General Science Assignment Supplement
2008-2009 School Year
Mr. Rosenoff’s Class
A. Steps for Success
These are the steps taken by successful students last year for
completing the required Module work.
Please note: these are the steps I am suggesting you at take also!
As per stated policy, any assignment submitted is assumed to be
supervised and proctored by the student's parent.
First Week:
1.
Read the assigned reading indicated in your schedule, including labs,
before coming to class.
2.
Answer the On Your Own
questions when you come to them. (These
are not turned in. They are for your
benefit. The answers to the OYO
questions are at the end of your Module.)
3.
Attend Class: ask questions about reading assignment and labs. Participate, listen, and learn.
4.
Perform the labs included in the week’s reading. Write the required informal lab report for
each lab completed. Place them in your
notebook for safe keeping.
Second Week:
1.
Read the assigned second reading, including labs, before coming to
class.
2.
Answer the On Your Own questions
when you come to them. (Again, do not
turn these in.)
3.
Attend Class: ask questions about reading assignment and labs. Participate, listen, and learn.
4.
Perform labs included in the week’s reading. Write the required lab report for each lab
completed. Place them in your notebook
for safe keeping.
5.
Answers the Study Guide
questions at the end of the module.
(This is an open book assignment.
I have provided you an example of a completed assignment below.)
6.
Parent’s use your Solutions Manual
to correct your student’s Study Guide
answers.
7.
Have your student correct any error they may have made in the Study
Guide assignment.
Third Week:
1.
Overlap week. You will need to
begin the next Module in your book during this week. Follow the steps above.
2.
Ask questions in class about your Study
Guide grade. I will give you a review
for your Module Test during class this week.
If you miss class this week, you will need to listen to the class
recording for Test preparation assistance.
3.
Take the online Module Test by
the date indicated in your syllabus.
This assignment is closed book
and closed notes. The Module Test will be forwarded to me
automatically once you click on “Finished”
on the Apologia site.
4.
Parents
MUST sign the bottom of the test and be present during the testing session.
Fourth Week:
1.
Ask questions in class about your Module
Test grade and your corrected quarterly experiment report.
2.
Continue on with next Module work.
B. Assignment Guidelines
1. Formal Experiment Reports
MUST BE
2. Formal Experiment Report
assignment requirements are outlined in detail in your 2008-2009 Assignment Supplement. I do allow revisions of the
experiment reports during first semester and will tell your student how to
improve their assignment before resubmission.
During second semester, I will grade the formal experiment report as
received. If you plan to use graphs or other
graphics as part of your report Observations section, YOU MUST E-
3. Module Tests are taken
on-line through the Apologia site: www.apologiascience.com.
Module
Test assignments
4. All Test assignments,
except your semester exams, must be completed within 60 minutes of logging onto
the Apologia site. Semester exams must
be completed within 90 minutes. After 60
or 90 minutes, depending on the assignment, Apologia WILL DISCONNECT YOU
5. Upon submission of any
assignment through Apologia, the Apologia site will forward a copy to my e-mail
address and forward a receipt copy to your e-mail address of record on the
site. IT IS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY TO
OBTAIN A RECEIPT FROM THE APOLOGIA COMPUTER
6. Students must be
disciplined enough to submit required work on time. As per stated policy, I will
deduct 10% per day from the score received on the assignment on all late work, including the Parent Notebook Report, unless
the lateness results from personal illness, family emergency, or computer
problem of a non-reoccurring nature. In
these instances, I will grant full points.
A schedule for the course, providing due dates for all assignments for
the entire year, has been forwarded to you.
If
you are leaving on vacation or some other personal choice holiday, please
adjust your study schedule to submit the assigned work before leaving. I will always accept an assignment early. I am available during my office hours to help
you complete assignments before the due date, when and if necessary, during the
school year.
7. All class assignments are
due by 6:00
PM, Eastern Time, on the date indicated in the
Schedule I have posted online. The
Apologia Science time stamp on your work is the final authority on whether
something is submitted on time or not. NOTE:
8. Students should keep
hard printed copies of all their work (labs, study guides, tests, etc.), not
just computer saved work. Doing so will
allow the student to keep a good portfolio of their class assignments should
they be asked to demonstrate their work at some later date. Please note:
I do not maintain copies of a student's work beyond the end of the school
year. I will maintain a copy of a student's final semester grades for
seven years beyond the end of our class together.
C. Study Guide Assignment
The following is an example of the completed Study Guide
assignment. (You do not have to word
process this assignment.) You student
should write his or her answers as complete sentences as it will help them
practice for the Test where complete sentence answers will be required.
