Mrs. DuBose’s Class: AdVeNtUrEs iN ScIeNcE

Symbiosis basically means ‘living together’ . These symbiotic interrelationships can be divided into three main categories; Mutualism, when both species involved benefit from the relationship, Commensalism, when one species benefits and the other isn’t affected, and Parasitism, when one species benefits, and the other is harmed in the process.

Commensalism                              Parasitism                           Mutualism
(credit to Dirk Redecker. University of Basel Botanical Institute)

Commensalism: One partner living on the other with no obvious effect on the second.
Parasitism: One partner living on the other with detrimental effect on the second.
Mutualism (symbiosis in a strict sense): Advantages for both partners.

CAN YOU GUESS IS IT..

MUTUALISM, PARASITISM, OR COMMENSALISM??

In class we went outside and observed the soil profile and had an DIRTY good time.  Your job is to be a SOIL SCIENTIST and investigate the layers of soil at your house. Your job is to create a soil profie (similar to the picture on the left) and label and name the soil horizons or layers.  You are to put the soil you collect into small sandwhich bags and attach them to a poster .  You get to be as creative and artistic as you want.

-Collect a baggie of each type of soil and staple to a sheet of THICK construction board and answer the following questions.  This will be added as 20 points EC on a TEST grade.   Click the more button to see the project details!

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In class this week we have learned what a minerals is using the mnemonic device: CRINS which stands for Crystal (repeating pattern), Recipe (definite chemical composition), Inorganic (non-living) Naturally formed, and Solid. Next, students learned the 8 ways that geologist can identify minerals: C3DFHLS- Color, Cleavage, Crystal structure, Density, Fracture, Hardness, Luster, and Streak.  Students had quite an enjoyable time applying these properties to figure out the identity of mystery minerals.  Lastly, students learned the 2 ways minerals can form-from evaporating solutions and from the cooling of magma and lava. Students learned that when they drink Kool Aid they are essentially drinking a solution because sugar is dissolved in water.  They also learned that through the process of crystallization crystals are able to grow. Students were quite BEDAZZLED of the large size of crystals from a geode and the size of crystals from obsidian.  I posed the questions as to why do you think the crystals were different sizes and their was always that ONE shining star in each class who correctly guess it had to do something with the temperature of the magma and lava.  The quicker the molten rock cooled, the SMALLER the crystal.  SLOW = BIG CRYSTALS FAST=small crystals

Taking their understanding a step further, I asked them how do you think we could create our own crystals?  Many students quickly grasped that we could create our own solutions and allow the solution to evaporate over several days.  Students had a great learning experience creating their borax solutions and seeing their crystals start to grow.  I used sugar last year and it started to get mold.  This year I used Borax at the recommendation of another science teacher due how quickly crystallization starts.

LEAVE A COMMENT..Share your experience creating your crystal or going on the mineral scavenger hunt

Don’t forget minerals are EVERYWHERE and WE USE THEM EVERYDAY!…To go on a mineral scavenger hunt, click on the picture below

If you are interested in growing your own crystals, try Grow Your Own Crystal Experiment on page 2..  If you want to earn 15 points extra credit to test grade, you must do the LAB REPORT that accompanies it!

This week students are continuing their ride along Earth’s bumper cars. Students will learn that the Earth is under stress just like HUMANS are. Students can really relate because many of them had stress coming up to present during their VOLCANO projects. The Earth’s crust undergoes Tension, Compression, and Shearing. Stress puts pressure of the Earth’s crust which causes faults. Faults are a break in the Earth’s crust. The three types of faults are a normal fault, a reverse fault and a strike-slip fault. Students have already learned that the 3 types of boundaries are convergent, divergent, and transform boundaries so making the connection to boundaries creating faults should be an easy one. By the end of th week students will make the connection that the stress of compression happens at a convergent boundary which causes a reverse fault. The stress of tension happens at a divergent boundary which causes a normal fault. In these instances the earth’s crust will lift or fall. Shearing happens at a transform boundary and causes a strike-slip fault which causes the Earth’s plates to slide past each other.

This weeks adventure took on deep within the Earth as we learned all about those MOUNTAINS OF FIRE..VOLCANOES!  Students are now easily getting that plate movement is the culprit to all of this. Students had an awesome time learning the parts of a volcano (magma chamber, pipe, vent, crater, lava flow, pyroclastic flow, ash cloud).

