PlanEx 1st MP Tasks

All 1st MP PlanEx Tasks
Mr. S's expectations & intro.
↓The most recent objectives, plans & tasks we performed are near the top!↓

Cycle of Class	Plans, Tasks & Links
Cycle 7: Tue. 10/31 -Tue. 11/7	Day 5/6: After first completing our viewing of "Roving Mars" (and its questions), we took the previously announced open-note Socrative quiz on the U.S. space program before we actually landed on the moon. A quick look then at the trailer for the movie "First Man" that opened today was followed by the viewing/answering of questions about "Mare Tranquilitatis" (Apollo 11), the historic mission that put humanity's first steps on another world. Enjoy your mini break! Day 3: Today, we moved onto our viewing of "Roving Mars" (and its questions), the story of how Spirit and Opportunity uncovered definitive proof of Mars' wet, potentially life-supporting past from their exploration of its surface from 2004 to present day. We also viewed some 3D images from Spirit and Opportunity using stereoscopic glasses. Both classes ended up needing a little time on Tuesday to finish the story up. Day 2: After each class completed its class effort on the completion of this fill-in-the-blank sheet on "The Search for Life on Mars", this *assignment on 3 past or active exploratory unmanned missions to Mars was started in class and then completed for HW and is due at the start of Tuesday's day 5.* Day 1: After discussing your distributed 1st MP grade sheets and the upcoming day 5 Tue. Socrative quiz on the pre-landing US space program missions (and class B finally finished Destroying Moon Landing Conspiracy Theories), we finally got into the exploration of other planets with a class effort to complete this fill-in-the-blank sheet on "The Search for Life on Mars", a comprehensive story of the human fascination and subsequent exploration of Mars from ancient times to the year 2000 to begin our unit on the mysterious planet. This would be completed during your next class.
↑NJCCCS: 5.1(A-I), 5.2(B,E), 5.3(A,B), 5.4(B-E), 5.5(B,H,I), 5.6(A-K), 5.8(B), 5.9(E-G), 5.11(A-E), 5.20(A,B,D), 5.21(A,B), 5.22(A-C), 5.23(A,B), 5.25(A-C) ↑Bloom's: K, C, An, Ap, S, E	↑This week's student learning objectives (all start with "Students will be able to..."): ■ ...describe and explain the roots of our past and current fascination with Mars and the role it could one day play in space exploration milestones, human colonization and permanent habitation. ■ ....to describe and specify the physical traits of the Earth-Sun-Moon system that create our moderate seasons, the phases of the moon, eclipses and tides that help to make Earth a (so far) unique host of life. (continued) ■ ...qualitatively describe the basic, complex relationship between science, technology and our society. (continued)
Cycle 6: Mon. 10/23 -Mon. 10/30	Day 5/6: Today was actually the day we began to debunk Apollo moon landing conspiracy theories with this "Destroying Moon Landing Conspiracy Theories" activity via the viewing of a National Geographic program on such ideas (see Mr. S. if you need the video). Class E was instead able to finish it up and also get to perform an EC assignment pertaining to the making of the Earth to the Moon series we have been watching. Day 3: After first finally completing "Spider", before we get into the remaining Apollo mission stories when we landed on the moon successfully 6 times, we began to debunk Apollo moon landing conspiracy theories with this "Destroying Moon Landing Conspiracy Theories" activity via the viewing of a National Geographic program on such ideas (see Mr. S. if you need the video). This will be completed during your next class, a long day 5 Monday. Day 2: First on this day, we took the scheduled "open note" quiz on the Earth-Sun-Moon system as previously announced before we had the rest of our time together to come close to completing "Spider" (and its accompanying questions). Day 1: This class saw you first peer-grade each other's Earth-Sun-Moon system practice quiz before we discussed its answers. Mr. S. then reminded you the real open note ESM quiz will take place TOMORROW (Wednesday)! After then taking a quick climate change pre-assessment for one of Mr. S's SGOs, we moved onto the next E to the M episode, "Spider" (and its accompanying questions), the story of the design and construction of perhaps the most sophisticated piece of hardware needed for our voyages to the moon, the Lunar Excursion Module (LEM). With this the last story about U.S. space exploration BEFORE our actual landing on the moon and your part 1 of "The Story of Humans in Space" reading complete, a Socrative quiz on the Mercury, Gemini & Apollo missions so far is on its way soon! (Install the Socrative Student app if you haven't yet!)
