motion blog-- Mel, Erin, and Marissa. 

The Moving Man and Sandbag Experiment were both good experiments to introduce physics. I had a hard time with the Moving Man one though because of all the calculations. The one thing I did like better about the moving man than the sandbag experiment is that you were able to see the numbers changing in the velocity and the acceleration. It was a good way to see what we were doing in the sandbag experiment in actual numbers on a screen. 

The graph i made was the mapping of the sandbags. I found this job to be actually a little difficult, it was hard to draw a good picture from what was on the ground, especially when it came to the last two when we changed direction and made up our own. It was really hard to draw the map where Mel had been spinning around in a circle, the map sort of resembled the one where we had to change directions.

The moving man process was originally the most confusing thing to our group. We probably sat at the computer trying to figure out what we were supposed to do. The second day, after further explanation, it was actually pretty easy. We were supposed to enter in different velocities and acceleration to accumulate a graph that represented the data collected from the website. We explored the motion of objects and were asked to represent them using tables and graphs from our acceleration data and our different velocity data.

On the day of the motion project, Mel and I (Marissa) were going to work on the ramps. We got the ramp, a car, a wedge, an acceleration monitor (A.M.), a pen and a graph paper. We measured a distance for the car to start from. (Where the car began, to the middle of the A.M.) Then we attached the A.M. to the ramp. We let go of the car to undergo the A.M. We recorded the numbers, and then graphed it to find the slope and what the angle would look like. The examples will be shown as such. 

The purpose of the tennis ball experience was to see average velocity versus gravity at different heights from the ground. We had ten tennis balls that were dropped from 5 different levels and a for a total of 20 timed trials. Our results turned out not very accurate and think this could have been due to a couple things. One of them was that were using one stop watch and one cell phone. Another was that we had two different people alternating between throwing tennis balls. Looking at the different results groups had--things that differed was our data. Those who also did tennis balls rounded differently, therefore making data different. The golf ball group had completely data, which ended up being much more accurate. 

The Newton's Laws took the whole class period for last Thursday. We were given three videos to watch (each about the three laws) and we were to construct experiments for each law. The ways our natural world works, these laws are put into motion just by us living our normal lives. By doing or normal routines, we are putting these laws into use.

The first law states that an object of a body remains constant unless the body is acted upon by an external force. We kicked a tennis ball to represent this law.

The second law states that the acceleration of a body is parallel and directly proportional to the net force, and inversly proportional to the mass. (F=ma). We used a toy car going down a ramp while using the A.M to collect our data. We used a toy car with a weight attached, and one without. Our data is shown below.
 

The third law states that the mutual forces of action and reaction between two bodies are equal, opposite and collinear. We played tug of war to represent this. 

Here is the info on the ramp activity Erin and Marissa did while I was not feeling well: