Friday, 9/30

Don't forget, the mud is due on Tuesday. You should bring in about 3 cups with about a cup of water from the same site. Only 1 member of your group needs to bring in the mud and water.

The assembly day is Wednesday. Someone in your group needs to bring some shredded newspaper. I don't take the paper and I don't have a shredder! Also, whoever is doing the assembly for your group needs to bring a shirt, apron or something as you could get some dirt on you!

PS I've added my trained fish for your viewing pleasure, you can feed them!

Thursday, 9/29

In our next chapter, we will be working with the solar system. A good source of information about the planets is in the appendix of the textbook. An even more recent source of information can be found at http://nineplanets.org. You can get to this site by clicking on the solar system (either to the right or lower in this page).

Wednesday, 8/28

Today, you are going to get with your research group (5 to 6 students) and decide who is bringing the mud, the container, the 1-liter bottle, etc.

You will need 3-4 cups of mud. This can be salt water mud or fresh water mud. We want it nice and gooey! You will also need about 1-cup of the water from the area you chose.

You will put down the latitude and longitude of the place where you got the mud. This is a good time for Google Earth (you can take a screenshot of your mud location.

We will be adding things that are needed for life (calcium, carbon, sulfur, etc) and will then place in the window or under the plant light to research during this school year.

Let's aim for either Monday or Tuesday of next week. We only need one bottle per group.

TUESDAY, 5/27

Today, we are applying the Drake Equation. We will watch a few little videos and then will do the equation in groups of 4. To help you understand and for a site that does the math for you, click on the 1st photo of Frank Drake at the podium!

There is no right or wrong answer, but this equation (from 1981) is a place to start! You need to include the formula (inserted into your Noteshare journals and then the answer for your group! Each member needs to insert this!

Monday, 9/26

For tomorrow, you will first learn about the Drake Equation and then will apply it. The number you come up with may be a very small one! That's ok, there isn't a right or wrong answer. It is just a place to start.

Time stamp your Noteshare journal and write down the number your group came up with.

After you watch the video about the most important photo ever taken and the Carl Sagan video do you think your number would go up or down?

Thursday, 9/1

Today was the first full day of classes. I'm looking forward to this year! Next Wednesday is the launch of GRAIL! This is the mission that we'll be working with to photograph the moon from 2 satellites in orbit around Earth's moon, 30 miles above the surface!