↑NJCCCS: 5.1(A-I), 5.2(B,E), 5.3(A,B), 5.4(B-E), 5.5(B,H,I), 5.6(A-K), 5.8(B), 5.9(E-G), 5.11(A-E), 5.20(A,B,D), 5.21(A,B), 5.22(A-C), 5.23(A,B), 5.25(A-C) ↑Bloom's: K, C, An, Ap, S, E	↑This week's student learning objectives (all start with "Students will be able to..."): ■ ....to describe and specify the physical traits of the Earth-Sun-Moon system that create our moderate seasons, the phases of the moon, eclipses and tides that help to make Earth a (so far) unique host of life. (continued) ■ ...qualitatively describe the basic, complex relationship between science, technology and our society. (continued)
Cycle 5: Wed. 10/11 -Fri. 10/20	Day 5/6: 2 parts to today's long day 5: 1) Completion together of the included "Seasons Basics" sheet for 10 POINTS that will be your main way of being ready to answer the big "What causes Earth's seasons?" question when I ask it for a lot of points down the road (like in May for a big 4th MP grade!). 2) Then, we returned to the "Earth to the Moon" series to learn about the design and difficult engineering of the Lunar Module that would eventually land humans on the moon. We did this through the viewing/question-answering for "Spider" FOR 5 POINTS. Day 3: Today, it was time to address the 2nd of the 2 big questions about the Earth-Sun-Moon system in basic astronomy that I posed earlier - What causes the phases we see of the moon? NOT ONE OF YOU GOT THE QUESTION CORRECT WITH YOUR ANSWERS LAST WEEK. After first discussing the nature of the moon's orbit around Earth, your head stood in for Earth, a Styrofoam ball for the moon, and a bright light for the sun to see how simple orbiting of the moon at an angle to Earth created the phases for you to see as how much of the alway lit half of the moon we can see changes. Pages 3 and 4 of the included Earth-Sun-Moon system diagrams in our Classroom were then handed out and a NAAP animation of the phases on the screen was set in motion to serve as valuable resources for the completion of the 2-sided "Earth's Moon" worksheet FOR 10 POINTS! Days 1-2: To start off our Earth-Sun-Moon unit in earnest, Mr. S. decided it was important to discuss one of the popular anti-scientific ideas of our time - FLAT EARTHISM. After a brief discussion of what "tribalism" is in our times, we began the viewing of "Behind the Curve" and work on TODAY'S 15 POINT MAJOR ASSESSMENT question sheet that accompanied the video that helped us to better understand "flat earthers" in this "post truth" age we live in. *STAY ON YOUR TOES (AND PRESENT IN CLASS) AS MR. S's OWN CHALLENGES TO FLAT EARTH ARGUMENTS (ALONG WITH THOSE OF SCIENTISTS IN THE VIDEO) ARE A BIG PART OF YOUR ANSWERS TO #1! *THIS WILL STRETCH INTO AND THROUGH OUR WEDNESDAY CLASS!
↑NJCCCS: 5.1(A-I), 5.2(B,E), 5.3(A,B), 5.4(B-E), 5.5(B,H,I), 5.6(A-K), 5.8(B), 5.9(E-G), 5.11(A-E), 5.20(A,B,D), 5.21(A,B), 5.22(A-C), 5.23(A,B), 5.25(A-C) ↑Bloom's: K, C, An, Ap, S, E	↑This week's student learning objectives (all start with "Students will be able to..."): ■ ....to describe and specify the physical traits of the Earth-Sun-Moon system that create our moderate seasons, the phases of the moon, eclipses and tides that help to make Earth a (so far) unique host of life. (continued) ■ ...qualitatively describe the basic, complex relationship between science, technology and our society. (continued)
Cycle 4: Tue. 10/3 - Tue. 10/10	Day 5/6: After Mr. S. first discussed the Genesis grade reports waiting for you and reminded you that your 2 Google Slides on a contributor to the origins of astronomy for 25 MAJOR ASSESSMENT POINTS IS DUE TODAY as a way to make your grade climb fast, we then took advantage of this warm, sunny day to perform the included "Sun Scale Lab" FOR 15 POINTS to use basic geometry exactly like the ancient Greeks did to come up with the diameter of the sun. A quick SEL (Social Emotional Learning) lesson based on 2 commercials from Europe then followed FOR 10 POINTS. REMAINING TIME WAS USED TO WORK ON YOUR 25 POINT MAJOR ASSESSMENT SLIDES THAT ARE DUE TODAY! Day 3: FOUR parts to today: 1) First, we finished up our "1968" viewing and questions that were started on Friday! THE 5 POINT QUESTIONS ARE DUE TODAY EVEN THOUGH YOU LIKELY GAVE THEM TO ME ON FRIDAY. 