Brenna Hunt

What did we do in lab this week? This week in lab, we worked through how we can represent the rock cycle with Starbursts. We used the candies and a torch to create the different kinds of rocks, by melting and molding them together and allowing them to cool. We did this to make igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic rock. We also talked about convection currents and how they cause plate tectonics.  What was the big question? The big question was, what is a rock, and how can we represent the 3 kinds? What did we learn in Thursday's discussion? We focused a lot on earthquakes, volcanoes, and the rock cycle. We talked about the different interactions of plate tectonics that cause different landforms. Divergent plates can form ridges, like the mid ocean Atlantic ridge. Converging plates can form a mountain or a trench (continental v continental is mountain, oceanic v continental is trench). A transform boundary is like sliding plates and causes an earthquake or tsunami (if in water)....

 What did we do in lab this week? This week we focused a lot on the timeline of our existence and Earth's existence. We looked into big events such as the formation of the earth, water found on the earth, Earth freezing over, the first plants and animals on the earth, and when humans first existed on Earth. We emphasized that humans have been here for a very short time in comparison to the timeline of the universe since the "Big Bang". We used a simulation called Earthviewer to look through some of the big events and eras our earth has gone through.  What was the big question? When did big events relating to our Earth take place? What did we learn in Thursday's discussion? We took our Space exam so we did not continue our discussion on this topic.  This week's reading:  Chapter 15: History of Earth - I learned: the Earth was able to freeze over completely due to a positive feedback loop. When Ice accumulated on the planet, it reflected more and more light away fro...

What did we do in lab this week? This week in lab, we focused on presenting our group slides covering several different ideas. We were able to practice teaching about these topics rather than just sitting and listening and learning ourselves. Being able to teach our classmates helped us to practice some of the tactics we have been seeing and learning about, as well as address misconceptions about each topic which we have learned how prevalent they are even in higher education.  What was the big question? The main themes we covered in our presentations were, the origin of the universe, lifecycles of stars, galaxies, black holes, origin of the earth, and space exploration in the past/present/future.  What did we learn in Thursday's discussion? We started by doing a short review about the moon phases and space. Then we discussed the Big Bang Theory as well as alternative theories. Then we went through the life cycles of stars and how/why stars are different and change. Next we ta...

Today in lab , we had to try to create a solar system to scale using materials in the class. Our group found a lot of difficulty trying to adjust the scale so you could actually see all of the planets while being able to have a realistic distance between the planets and the sun. We were not able to show where Jupiter ended up because our scale had it at 167m from the sun.   The big question was , can we develop a solar system to scale? We decided, no, realistically, we cannot.  From Thursday's lecture , I was absent from class, but based on the slides, I learned that there are still many misconceptions regarding the moon's phases and how we see the moon. I also learned that there are many different theories as to how the moon formed but not really enough evidence to truly determine where it came from or how it ended up orbiting the earth.  In this week's reading ,  I learned that planets have to meet 3 qualifications to be considered a planet in our solar system...

 This week in lab , we started by answering these questions to the best of our knowledge: 1. How do the phases of the moon occur? The phases of the moon change because as the moon orbits the earth, the earth blocks the sun's light at different degrees which causes more or less of the moon to be visible on earth.  2. What causes the seasons?  As the earth orbits the sun, it rotates around on an ovular trail so when the Northern Hemisphere is further from the sun/pointing away from the sun, we have the colder seasons. When the earth/northern hemisphere is closer to the sun in its rotation, we experience warmer seasons.  3. What causes a lunar eclipse? The earth is directly in between the sun and the moon so the moon goes fully dark.   Once we worked through the lab and discussed as a group, I am adding this information to my answers: 1. How do the phases of the moon occur? As the moon orbits the earth, it reflects the sun's light at different amounts which re...