By the end of the project, students will present the findings of their experiment to each other and also to a panel of judges.
Year 8s have started their Student Research Projects (SRP) where students work in groups or individually to design, conduct and report on any experiment they want, just like real scientists! Year 8s have been working hard last week to design a fair test for their experiment. They have also come up with a hypothesis for their experiment based on background research. Today was the first day of actually doing the experiments. All students worked productively. It was also good to see so many students bringing in their own devices such as laptops and iPads to make themselves even more productive during the project. By the end of the project, students will present the findings of their experiment to each other and also to a panel of judges.
0 Comments
This week Year 8s enjoyed a lesson on astronomy with Year 11 Physics students. The Year 11s led a lesson on the heliocentric model of the universe, including a discussion on the house arrest of Galilieo when he proposed the sun was at the centre of the solar system and making a scaled model of the solar system. It is always excellent to see students teaching students. Today Isabella presented her science news on eavesdropping: Eavesdropping soon might have another way to listen to conversations from a far away distance. All they need is the perfect camera pointed at the speaker 's throat. The team that experimented this used a high-speed camera to record thousands of images per second of the speaker's throat. Those images captured the throat as it moved and vibrated each time a word was spoken. The team then transferred those images into a computer program. The program could then re-create the sound of what the person was saying. This technique is similar to lip reading. They both rely on sight to read what the person is saying but the difference between them is that lip reading relies on the lip movement and tongue movement, whereas this new technology relies on the vibration of the throat. The use of computers isn't new either. Lip reading programs already exist. But the difference between them is that they monitor the motions of the speaker's lips, jaws and tongue. As a result they can only identify what the person is saying and not how they were said. This new technique reads both the speech and how it was said. This is way more accurate than lip reading because the way people communicate their emotions is through the volume, pitch and tone of the words. Analysing just the vibration of the throat can find those things plus what they were saying. Soon enough, there will be high enough speed cameras in the shops for you to buy so you can listen to your next victim. But for now you can just use the old cup next to the wall trick or classic lip reading. Thank you for listening Here's the news segment Nikhar presented today: It is impossible to tell the exact number of craters on Mars. A newly developed high resolution imaging science experiment camera or HiRISE camera for short shows that there are an approximate 200 craters freshly being carved into Mars' surface every year. The reason why there are such a high number of asteroids rocketing towards Mars has to do with the fact that Mars' atmosphere is quite thin and doesn't have the ability to burn up the asteroids while they are floating in the atmosphere around Mars. These asteroids typically aren't very big, ranging from 1-2 meters in diameter. The craters themselves are on average 3.9 meters big. This may not seem like such a big thing for us now, but if we decide to move to Mars, it may be troublesome having to run away from a flying rock every 2-3 days. This may also provide leads and reasons why there isn't any life on Mars, if there ever was any. Sara presented her science news segment today on Arctic sea ice. Here is her speech to her class:
Good morning. I will be talking to you about the Arctic ice melting that took place just last year. The Arctic's sea ice melted at a record pace in 2012, the ninth-hottest year on record. This compounded concerns about climate change, which is leading to more extreme weather. During the August to September melting season, the Arctic's sea ice cover was just 3.4 million square kilometers. This was 18% less than the previous record low, which was set in 2007. The World Meteorological Organisation Secretary General, Michael Jarraud, says it is a sign of climage change. The year of 2012 saw many other extreme weather as well, such as droughts and tropical cyclones. Earth's climate changes naturally and these natural variability in weather patterns can result in extreme climate, but extreme climate events are increasingly shaped by climate change. Thank you Kushal presented his science news segment on the discovery of the remains of King Richard III. Kushal combined historical and scientific evidence to explain how King Richard III's remains were found. This led to a lively class discussion on the interpretation of historical and scientific evidence.
William presented to the class his segment of science news today. Below is his speech:
Good morning Ms Leung and Year 8. My presentation today will be on how penguins lost their ability to fly. Penguins lost their ability to fly millions of years ago. This is because penguin became lean and mean diving machines, meaning they have traded their flight for these swimming skills. Once penguins gave up flight, their wing structures started to change and also their body size and shape must have followed rapidly because flying no longer placed constraints to the penguin's body forms. Now that the penguins can't fly they are at more risk of predation in the water than they are on the land and so there has been strong selection to make swimming and diving as efficient as possible. Also flippers aren't really good flying material. So, which would you choose? Having the ability to fly or having the ability to swim and dive, but gaining a few more pounds? Year 8s made quicksand from cornflour and water to learn about the properties of solids and liquids. Check out how much fun we had while learning in the photos and video. The following speech was made by Daniel in a presentation to the class on May 14, 2013.
Good morning classmates. Today I'm going to be informing you about a recent scientific discovery, which happened last year on the 28th of November. A team at the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy had found the largest recorded black hole, known as a supermassive black hole, at the mass of approximately 17 billion suns. This black hole sits at the centre of a small disc-shaped galaxy, whereas a black hole of this size would have been expected in a far bigger blob-like galaxy. It is located 220 million light years away from Earth in the galaxy NGC 1277. The NGC 1277 galaxy looks to be around eight billion years old. The fact that the black hole takes up 14% of its host galaxy rather than less than 1% like most black holes makes it unique. Supermassive black holes are the largest type of black hole and how they are created is widely contested. There are many theories about whether the galaxy or the black hole came first. Will we be forced to eat jellyfish?
Since the beginning of the 2000s, jellyfish have overrun the world's seas; the Mediterranean, Japan and Black seas. Is this a periodic phenomenon or something caused by global warming? These questions still haven't been answered. A recent research completed by the IRD and its partners reveals overfishing to be the major cause. An endless rein Since the numbers of the jellyfish predators have decreased due to overfishing, jellyfish are taking advantage of the small fish being overfished, like sardines, herring and anchovies. Jellyfish feed on zooplankton. In the areas that are being overfished, the jellyfish are thriving. Plus the small fish also feed on jellyfish eggs and larvae. Therefore under normal circumstances the small fish would be regulating the jellyfish population. Examples as proof To show the chief role played by overfishing, resources correlated two ecosystems that belonged to the same ocean current in Benguela, which flows along the south coast of Africa. The first ecosystem was located in Namibia where fish stock management is not contained. Here the fish aren't able to reproduce in time so jellyfish dominate this area. The second ecosystem is 1000 km south, off the coast of South Africa. Here fishing has been restrained for 60 years and jellyfish populations have not increased. Businesses are affected Under the waves, the links in the food chain are flexible. Prey sometimes feed off their predators. For example jellyfish eat larval fish. In the 1960s in Namibia, 10 million sardines made way for 12 million jellyfish. Jellyfish are a bother for tourists. The sting from their poisonous filament, though rarely fatal, puts many economic activities at risk. This is especially true in development countries. Some fast facts on jellyfish
|
Young scientistsThis is the blog of Young Scientists. We are learning how to apply the knowledge and processes of science to solve the problems and challenges of the world. Archives
August 2013
Categories |