Article Blog 5/21/17 - Stars

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/62/Starsinthesky.jpg

Summary

When huge clouds of dust and gas get so big they start to cave in, the center heats up and becomes a core that will one day become a star. Stars come in all different shapes, sizes, and colors. The larger the star, the quicker it will burn out. Most stars live for billions of years. When giant stars die, a huge explosion called a supernova is created. If the supernova is big enough, a black hole can be created. 

Citation

"How Do Stars Form and Evolve?" Newsela | How Do Stars Form and Evolve? N.p., n.d. Web. 22 May 2017.

SP4: Analyzing and interpreting data

The author of this article analyzed and interpreted data to learn more about stars and write an informational article communicating what he or she learned. In order to find out all of this information, he or she had to read, watch, and talk to experts about stars, supernovas, black holes, and more. 

Weekly Blog 5/13/17 - The Environmental Accords

https://sites.google.com/site/earthsciencehumanimpact/_/rsrc/1472778978660/home/Human%20Impact%202.jpg

Summary

Humans impact the earth in many different ways both negative and positive. However, most of it is negative. Things like clearcutting, overfishing, polluting the air and more are happening. The Urban Environmental Accords is a document with a list of goals that will get us to an "ecologically sustainable, economically dynamic, and socially equitable" future, as stated by sfenviornment.org. There are 21 "actions" or goals in the environmental accords all under 7 categories. The categories include energy, waste reduction, urban design, urban nature, transportation, environmental health, and water. The environmental accords are important because they protect the earth and make it more sustainable for the future. 

SP6: Constructing Explanations and Designing Solutions

I constructed explanations when I rephrased and summarized parts of the Urban Environmental Accords to better understand what they were saying. I explained and discussed the meaning of the accords with a partner. I thought of solutions to problems while playing legends of learning. Some puzzle games required thinking about the solution to get to the next level.

XCC: Cause and Effect

Everything happens because of cause and effect. For example, if we plant more trees around a sidewalk, there will be more shade on the sidewalk, this will make the air cooler not only preventing things like global warming but saving energy. Since the air is cooler, fewer people will use their A/C and fans. Simply making more shade outside (the cause) has many positive effects. Creating more shade is once of the environmental accords. 

Article Blog 5/7/17 - Stone Age dentists treated cavities with tar

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/ce/Blausen_0864_ToothDecay.svg/2000px-Blausen_0864_ToothDecay.svg.png

Summary

Long before dentists existed, during the stone age, humans cleaned their cavities differently. They used sharp stones to scrape and chip out their decayed teeth and coated the damaged tooth with bitumen, a tarry type of crude oil. They also used toothpicks (pieces of sticks). About 20 years ago in a site in Italy called Riparo Fredian, some researchers excavated six teeth human teeth. The teeth were found to have scratch marks in the decayed part and after a chemical and microscopic analysis of the teeth, the researchers found out the dark parts of the cavity walls were actually bitumen as well as plant fibers and some hairs. Benazzai, a researcher believes that by coating the teeth with bitumen, it protected the teeth from further infection.

Citation

Bower, Bruce. "Stone Age Dentists Treated Cavities with Tar." Science News for Students. Science for Students, 05 May 2017. Web. 07 May 2017. <https://www.sciencenewsforstudents.org/article/stone-age-dentists-treated-cavities-tar>.

SP4: Analyzing and interpreting data

The author of this article, Bruce Bower, analyzed and interpreted data to learn more about this topic and write an article communicating what he learned. In order to find out all of this information on studies and what other scientists and researchers have learned about old dentistry, Bower had to do lots of research and analyze what information he found to verify its credibility.