Floyd Loving

Plate Tectonics

Wed, Sep 21, 2011 6:27 AM
Hawaii gets no love here...

This SciPack described the Earth’s structure with a focus on the crustal plates, and their interactions to include phenomenon like earthquakes, volcanoes, and mountain building. One Science Object is devoted to each of the following areas: Layered Earth, Plates, Plate Interactions, Consequences of Plate Interactions, and Lines of Evidence. I am math certified and trying to get science certified, so I found many things that I had forgotten or never become fluent with. The content that had the biggest impact for me was the material in the Science Object “Layered Earth” which describes the Earth’s seismic events and how waves from earthquakes travel through the earth. This object, for the first time, gave me a good intuition of how seismic waves travel through different material in the Earth. This content actually complemented what I was learning in the SciPack the Nature of Light. Being able to see the similarity in how the different waves behave gave me a better understanding of both seismic and light waves. Still we are talking volcanoes and Hawaii is given no love here.

Rocks

Wed, Sep 21, 2011 6:22 AM
I guess I prefer nukes...

This SciPack described the process of rock cycling with a focus on the rock categories, formation and the geologic record that can be extracted from rocks through observation. One Science Object is devoted to each of the following areas: Categories by Process, Environments of Formation, Cycling, and Earth’s Autobiography. I am math certified and trying to get science certified, so I found many things that I had forgotten or never become fluent with. The content that had the biggest impact for me was the material in the Science Objects “Environments of Formation” and “Cycling” which describes the processes by which rocks form, transform and break down. It kind of reminded me of the water cycle. Even though the processes are very different, I could take the water cycle which I do understand and put my new learning on a similar hook in my mind so that I retain more of the new knowledge, and I needed the hook. Not as bad as paint drying. I want to help my students build a frame work for storing new knowledge that connects to things they already are familiar with. Since this content targets rocks and we live on a rock making factory (Big Island of Hawaii), I would like to tap into local resources for examples and for things in their environment with which they are already familiar.

Resources and Human Impact

Wed, Sep 21, 2011 6:12 AM
Pleasantly Surprised

This SciPack looks at global resources and the impact humans have on the system of Earth, with the Science Objects as follows: Earth as a System, Population Growth, Technology, and the Environment, Environmental Degradation, and Using Technoligy to Address Resource Issues. In a nut shell this SciPack describes many of our global resource problems/crises and causes and then posits preventative and redemptive solutions. I was pleasantly surprised by this SciPack. I expected the global warming issue to be hit hard in this one, but the focus was more on how certain real problems came to be, and possible fixes. The material beckoned toward stewardship and responsibility rather than blame or boogey issues. If I get a chance to present highly charged issues (doesn’t happen too often in math class) I would like to handle it in a similar way as this author. “Come let us reason” is an approach that builds knowledge and capacity for sustainable decision making.