2) Then, Mr. S. established what you already may or may not know about climate change by having you go to the link below to take a "Climate Change Pre SGO Assessment" before we get into the unit during the 2nd MP. YOU WILL USE E25ATWEST AS THE ROOM YOU JOIN. COMPLETING THIS ASSESSMENT WAS AN EASY 5 POINTS EARNED IN CLASS! 3) The other half of our SGO pre-assessment then had you answer 2 questions essential to our new Earth-Sun-Moon unit on a half sheet of paper FOR ANOTHER EASY 5 POINTS. 4) HOW'S YOUR TWO GOOGLE SLIDE PRESENTATION ON A CONTRIBUTOR TO ASTRONOMY COMING ALONG? THAT 25 POINT MAJOR ASSESSMENT FROM 10/5 IS DUE FRIDAY!!! Day 2: Today marked the official start of our Earth-Sun-Moon System unit but also a bit of a SEL break by learning about how these tumultuous times filled with conflict and controversy in the U.S. have been seen before about 50 years ago when Mr. S. was born (the "Apollo 8 Intro" below) while also being a time when we first looked back on our "pale blue dot" for a massive shift in human consciousness. This led to a start to our viewing/question-answering for "1968" (5 POINTS) which we will complete during our next meeting. Day 1: To chase away the mis and pre-conceptions some of you may have about the nature of the moon, complete the included "Moon Insanity Qs" form FOR 15 POINTS today.
↑NJCCCS: 5.1(A-I), 5.2(B,E), 5.3(A,B), 5.4(B-E), 5.5(B,H,I), 5.6(A-K), 5.8(B), 5.9(E-G), 5.11(A-E), 5.20(A,B,D), 5.21(A,B), 5.22(A-C), 5.23(A,B), 5.25(A-C) ↑Bloom's: K, C, An, Ap, S, E	↑This week's student learning objectives (all start with "Students will be able to..."): ■ ...explain the importance of the key moments in the history of astronomy's evolution and understanding how it has helped to determine current day views and understandings of our place in the universe (i.e. - "you can't know where you are until you understand where you've been."). ■ ...express values in and convert numbers to scientific notation and describe the quantitative importance of the denoted increase or decrease in a power of 10. (continued) ■ ...qualitatively describe the basic, complex relationship between science, technology and our society. (continued)
Cycle 3: Fri. 9/22 - Mon. 10/2	Day 5/6: 2 parts to today: 1) After a quick introduction to the impressive astronomical architecture of the Mayans to supplement the "cultural astronomy activity" you completed last week (see the first Slides below), Mr. S. presented a crash course in the "Timeline of Astronomy" (see 2nd Slides) to better know the cultures and individuals that contributed a great deal to what we know about our place in the cosmos today. The show concluded with the story of the late, great Dr. Stephen Hawking. 2) Then the rest of the period was devoted to work on a 2 slide Google Slide presentation FOR 25 MAJOR ASSESSMENT POINTS that I have created copies of for each of you that meets these requirements: Slide 1: Information about the time period they lived in and how they came to be experts or masters of astronomical ideas or related mathematics over the course of their lifetime(s); MINIMUM OF TWO RELATED IMAGES, PHOTOS OR DIAGRAMS MUST BE PRESENT Slide 2: Information about a minimum of two specific contributions they made to astronomy with the ideas they shared and architecture/structures they left behind; MINIMUM OF TWO RELATED IMAGES, PHOTOS OR DIAGRAMS MUST BE PRESENT It is due on your next day 5 on FRIDAY OCTOBER 15. Day 3: My bosses again decided this was a good day for this teacher of 31 years to be taken from his classes to be trained yet again in something. Go figure. So, especially in light of the fact that COVID positive tests are rising once again in Cherry Hill, Camden Co. and NJ, since I am the only science teacher most of you currently have (and misinformation is still rampant about COVID-19), I thought it was best we took a break from our class's work to complete the included "COVID-19: Why We Have Been Doing What We Have Been Doing" Video/Google Form activity (FOR 15 MAJOR ASSESSMENT POINTS!) to get rid of any lingering misconceptions you may have about our response to the continuing pandemic on this day. Stay safe and keep those around you safe! SHOULD YOU WISH