As per stated policy, any assignment submitted is assumed to be
supervised and proctored by the student's parent.
Isaac Newton
General Science
Module 1 Study Guide
Question 1
a. Science is a branch of study dedicated
to the accumulation and classification of observable facts in order to
formulate general laws about the natural world.
b. Papyrus is a primitive form of paper,
made from the long-leafed plant, the papyrus.
c. Spontaneous generation is the idea that
living organisms can be spontaneously formed from non-living substances.
Question 2
a. Society should support a scientific idea based on the evidence,
not the people who believe in it.
b. Scientific progress depends not only on scientists but also on government
and culture.
c. Scientific progress occurs by building on the work of previous scientists.
3. Imhotep was an Egyptian doctor.
4. The ancient Egyptians
didn't use observations to explain the world around them; therefore, they are
not considered scientists.
5. Thales, Anaximander, and
Anaximenes were ancient Greeks who were called the first three scientists.
6. Leucippus and Democritus
are remembered for their idea of everything being made of atoms.
7. Aristotle came up with the idea of
spontaneous generation.
8. Aristotle came up with the
large-scale classification scheme for living creatures.
9. In the Ptolemaic system the earth is
at the center of the universe and all the other planets and the stars travel
around the earth. In the Copernican system the sun is in the middle and
the planets travel around the sun. The Copernican system is more correct.
10. Alchemists wanted to turn lead into
gold.
11. Alchemists weren't considered
scientists because they used trial and error.
12. Science began to progress towards
the end of the Dark Ages because the Christian worldview began to replace the
Roman worldview.
13. Grosseteste was the first modern
scientist because he was the first one to use the scientific method.
14. The authors were
Copernicus and Vesalius. The book written by Copernicus was about the
arrangement of the planets and stars in space. The book by Vesalius was
on the human body.
15. Galileo’s church wouldn't let go of
the geocentric view and the church demanded that Galileo hold to the geocentric
view in all his writings.
16. Galileo claimed to invent the
telescope.
17. Sir Isaac Newton was the greatest
scientist of all time. He laid down three laws of motion, he formulated a
universal law of gravitation, and he developed the mathematical field of
calculus.
18. The good part of the change during
the enlightenment was scientists started relying on experiments and data.
The bad part of the change was that the scientists started to ignore the
authority of the Bible and questioned the truth of the Bible.
19. Lavoisier was the first to analyze
chemical reactions in a systematic way and he was the first to be able to
explain combustion. He came up with the Law of Mass Conservation
20.
21.
22. The immutability of species was the
idea that living creatures can't change.
23. Mendel is remembered for his work in
genetics.
24. James Clerk Maxwell is the founder
of modern physics.
25. James Joule came up with the First
Law of Thermodynamics.
26. Max Planck made the assumption that
energy comes in packets called quanta.
27. Niels Bohr is remembered for his
theory of the atom.
28. Einstein also developed
the special theory of relativity and the general theory of relativity.
D. Informal Laboratory
Report format
The
experiments in this course are designed to be done as you are reading the text.
I recommend that you keep a notebook of these experiments. This notebook serves
two purposes. First, as you write about the experiment in the notebook, you
will be forced to think through all of the concepts that were explored in the
experiment. This will help you cement them into your mind. Second, certain
colleges might actually ask for some evidence that you did, indeed, have a
laboratory component to your biology course. The notebook will not only provide
such evidence but will also show the college administrator the quality of your
biology instruction. I recommend that you perform the experiments in the
following way:
·
When
you get to an experiment, read through it in its entirety. This will allow you
to gain a quick understanding of what you are to do.
·
Once
you have read the experiment, start a new page in your laboratory notebook. The
first page should be used to write down all of the data taken during the
experiment. What do I mean by “data”? Any observations or measurements you make
during the experiment are considered data. Thus, if you see an organism during
an experiment, you need to either describe it or draw it. If you measure the
length of something during the experiment, that is part of the experiment's
data and should be written down. In addition, any data analysis that you are
asked to do as a part of the experiment should be done on this page.
·
When
you have finished the experiment and any necessary analysis, write a brief
report in your notebook, right after the page where the data and calculations
were written. The report should be a brief discussion of what was done and what
was learned. You should not write a step-by-step procedure. Instead, write a
brief summary that will allow someone who has never read the text to understand
what you did and what you learned.
|
PLEASE
OBSERVE COMMON SENSE SAFETY PRECAUTIONS! The experiments in this course are no more dangerous than most
normal, household activity. Remember, however, that the vast majority of accidents
do happen in the home. Chemicals used in the experiments should never be
ingested; hot beakers and flames should be regarded with care; and all
experiments should be performed while wearing eye protection such as safety
glasses or goggles. |
E. Formal Laboratory Report
Format
Standard six-step, typewritten laboratory write-up should include
the following: (You do not have to
follow this format for your penciled, handwritten, laboratory notebook. There is information on how to prepare an
informal lab notebook report included in the introduction to your textbook.)
