Identifying Minerals

Mineral Properties

In the Mineral Id Lab we studied a variety of properties including the following: Color, what is the color of a mineral. Streak, the color that the minerals gives after its been scratched with a streak plate. Hardness, how hard a mineral is. Fracture, a mineral breaking unevenly. Cleavage, when a mineral breaks evenly or in a pattern. Magnetism,  the characteristic that allows a mineral to attract another magnetic material such as a magnet. Luster, how shiny a mineral is. Metallic, minerals that are shiny, looks like metal and attracts a magnet. Non-metallic, minerals that can also be shiny but do not look like metal and don't attract a magnet at all.


Reflection

1. What did you enjoy most about this project and why?

I liked working on animoto once again and working with Houssai. It's good knowing that you can really count on your partner whenever you can't be at school for a certain reason.

2. What was most challenging for you during this project and why?

This topic was very new and I had never studied minerals at all. Sometimes while doing the animoto video, I felt really lost and confuse about the information I had to put in because it was my first time learning about minerals.

3. What new skills did you learn from doing this project?

I didn't really learn any new skills but this time I trusted my partner a little bit more than I usually do. I learned that you always need help from somebody else even if you might think you're the best student in the class and that some people have different speeds when they're doing a project. Hopefully my project will come out to be good.


4. Is there anything that you could have done to improve any of your work?

Of course! I think I would have spent more time on editting the written lab. I did my job, finished on time but the written lab needs a lot of improvement and unfortunatelly I wasn't able to fix it as much as it need to.

Our Shaking World Project

PLATE TECTONICS

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Lithosphere LayerEarthquakesEarthquakes are caused by Transform Plate Boundary. The epicenter is the point on Earth's surface above the focus, the focus is the point where the first movement occurs during an earthquake. A seismograph records the earthquake and the magnitude is the measurement of energy released by the earthquake. Seismic waves are waves of energy caused by a sudden breaking of rock within Earth or an explosion. P waves are primary waves moving back and forth. S waves move up and down. L waves move in all directions and the most dangerous. A tsunami (an underwater earthquake or a volcanic eruption) is an upward wave caused by thrust/reverse fault. Asthenosphere LayerPlate TectonicsPlate tectonics is the theory that the Earth's outer layer has been made up of plates that have moved throughout history the asthenosphere is the melted layer of the mantle. Plate tectonics are large solid pieces of earth's surface. The convection currents make the earth's plate tectonics move. The heat from the outer core makes magma go up and then go down again when it reaches the crust, making circles. Because plates float on the mantle, they can sometimes collide. The collision of plates causes damages on earth like, earthquakes, volcanoes, lava fields, and deep sea trenches. The three types of Convergent Boundaries are Ocean-Ocean that forms arcs of islands and strato volcanoes. Ocean-Continent which forms volcanoes and mountain ranges. Continent-Continent forms huge mountain ranges like the Himalayas in Nepal.

Mantle Layer

Plate Boundaries

Divergent Boundary are plates moving away from each other causing the crust to split apart, magma rising from the mantle and depending on where this boundary happens, either on land or sea, it forms mid-ocean ridges or rift valleys. Convergent Boundaries are plates coming together forming mountains, a subduction zone, and volcanoes formation. Transform Boundaries are plates slideing past each other forming a big release cause of a violent earthquake on Earth. Tsunamis (an underwater earthquake) are caused by thrust/reverse fault. A hot spot is an island having active volcanoes for example, Hawaii is an island make up of volcanoes that are no longer active.

Critical Thinking


The scientist Alfred Wegener was the creator of the Continental Drift theory. To prove that his theory was true, he provided a bunch of evidence. Fossils, rock records, mountain ranges and the puzzle. The puzzle is also known as Pangaea, first the continents were all together and then they started to spread apart to the positions where they are in now. I definitely agree with the theory of plate tectonics. All the evidence there is, completely shows that the continents moved due to convection currents.

Reflection

1. What did you enjoy most about this project and why?

 I enjoyed the diversity of topics we could do in this project and the creativity some students had while creating models, mini posters or foldables. This was a really big project and its a great way to learn about each layer of the Earth, I liked it because everyday when we came to class, everyone had something different to do and then get tested. 

2. What was most challenging for you during this project? 

At the beginning of the project, getting tested on the Lithosphere layer was very difficult for me, I think for most students was challenging too. I founded hard because it was the beginning of a new topic and there were so many things to remember that I was very nervous to even raise my hand and say "Ms. Kara I'm ready"! 

3. What new skills did you learn from doing this project? 

I learned how to use slide share, make references on my own without mistakes -I hope so, also make my own mini quizzes and hand-outs. 

4. Is there anything that you could have done to improve any of your work? 

Definitely! At the end of the project I realized that my Mantle layer could have been better but unfortunately I couldn't work on my project at home. I think that I should have spent more time on each mini poster to put much more creativity on it but at the end, my project was done just in time and I had enough time to present my activities to my classmates. 

Rotation & Revolution

Vocabulary

1. Rotation- Rotacion: Earth spins on its axis.

2. Revolution- Revolucion: Earth's movement around the Sun.



















3. Hemispheres- Hemisferios: Half of the Earth.

4. Ellipse- Elipse: The shape of Earth's orbit.

















5. Axis- Eje: An imaginary line through the middle of the Earth.

6. Equator- Ecuador: A line in the middle of the Earth.



























7. Tilt- Inclinar: Not straight.























8. Orbit- Orbita: The path that Earth takes in order to go around the Sun.

9. Polaris- Polaris: Also known as the North Star, Earth's axis is always pointing at this star.

10. Time Zones- Zonas Horarias: Divides Earth into lines of longitude.

Summary

The Earth rotates on its axis counter-clockwise every 24 hours. Earth's revolution around the Sun takes 365 days or one year. The shape of Earth's orbit is an ellipse, which means is oval. The equator is a line in the middle of the Earth. There are two main hemispheres, Northern and Southern Hemispheres. The Earth is tilted 23.5° and its axis is always pointing at the very important star, Polaris which is also known as the North Star. There are 24 time zones on Earth that are divided by the lines of longitude. 

Video





Critical Thinking

The Earth is affected by revolution in many different ways. The Earth takes 365 days to revolve around the Sun one complete time, during this time the Earth experiences a variation of things. Summer and Winter Solstices, Fall and Spring Equinoxes are different seasons the Earth experiences throughout its journey. Direct sunlight in the Northern Hemisphere means its Summer and Winter on the Southern Hemisphere while it gets indirect sunlight. The lunar revolution causes Neap and Spring Tides. During Neap Tide the water level on Earth is equal and the Moon is at its first and last quarter. During Spring Tide the water level on Earth is at its highest and lowest and the Moon is at New and Full Moon. Because the Earth is tilted and it rotates, day and night occurs. All these are examples of how the Earth is affected by its revolution. 


Reflection

What did you enjoy most about this project and why?
I really enjoyed working with Tamar and Hamza, this was my first time working with both of them and it was really nice. I also enjoyed the tasks we had to do after filming, and our topic was really interesting and fun. 


What was most challenging for you during this project and why?
Since it was my first time making a video in such an interesting topic, when we got to the point where we had to practice the video, keeping everything in order and being fast at changing the props was a little challenging.


What new skills did you learn from doing this project?
I learned how to be patient when you are working with people that are slow working and editting the video in iMovie was something pretty much new. 


Is there anything that you could have done to improve any of your work? 
I would totally take less time to practice and film the video once again so it can be much better and professional looking. Overall the project was great and my group finished everything on time which is the most important part!