Nobel Prize in Physics

This week the Nobel Prize in Physics was given to Charles K. Kao " "for groundbreaking achievements concerning the transmission of light in fibers for optical communication" and Willard S. Boyle, and George E. Smith "for the invention of an imaging semiconductor circuit – the CCD sensor."

Please share your thoughts and questions on this topic.

• How might their findings/conclusions change or affect your life?
• Why were their findings important?
• What made them become interested in studying this topic?
  

If your not sure what "semiconductors" or "fiber optics" are or what the affects may be on your own, (I'm talking to all of you, you probably don't know a lot about this topic), DO SOME RESEARCH and include a link in your comment. See if you can find any interview with the scientists or information/pictures of their research that helped you understand it better

Nobel Prize in Chemistry

This year's Nobel Prize in Chemistry was given to...

Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, Thomas A. Steitz, Ada E. Yonath


They were given this award "for studies of the structure and function of the ribosome."


Please share your thoughts and questions on this topic.

• How might their findings/conclusions change or affect your life?
• Why were their findings important?
• What made them become interested in studying this topic?
  

If your not sure what "ribosomes" are or what the affects may be on your own, (I'm talking to all of you, you probably don't know a lot about this topic), DO SOME RESEARCH and include a link in your comment. See if you can find any interview with the scientists or information/pictures of their research that helped you understand it better.

Moon Mission

On Friday, NASA successfully made contact with the moon using the LCROSS. They were hoping to discover water on the moon. Why would scientists want to find water there? If there is water, how may lives here change? Try to support responses with reasoning and sources that can be shared. Also, please feel free to include other comments, questions or information about this topic.

E-mailing homework

Some students have begun e-mailing their assignments in this week or bringing them in electronically to turn in. In the science room, we actually don't have a printer, so students need to either load the assignment onto a shared folder on the school's network or e-mail the assignment. If students are e-mailing the work, they need to double check the e-mail address (Ms.PhysicalScience@gmail.com), and make sure that the assignment is in a .doc format as that is what the school's computers can read. Cutting and pasting doesn't really allow them to use the specific format that is required this year, so it really needs to be sent s an attached file.

If students don't have Microsoft Word at home, they can download OpenOffice for free. Many of the programs are highly compatible with Microsoft's versions. Make sure when saving that they are in a Microsoft 97-2000 version rather than the .odt version.

Also, many students with newer computers are finding that the new version can't be opened here at school. These files end with the extenision .docx (or .pptx for powerpoint etc). To change this you just need to go to SAVE AS and switch the file type, which is the same process you would use to switch the OpenOffice files into a .doc file.

Assignments are due on the day they are posted, but students won't be penalized if they get the assignment in by Friday of that week. Students should not take too much liberty with this policy though because if they do, they will tend to forget or end up with several hours homework on Thursdays. Not wise. Students should make every effort to finish assignments on time, but if they are struggling with an assignment that is due Wednesday, for example, I'd rather them try it, go over it in class or get extra help from me, and finish it successfully by Friday than just be frustrated and not finish the assignment at all

Welcome

Hello to all of my new 8th grade students and their parents!

I'm looking forward to a productive and exciting new year with all of you.

In this new year, I plan on trying to incorporate technology into our classroom experience to help communicate with all of you better and to provide additional resources to all of you outside of the classroom.

Currently, I'm not sure how often I plan on posting, but please check back often to get updates on student work, current and past projects, and information about upcoming tests. Also, as the year progresses and I see how well this is all working, students may need to check in here occasionally to get information to help them with certain projects and assignments. Students can gain access to this site from home, school, or public library computers.

Please be sure to check out yourhomework.com and create a log in if you do not already have one. On Friday's new homework assignments will be posted there. I also try to keep electronic copies of many of the assignments on the homework website, so if a student forgets the assignment sheet at school, he or she can still finish their homework. I'll try to put a reminder here in the blog suggesting people go check it out when I have updated.

Alrighty, as this is already a longish post, I'll just close with one last quick reminder: parents and guardians, please mark the Back-to-School Night on your calendars for 6:30 pm on September 16th. I hope to meet you that night!