Name
Date
Title of the Experiment
A. Purpose
You must tell what the experiment is about and what area it will
test. Background on the area is
expected. (In other words, provide
details about what is being experimented on.)
You must use your textbook as your source of information for your
report. You must also include a statement of what the experiment hope to
show and why this topic is of interest.
Four distinct paragraphs are required.
First person pronouns are not used in scientific writing.
B. Equipment
Provide a complete list of equipment necessary to conduct the experiment. Equipment should be listed in a 1, 2, 3, 4,
5, etc., fashion down the page.
C. Procedure
Provide a complete list of the procedure used. Procedure should be
written in a cookbook fashion and be numbered 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, etc., fashion down
the page.
D. Observations
Provide a detailed, objective report of observations -- what was seen, heard,
felt, tasted, smelled -- when the experiment was performed. Charts and
graphs which provide detail are encouraged, but these do not take the place of
the narrative observations.
E. Conclusions
Provide analysis of the experiment: try to explain what was seen, heard, felt,
tasted, or smelled while the experiment was happening. Be sure to provide ways that the experiment
could be improved if the experiment was done again and any ideas for further
research the experiment might have generated.
Three distinct paragraphs are required.
Note: there are ALWAYS ways to improve how an experiment is done and
ideas for further research generated.
F. Bibliography
If you seek help from someone or quote facts from a book, internet
source, or other media you should include them in bibliography in using the
format I provide. You are required to research one outside
resource other than your textbook or me and cite the source in your
bibliography. Additionally, you
must cite your textbook and me as a “class source” or “personal interview” on
every lab report.
The completed Word document of the experiment report should be printed
and saved to your student’s notebook.
The completed and spell-checked Experiment Report is then copy/pasted
into the assignment template on the Apologia submission site. An example of a completed experiment
follows:
Miss JM
Density in Nature
A. Purpose:
The
Greek scientists who speculated about atoms used observation to provide
evidence for the existence of atoms. The
purpose of this experiment is understand the evidence which supports the ideas
proposed by the Leucippus and Democritus
Leucippus
was a Greek scientist who lived perhaps 100 - 150 years after Anaximenes.
Although little is known about him, historians believe that he built on the
concepts of Anaximenes and proposed that all matter is comprised of little
units called “atoms.” As a result, Leucippus is known as the father of atomic
theory. The works of his student, Democritus are much better preserved.
Democritus used the following illustration to communicate his ideas about
atoms. Think about walking towards a sandy beach. When you are a long way from
the beach, the sand looks like a smooth, yellow blanket. As you get closer to
the beach, you might notice that there are bumps and valleys in the sand, but
the sand still looks solid. When you reach the beach and actually kneel down
and examine the sand, you find that it is not solid at all. Instead, it is
composed of tiny particles called “grains.”
Democritus believed that all matter was similar to sand. Even though a piece of
wood appears to be solid, it is, in fact, made up of little individual
particles which Democritus and his teacher called atoms.
The
following experiment will show the kind of evidence Leucippus and Democritus
proposed for their idea.
Understanding
density and the Greeks is interesting because we can predict things about
substances based on density knowledge.
B. Equipment:
1.
Vegetable oil
2.
Water
3.
Maple or corn syrup
4.
A grape
5.
A piece of cork
6.
An ice cube
7.
A small rock
8.
A tall glass
C. Procedure:
1.
Take the glass and fill it about 1/4 of the way with the vegetable oil.
2.
Add an equal amount of water to the glass.
3.
Add an equal amount of maple syrup to the glass.
4.
Now look at the glass from the side. What do you see? In your laboratory
notebook, make a sketch of what you see.
5.
Drop the rock, the grape, the ice cube, and the piece of cork into the
glass. Now what do you see? Add the rock, grape, ice cube, and cork to the
sketch you made in step 4.
6.
Clean up the mess and put everything away.
D. Observations:
1. The oil was poured into
the tall glass.
2. Then the water was poured in to the
oil. After pouring in the water, the oil
floated to the top and the water settled in the bottom.
3. Syrup was then added to the water and
oil. The syrup started to sink
immediately and settled in the bottom of the glass pushing the water into the
middle with the oil on top.
4. When the rock was dropped into the
glass it immediately sank to the bottom in the syrup.
5. The grape was then added. It settled in the middle where the water was
located.