Students then created a volcano foldable on the 3 types of volcanoes: shield, strato/composite, and cinder cone.  Students used modeling clay to create the 3 different type of volcanoes.  As we watched the Mt. Vesuvius eruption, many students of course were only concerned about its awesomeness and the coolness of it but as we watched the video it was amazing to see the transformation.  We talked about the effects that volcanoes can cause: pyroclastic flows, mudflows, floods and ash fall and the enormous effects this can have on people, weather, forest, and buildings.  Next week, students will start their Volcano Research project where partners will research a famous volcano and create a National Geographic Real Estate News Paper Ad and then individually they are to create a model of the volcano that they researched. Enjoy the volcano videos below about catastrophic eruption of Mt. Vesuvius and a sleeping giant in our mist, our very own Yellowstone National Park

Our next unit will be Earthquakes and Volcanoes.  We will start of the unit label the Earth’s plates, coloring the 3 types of plate boundaries.  We will then plot the earthquakes and volcanoes and observe the pattern of where they occur.  Our major lab this weeks involves a tasty morsel named Snickers. We will use it to model the different motion of earths plates: convergent, divergent, and transform.  We will then review our knowledge this week by completing our Plate Tectonics Adapted Reading and creating a Plate Tectonics vocabulary Foldable.

Divergent               Convergent                      Transform

This week we have wrapped up our the Journey to the Center of the Earth.  We thoroughly enjoyed our Journey to the Center of Earth Jeopardy review game for our upcoming test.  We wrapped up the week by going on a webquest that showed us how Earth’s Plate are A Movin’ and Groovin’.  This unit got students really engaged for how plate movement effects, named EARTHQUAKES and VOLCANOES.

This week’s Adventures

Wow, its already February (Feb 2-6). Last week we learned that convection currents happen in the mantle due to the molten material. Convection currents are the primary reason that the Earth’s crust moves. This week we continue with journey to the center to the Earth by talking about sea-floor spreading which was discovered by Harry Hess. He came to Wegener’s rescue since no one believe his theory of continental drift. Hess discovered something amazing at the bottom of the ocean…THE SEA FLOOR WAS ACTUALLY SPREADING at mid-ocean ridge. (The sea floor spreading is the process where magma is ejected out of the ocean floor (basically a a crack ) called a mid-ocean ridge. This magma turns into to new ocean crust As more magma comes out of the ridge, it pushes the older crust further out.. The question students then asked is if the sea floor is spreading then “why isn’t Earth growing bigger”. Many students realized that old crust is heavier and sinks back into the earth at trenches where plates collide. This process is called subduction.

Students were thoroughly amazed that the magnetic poles actually reverse position. We looked at the animation below to help understand this complete concept.  Students were quite intrigued that iron can turn and point to the strongest magnet (our North Pole).

To help students understand this concept we created a sea floor spreading model that helped students visualize the mid ocean ridge, subduction trenches, and magnetic reversals. To understand the process of subduction, students observed Diet Coke and Reg. Coke and had to explain how one was like continental crust and the other is oceanic crust

To review Sea Floor Spreading , click here

This week we have wrapped up our sun, stars, and galaxies unit. Students have been learning about our closest star, the sun. We have created a model of the sun and now we are learning how stars go through a life cycle like humans. We will wrap up our star unit by making a classroom into a planeterium as we get the chance to observe constellations in the classroom. Our next journey will take us back to Earth as we Journey to the Center of the Earth

SPIRAL                                    ELLIPTICAL                       IRREGULAR

Welcome Back!! This week we have learned about the characteristics and life cycle of stars.  This week we learned the the 4 characteristics of stars 1) temperature and color are related-hotter stars are BLUE and coolers stars are RED.  We also learned that the closer a star is then the brighter it is.  The last cool characteristic we learned is that the bigger a star is then the faster it is going to die.  We ended out the week learning about a pretty hard concept-a Hertzsprung Russell plot- and using it to compare the brightness and temperature of stars.  The students really did an awesome job.  STAY TUNED for pictures student created LIFE CYCLE OF STARS!  Next week we wrapping up stars by learning about how the universe created (the BIG BANG) and the 3 types of stars

• Galaxies Galore, Games, and More

Sun, Stars, and Galaxies Fun Websites

• Sun Layers Interactive Animation
• Life Cycle of a Star Animation
• Star Cosmic Wonders Website
• Kids Astronomy: Stars