TO CONTACT ME TODAY, I CAN ALWAYS BE REACHED BY EMAIL (ssweeten@chclc.org) OR PRIVATE COMMENT IN ANY ASSIGNMENT FOR A FAIRLY QUICK RESPONSE, AND THROUGHOUT MOST OF THE DAY, I WILL BE IN ROOM A6 IF IT IS PARTICULARLY URGENT THAT YOU SPEAK TO ME! Day 2: Yep, this time Mr. S. is out for personal matters that needed to be take care of. As we now move onto a mini-unit to recognize the individuals and cultures that were to first to identify where we are in the solar system and the cosmos, we start with a global look into the past since much of the history of astronomy in the U.S. tends to be "Eurocentric", often leaving out the early achievements of civilizations that were and still are not among traditional western nations. To do this, complete today's "Cultural Astronomy Activity" (15 POINTS!) with the form below, being sure to note the link in it you need to use and what you need to discover about 3 cultures of your choosing. Day 1: 2 parts to today: 1) First, finishing up the true story of "Apollo One" and its 10 POINT questions that were assigned last week. THESE ARE DUE TODAY OR TONIGHT. 2) Then, a conclusion to to our "Scale of the Cosmos" unit with the viewing of the 1977 classic "Powers of Ten" and the completion of its accompanying "Question of Scale" Matching below (5 POINTS). REMAINING TIME WAS YOURS TO GET ON THE MISSING WORK (SOME MORE VALUABLE THAT OTHERS) YOU SAW ON THE GENESIS REPORT MR. S. HAD WAITING FOR YOU TODAY!
↑NJCCCS: 5.1(A-I), 5.2(B,E), 5.3(A,B), 5.4(B-E), 5.5(B,H,I), 5.6(A-K), 5.8(B), 5.9(E-G), 5.11(A-E), 5.20(A,B,D), 5.21(A,B), 5.22(A-C), 5.23(A,B), 5.25(A-C) ↑Bloom's: K, C, An, Ap, S, E	↑This week's student learning objectives (all start with "Students will be able to..."): ■ ...begin to grasp the vastness of the cosmos and our place in it through qualitative and quantitative identification of the great size of its planets, star systems, galaxies, clusters and superclusters of galaxies. (CONTINUED) ■ ...qualitatively describe the basic, complex relationship between science, technology and our society. (CONTINUED)
Cycle 2: Thu. 9/14 - Thu. 9/21	Day 5/6: Today was your chance to truly get a handle on the scale of our universe, by first viewing all of it, until you have "zoomed" into our local neighborhood in space. The website link you need to do this is included in today's Google Doc below (10 POINTS!) as well as the detailed instructions for what you must do at each of the 8 step "zoom" views along the way. READ THEM CAREFULLY! Day 3: After a quick wrap up of "Can We Do This?", the story of the U.S. space program's initial Mercury and Gemini missions, we moved onto "Apollo One" and its questions FOR 10 POINTS. Before its start, Mr. S. made you aware that the complex interconnectedness of science, technology, politics, society, and humanity would be more relevant than ever in this true story and all that you would see and hear in this shocking story came from the actual recorded communications and interviews of the real people involved. Day 2: My bosses decided today was an important day for me to be trained in something so as a result, I'm replaced by a sub today. THE IMPORTANT THING TO KEEP IN MIND IS THAT THE BELOW IS ASSIGNED BY ME AND THE WORK IS JUST AS IMPORTANT AS ANY I WOULD ASSIGN IN PERSON! What you are doing today: Open the "Astronomical Image Sorting Activity" form (FOR 25 MAJOR ASSESSMENT POINTS!) and take note of the 6 different astronomical objects you must order in 4 different ways. Creative Googling will be the name of the game today AND IT IS EXPECTED YOU'LL HAVE THIS VERY VALUABLE TASK COMPLETED BY THE END OF THE DAY. FEEL FREE TO COMPLETE IT AS MANY TIMES AS YOU WISH UNTIL YOU LIKE YOUR SCORE! Day 1: Today, we began our detailed look into 1) the complex relationship depicted in the first PDF below between science, technology and human society that has shaped the history of space exploration and 2) our first exploration of NASA's resulting successful, yet sometimes tragic attempts to put men in space and on the moon. We started it with the viewing of/questions for "Can We Do This?" below for 5 POINTS (episode 1 in the "From the Earth to the Moon" series), a look into the early Mercury and Gemini missions.