6. The ice cube was then added to the
glass. It floated in the oil.
7. Finally the cork was dropped into the
mixture. It floated on top of the oil.
E. Conclusions:
This experiment shows that atoms exist and also that they exist in
greater and smaller amounts depending upon the form of the matter. The syrup
had the most density because it went through the oil and water and floated to
the bottom. The next most dense of the liquids I used was the water which
stayed in the middle. The oil was the least dense and floated on the top. The
rock was denser than any of the liquids and sunk to the bottom of the glass.
The grape went through the oil and stayed in the water. I think the density of
the grape and water is very similar because the grape didn't stay at the top of
the water or at the bottom of the water, but in the middle. The least dense of
the matter I used in the experiment was the cork. When I dropped it in it sank
to the middle of the water for seconds and popped back to the surface. The
placement of each item in the experiment shows that matter is made up of atoms
in different amounts.
An idea to improve the experiment would include being a little less
messy when pouring the liquids.
An idea for research would be to look on the web for information on
how scientists measure density in a laboratory.
F. Bibliography:
Wile, Dr. Jay L. Exploring Creation With General Science. Apologia
Educational Ministries, Inc. 2003.
Rosenoff, Steven. Class
Lecture.
http://www.density.com/
An example of lab report grading criteria follows:
A. Purpose (10 points possible) (10 points earned)
You must include four paragraphs in the following sequence detailing:
1. What the experiment is about
2. Background information on the experiment from your textbook
3. What the experiment hopes to show
4. Why this topic is of interest to science
B. Equipment (5 points possible) (5 points
earned)
1. Provide a complete list of equipment necessary to conduct the
experiment.
2. Equipment should be listed in a 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, etc., fashion down the
page.
PERFECT.
C. Procedure (5 points possible) (5 points earned)
1. Provide a complete list of the procedure used.
2. Procedure should be written in a cookbook fashion
3. Procedures must be numbered 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, etc., fashion down the
page.
PERFECT.
D. Observations (10 points possible) (10 points earned)
1. Provide a detailed, objective report
of observations -- what you saw, heard, felt, tasted, smelled, etc -- when the
experiment was performed. (Charts and
graphs which provide detail are encouraged. You can also provide me with
a narrative of your observations in paragraph form.)
GREAT
E. Conclusions (10 points possible) (10 points earned)
You must include three paragraphs in the following sequence detailing:
1. An analysis of the data
2. Ways to improve the experiment
3. Ideas the experiment generated for further research
OUTSTANDING.
F. Bibliography (10 points possible) (10 points earned)
You must include:
1. Bibliographic reference for me as a class lecture or personal interview
and your textbook in proper format as given in examples.
2. Reference for one other source (minimum) you referenced for
information about this lab.
WONDERFUL BIBLIOGRAPHY
ASSIGNMENT GRADE: 50/50 100% Excellent.
F. Laboratory Notebook Requirements
Please note: Experiment 6.5
requires sod collection, Experiment 9.3 requires students to grow plants for 30
days, Experiment 9.5 requires the student to culture fruit flies, and
Experiment 11.2 requires sunlight. If
you live in cold weather environments, you should plan for collection or growth
of these items during warm weather conditions.
You may need to accomplish these Experiments when weather permits before the Parent Notebook Report due
date, possibly during late spring.
As per stated policy, any assignment submitted is assumed to be
supervised and proctored by the student's parent.
Students should keep hard printed copies of all their work
(labs, study guides, tests, etc.), not just computer saved work. I would divide the notebook into sixteen
sections, one for each Module of the Wile’s text. Doing so will allow the student to keep a
good portfolio of their class assignments should they be asked to demonstrate
their work at some later date. Please note, I do not maintain copies of a
student's work beyond the end of the school year. I will maintain a copy
of a student's final semester grades for seven years beyond the end of our
class together. Please note that some of the experiments require long periods of
time to complete. As I do not set the
lab schedule in your home school, you will need to look ahead and adjust your
lab time accordingly. I require a Parent
Report Summary to be submitted at the end of first and second semesters which
states how many of the required experiments have been completed by your
student. The student should have the following completed and in his or her
notebook for each semester listed:
First Semester:
Experiment 1.1
Experiment 1.2
Experiment 1.3
Experiment 1.4
Experiment 2.1
Experiment 2.2
Experiment 2.3
Experiment 3.1 – Formal report required
Experiment 3.2
Experiment 3.3
Experiment 3.4
Experiment 4.1
Experiment 4.2
Experiment 6.1
Experiment 6.2
Experiment 6.3
Experiment 6.4
Experiment 6.5
Experiment 7.1 – Formal report required
Experiment 7.2