At the request of a certain commenter who posted a LONG time ago, I am listing the programs we have used this year. Enjoy

1- Stellarium ... Free Astronomy Program where you can watch the sky and stars and zoom in on celestial objects
2- Celestia ... Free Astronomy Program where you can fly around the solar system and beyond to watch objects like planets and asteroids move.
3- Zamzar.com .... Allows you to download youtube videos for free using the URL
4- Cartoon Physics - You all know this one! another freebee
5- Google Earth ... You can zoom in on any place on Earth and find topographical, cultural, and photographic information. Free but needs internet connection to store information
6- Seashore ... A program that lets you create and edit pictures
7- Mac Widgets and Google Gadgets... All kinds of cool applications like the earthquake watch and moon monitor.

The Final Push

The Big Dance is over, the Big Trip is Done,

and so our time together this year is ending. I am changing the grade sheets to only include your exit projects. They are due June 18th (Next Thursday). Remember, the 5 areas I am looking at are the:

1- Title/Introduction
2- Hypothesis
3- Procedure
4- Results
5- Discussion

I am posting a model powerpoint on the links section, check it out before you finish yours up in class next week, it is different than the one we went over in class. Remember, animations, pictures, graphs, all help to give your reader a better experience with your study.

Post Test

ITS OVER!!!! (almost)!

The 83 questions New York State Intermediate Science Exam for eighth graders is over. Having the luxury of grading some of your performance exams led me to one conclusion: That test "ain't got nothing" on you (note the parentheses for improper grammar)! A few even recieved 43's out of 45's! Now that we have made it through that barrier, it is time for the last and great adventure of eighth grade science.... your exit projects! Now you get to do the science for yourself. YOU get to set up an experiment. YOU get to set up the results, and YOU get to present it to your classmates. No more Mr. Smith getting materials for you or saying what material to cover. Any science topic you can test without hurting someone or raising moral red flags is fair game. Tomorrow I will show a sample project.


PS- Alfonso Martinez received the lowest grade in the history of state exams. In fact, because he didn't put his name on his performance exam, he got a negative score! Congratulations.
(joking)(well, not really)(well yes, actually I am joking)

Test Review

Hey there,

A few ideas I would like to re-present to you before the test and some misconceptions I have seen over the past few days:
1- Heat is just energy, it is not a type of atom or molecule. It affects molecules by making them move around more and spread out.
2- Atoms are tiny tiny tiny, about .0000000000000000000000007 cm. You cannot see them, but their protons, neutrons, and electrons give them their properties and allow them to bond to other atoms.
3- Chemical reactions don't have to be explosive, even if explosions are more fun. Metal slowly rusting from air and rain is a perfect example. Iron (Fe) turns into Iron Oxide (Fe02), which has new properties compared to normal, plain iron.
4- As any substance is heated, its molecules want to expand and move around more. The molecules do NOT change size or get "liquidy", they just spread out. Gases are the most spread out, and solids are the most closely packed.
5- Mass and Energy are conserved in a chemical reaction. This just means if you start out with 1 pound of carbon and 2 pounds of oxygen, you need to have the same amount after the reaction, even if it wasn't all used. You can't just make matter and energy, you can only move it around.

Matter and you

Hello world (and students),
It has been far too long since my last post! We have now been talking about the little parts of matter for a long time now. Just to put it back in perspective, everything you see and to involves matter! One interesting thing I remembered today while looking at this picture was that everything is interconnected. The way that sodium interacts with the element chlorine is based on its electrons and its size. Without these atoms our brains wouldn't function and our food wouldn't taste very good. The way carbon can make 4 bonds with other atoms makes it the backbone of every protein, fat, and carb that you eat. The way that oxygen craves a few atomic buddies makes water, and gives it the unique properties it has. And all these atoms can be traced back to the big bang 14 billion years ago. Complex atoms like iron, uranium, and Silicon were born from exploding stars. We are one piece in a puzzle of shifting, cooling, changing matter in the long long long history of the universe. You should feel pretty special to be made of 7,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 atoms. You are breathing the same oxygen that was used in George Washingtons DNA, and you are drinking the same water that some one celled organism absorbed 3 billion years ago as life was just beginning on Earth. You are important, take care of what you have. Science can help us appreciate our place in the world.

Smith

Rock Cycle

Remember, Rocks tell stories!

All things being interconnected, you and the rocks around you may have be closer connected than you think. The silicon in your computer was locked up in rocks somewhere at some point. The rocks you walk on are only there because Africa, the U.S, and a few volcanic islands collided and metamorphisized the rocks around NYC a few hundred million years ago.

I have included a rock cycle picture for you to study, observe, copy, whatever! The whole point of the rock cycle is to show that any rock can become any other one. Heat from within the earth, new layers of rocks forming above, and plate movements can all change rocks below the surface. Volcanoes, weathering, and erosion can all change rocks on the surface. Nature is composed of cycles, swings in the balance, fast and slow changes that are always occurring. Enjoy the show, you are part of it!

Smith

Minerals, Where are you?

Hey Mineral Lovers,

Here is the link to the website where you can see some more examples of just where minerals are.

http://www.teachersdomain.org/asset/ess05_int_mineralenv/

One Interesting thing about minerals is that they are a non-renewable resource. Non-renewable means once we dig it up and use it, thats all there is. So without recycling and other efforts towards conservation, eventually we will run out of gold for jewelry, diamonds for rings, calcium carbonate for chalk, Silica for glass, quartz for watches, coal for energy, copper for pipes, iron for building, graphite for pencil "lead," petroleum (oil) for plastics and gas, silicon for computer chips and cell phones, and the list goes on..... you are connected to the earth and its resources, be thankful!!!!! Where did the minerals on earth come from? We think that just like the rest of the solar system, these special materials are leftovers from a Supernova. Remember- we are all just stardust!