PaytonKonekScienceMethods

     1. What did you do in lab today? In the lab, we looked at the data that was presented to us in the slides and then wrote a paragraph to describe what conclusion we could draw from it. Some of our big conclusions were that the average temperature is getting warmer along with the number of warm days that we have in general. This is having many effects, including a decrease in the number of days that we have with frost, snow, and cooler days in general. Additionally, due to the heat, more water is being absorbed into the atmosphere, which causes us to experience strong weather, like rain showers. Farmers experience longer growing seasons, and the spring and summer get wetter while the fall is dryer. This affects life too because plants are blossoming earlier due to the warmer temperatures tricking them, and animals are needing to relocate because the higher temperatures are affecting the availability of the resources that they are used to and need.      ...

         1. What did you do in lab today?     In lab this week, we selected a region of Iowa and then used a website to observe its rainfall from about the last 100 years. Our group selected the North East section of days and selected three cities to observe. We chose Dubuque, Waterloo, and Decorah. Then we selected an amount of rainfall to use as a baseline. Then, using the website, we made a graph to see how many days the city received more than that rainfall. To record our data, we specifically paid attention to the first 5 years in the graph and the last 5 years. After comparing the average rainfall between the cities, we found that the area had a.97 increase in precipitation. Using this data, we concluded that the increase in rainfall would make our state less habitable for the goldfinch.          2. What was the big question? Will change in precipitation affect our state bird?          3. What did...

  1. What did you do in lab today? In the lab today, we used a microscope to look at different sand-like materials in order to classify them depending on their characteristics. We had three categories that we could classify the materials into: water, glaciers, and wind. These categories described what formed the materials. In terms of classifying the materials, it was pretty easy to classify them as wind/water between and  glaciers. However, differentiating between water and glaciers was sometimes difficult. The only difference between the two is that glacier-created materials are irregular in size. Which can be subtle. The activity was very fun, though, and I specifically liked looking at our own items. I put my AirPods under the microscope, and they were disgusting.          2. What was the big question? How can we differentiate between materials that were formed by water, glaciers, and the wind?     3. What di...

1.  What did you do in lab today?                In lab today, we used candy to make rocks. In order to do this, we used Starbursts. We started by slitting them into tiny pieces and then forming them together into a ball. After forming a ball, we placed the starburst ball into some tinfoil and heated it up with a butane torch. After heating up the tinfoil ball and the starbursts, we added pressure to the tinfoil by squeezing it with our hands for about a minute. Then, finally, we let it cool off in some cold water for a couple of minutes before unwrapping the tin foil to reveal our crystallized rock.          2. What was the big question? What happens during the stages of the rock cycle?          3. What did you learn in Thursday’s discussion?      The tectonic plates move because of convection cells underneath the earth's surface. As the lava in the mantle heats up and coo...

  1. What did you do in lab today? In the lab, there was a long, thin piece of paper that wrapped around at least one of the sides of classrooms. The paper represented the 4.6 billion years that the Earth has been around. Initially, we were tasked with placing when humans appeared, when dinosaurs ruled the earth, when animals appeared, when plants appeared, and when the moon was created. The moon was created first, then animals appeared, then plants, and finally humans. The big takeaway was that, in relation to Earth’s history, life on the planet is relatively young. All of these events (except the moon being created) occurred in the last quarter of Earth's timeline. Especially humans, which would barely be visible on the timeline at all. Then we explored a website where we could look at geological events in Earth's history, and pick some to add to the timeline. The added events confirmed the hypothesis that life was relatively new on Earth. At least in terms of what we general...

 Week 8          1. What did you do in lab today?      Before lab this week, our table groups had to create a presentation on a topic that we had selected the previous lab and teach the class. Our group chose to make our presentation about galaxies. Other topics that groups presented on included: the origin of the universe, the lifecycle of stars, the origin of the earth, black holes, and the exploration of space: past, present, and future. Below is the link to the presentation that our group created. link:  https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1Ahip69h_kRc-wdi3_9CYkh3_qW6OV2VdBWiQpP8IqPM/edit         2. What was the big question?     What is in our universe, and how did it come to be?          3. What did you learn in Thursday’s discussion?      In lecture this week, we esentially redisscussed the topics that we presented over in lab and filled in any gaps. First, w...