↑NJCCCS: 5.1(A-I), 5.2(B,E), 5.3(A,B), 5.4(B-E), 5.5(B,H,I), 5.6(A-K), 5.8(B), 5.9(E-G), 5.11(A-E), 5.20(A,B,D), 5.21(A,B), 5.22(A-C), 5.23(A,B), 5.25(A-C) ↑Bloom's: K, C, An, Ap, S, E	↑This week's student learning objectives (all start with "Students will be able to..."): ■ ...begin to grasp the vastness of the cosmos and our place in it through qualitative and quantitative identification of the great size of its planets, star systems, galaxies, clusters and superclusters of galaxies. (CONTINUED) ■ ...qualitatively describe the basic, complex relationship between science, technology and our society. (CONTINUED)
Cycle 1: 9/5 Opening, then Wed. 9/6 - Wed. 9/13	Day 5/6: Having already watched some ambitious guys create a scale model of our Solar System in the Nevada desert where the diameter of the sun was equal to 1.5 meters, we are going to create our own, suited for the B-wing of Cherry Hill West. The model of the sun (that YOU will determine the size of) will hang outside D9, the classroom you look into as you walk from the library into the D-wing. You will then determine how large the rest of the bodies of the Solar System should be with some simple math ALONG WITH how many 1 meter steps I should take before they get taped to the wall of the wing. See today's "Our B-Wing SS Scale Model" form below (25 POINTS!) for how you will contribute to the construction of our model today! Anyone have their "Being Galileo for 9 Nights" lab to turn in? It is due today! Day 3: 1) After finishing up our viewing/discussion about "Standing Up", the remainder of the period was spent working on our "Being Galileo for 9 Nights Lab" (15 POINTS) that is the 1st link below that replicated the 9 consecutive nights of observations Galileo conducted and the resulting conclusions he reached about our place in the universe that changed the history of modern astronomy. The "Being Galileo for 9 Nights Lab" is due on Friday when I see you for our first day 5! (Folks that were absent can use the 2nd link to see Jupiter's moons over those 9 nights to complete the assignment outside of class.) 2) This was also the day you received Mr. S's course expectations. TURN YOUR "SIGNATURE FOR COURSE EXP." FORM BELOW IN ASAP SINCE IT IS WORTH 5 POINTS ALSO! Day 2: As Mr. S. continues to try to establish for you the speck you are in the cosmos and the blink of an eye that you are in its long history, today was the the viewing/Q answering for "Cosmos1 "Standing Up in the Milky Way" Qs (10 POINTS). The form below is due by 11:59PM TUESDAY! Day 1: 1) Mr. S. first gave you a chance to see where your starting astronomical knowledge stands with a "PlanEx T/F Pre-Quiz" on Quizizz that you joined and completed FOR 5 POINTS. (See Mr. S. for the self-directed version if you missed it in class today.) 2) After that, an animation of Carl Sagan's famous "Pale Blue Dot" narrative gave our "Scale of the Cosmos" unit a kick start. Our class viewing of it led to the 2 questions in the form below FOR 5 POINTS. Opening Day: Welcome back! Today was simply a day for you to learn more about this course you find yourself in and then for you to tell me a little about you by completing the "Tell Me about YOU!" form below (5 points). After that, Mr. S. fielded questions of any kind in an attempt to further get to know each other!
↑NJCCCS: 5.1(A-I), 5.2(B,E), 5.3(A,B), 5.4(B-E), 5.5(B,H,I), 5.6(A-K), 5.8(B), 5.9(E-G), 5.11(A-E), 5.20(A,B,D), 5.21(A,B), 5.22(A-C), 5.23(A,B), 5.25(A-C) ↑Bloom's: K, C, An, Ap, S, E	↑This week's student learning objectives (all start with "Students will be able to..."): ■ ...begin to grasp the vastness of the cosmos and our place in it through qualitative and quantitative identification of the great size of its planets, star systems, galaxies, clusters and superclusters of galaxies. ■ ...qualitatively describe the basic, complex relationship between science, technology and our society.