Scott’s blog…

What did you like about this project?

I liked this science project much more than the previous ones. This because we were give a simple project briefcase but still had to cover quite a lot of content.

What did you not like about this project?

Overall, the project was good but i didn’t enjoy having to keep all our documents in the folder. This became very unorganized and sometimes the sheets would fall out.

Suggest 3 ideas that could improve/make this project more engaging.

I think that we should also have to come up with a strategy that will reduce greenhouse effects. This would make the project more interesting. Secondly, our final product should relate more to the information we have researched about.

Did you like the driving question? Explain why/why not.

I enjoyed this PBL project over many other projects because we had a fairly simple project breifcase. This meant that a lot of the work was marked during the process so we didn’t have to rush all our work on the last minute.

Secondly, we were provided with just enough work to complete each lesson (50minutes approx.) if we worked well. I thought this was very effective because we didn’t have to rush it too much so a lot of the information was absorbed. Some people had extra time to help others who didn’t understand and rethink about the driving question.

Lastly, the driving question had an open answer so we had some freedom to choose our answer. Although this seemed easy, we had to do lots of research to backup our final conclusion with evidence.

I think that this project was very well organized and had a good balance of homework, experiments and information that had to be covered.

Reflection Journal

1. Likes and dislikes of this project…..any suggestions on how to improve???

I think this project was fairly simple. This was good becauase i allowed us to learn the content rather than rushing to complete it.

2. What areas do you think you have improved in from project 1 to project 4?

I think i have improved in my typing skills and researching skills.

3. What further skills would you like to develop over the next few projects?

I would like to imrpove my leadership and proofreading skills so i won’t have too many spelling mistakes when i present my information. I would also help if i imrpoved my speaking and presentaion skills so that i can feel more comfortable when talking to a classroom and present my ideas.

• describe how optical fibre may be used in medical applications

Optical fibres can be used in endoscopes. These flexible tubes contain optical fibres and can be passed via the mouth into the digestive system to provide doctors with images.

• identify the traditional medical techniques that optical fibres might replace

Optical fibres are becoming more popular because they replace other instruments by destroying tumors that would be impossible to get rid of inside the body.

• Evaluate the benefits of fibre optic technology to medicine
  

Optical fibres contain the ability to transmit data and communications because they are thinner, cheaper, and more durable. Nor are taey affected by electromagnetic radiation.

• How do you feel the media portrays social justice issues?

They portray social justice issues by making a big headline that may mislead the reader. The media will then provide quotes or information that has been paraphrased from other specialists or evidence

• Has it been difficult to find articles on social justice issues why/why not?

I think it isn’t hard to find hard on social justice issues as it is such a large and broad topic. A simple internet engine search could give you hundreds of quality articles. My current issue is poverty. I found it quite easy to search up articles about this particular subject.

• Do you think that the media operates from a moral framework? Give evidence by using your research.

Yes. The media does operate on media framework. I think this statement is true because many of the journalists rely on the information given from certain companies or sources that aren’t necessarily reliable. One example of this is when the reporters use quotes that haven’t been properly addressed. They didn’t provide when the quote has been said or where he said it. Sometimes the quote has been taken completely out of context in regards to the article being presented

I believe they do, this is because the reporters and journalists that collect the information for their media company just accept what they are given to be the truth. Sometimes they don’t go far enough to see if its true or not and therefore they are not reporting an article that’s accurate.

The discovery of Pulsar stars

In 1967 Susan Jocelyn Bell Burnell a radio astronomer, discovered the first pulsar star. For two years, Bell Burnell constructed the radio telescope which she would begin to operate in July 1967. Each complete coverage of the sky with the radio telescope required four days. For the first time in the history of radio astronomy, a large area of the sky had been repeatedly surveyed with an extremely sensitive radio telescope tuned to meter wavelengths. The discovery of pulsars was announced in 1968 and the media were fascinated. Soon other pulsars were found and astronomers searched for an explanation of their behaviour.

The recent Phoenix spacecraft is a robotic spacecraft on a space exploration mission on Mars under the Mars Scout Program. Phoenix is the sixth successful landing on Mars, out of twelve total international attempts (the sixth successful landing of seven American attempts).

The mission has two goals. One is to study the geologic history of water, the key to unlocking the story of past climate change. The second is to search for evidence of a habitable zone that may exist in the ice-soil boundary. This will take about a length of 92 days.

The following scientists contributed in the findings of the Big Bang:

Walter Adams

His primary interest was the study of stellar spectra. He worked on solar spectroscopy and discovered a relationship between the intensity of certain spectral lines and the magnitude of a star. He also demonstrated that spectra could be used to determine whether a star was a giant or a dwarf. The surface of the star was brighter per unit area than the Sun and it was about as massive. Such a star later came to be known as a white dwarf.

Ralph Alfer

In 1948, Alpher wrote a scientific theory known as the Big Bang. He revealed, mathematically how the universe began in a superhot explosion 14 billion years ago. A few months later, he showed how to prove it. But in 1948, nobody was willing to listen or confirm his thoughts.

Robert Dicke

In 1965 Robert H. Dicke made calculations relative to the cooling-off period after the initial big bang explosion. His results indicated that Gamow’s residual radiation should be detectable. This was the most convincing evidence yet gathered in support of the big bang theory, and it sent the steady-state theory into decline.

Edwin Hubble studied positions of dark lines with spectrum of light emitted by star or galaxy. The hubble space telescope (HST) was a space telescope carried into space in April 1990. It takes pictures of space with infrared and ultraviolet. Already, the Hubble space telescope has taken pictures of Jupiter, Saturn and other planets. The hubble telescope has been in serice for over 10 years.

HUbble’s law states that:    Velocity = Hubble’s constant+distance