Weeks 15-18: Climate Change and a 50-Year Energy Plan for Oregon

In this final unit of the year students will learn about climate change and develop a 50-year plan for Oregon that address the energy needs and environmental concerns of Oregonians.  Students will study the causes, mechanics, effects and solutions to climate change, as well as the pros and cons of many power options.  They will have one lab write up due, and one more notebook grade.  There will be a small quiz about climate change, but there will be a paper and not a test at the end of the unit.  Also in this unit students will prep for and participate in debates, although this grade will be for Mr. Blevins class.

Unit Goals

1. Explain details of Climate Change and the Greenhouse effect, including causes, effects, and solutions.
2. Describe pros and cons on multiple energy sources and conservation methods.
3. Develop a 50 Year Energy Plan for Oregon that addresses both energy needs and climate change.
4. Evaluate your 50 Year Plan in terms of costs and benefits.

Key dates:

• Last day for retake on Power Production Unit Test  May 17
• Energy City Project due May 20 or 21
• Solar Power lab due  May 22 or 23
• Binders due and quiz on climate change  June 4 and 5
• 50 year energy plan report due  Last day of school.

Expected Binder Table of Contents

1. Voices of the World/ Background Research
2. Climate Science Notes
3. Feedback Loop Diagrams for Climate Change

Weeks 10-12 Electricity part 1

This is the first part of a 5 week unit on the basics of electricity, circuits and power generation.  Students will make and simulate simple circuits, practice the relationship between current voltage and power, develop an understanding of how electricity is generated and the similarities between generators and motors and they will make simple speakers.  In the second part of the unit they will conduct an extended experiment trying to optimize the output of an electricity generating windmill.

Weekly Goals

1. Give working definitions for current voltage and power.
2. Describe what happens in a simple electric circuit.
3. Describe the basic physics of electrical power generation. 
4. Describe similarities and differences between electric generators and motors.

Binder Table of Contents

1.  Class notes  Day 1: Video and Exploration

2.  The basic physics of Electric Power

3.  How Electric Motors Work

more to come

The short quiz will be on April 18 or 19, and I will collect binders that day.

The unit test will be on May 2 or 3.

The retake of the Waves unit test needs to be completed by April 12.

The next unit will be the final unit.  It will be on balancing our power generating needs with the challenges of climate change.

Weeks 7-9 Waves and Technology part 2.

Students wrap up the waves and technology unit right before spring break.  The unit test covers the four goals below and the 4 goals from the last cycle.  Their binders are also due right before spring break.
The engineering task that we finish this unit with is a little less involved than the last several ones.  They will code a spreadsheet with conditional formatting so that the inputs produce a gray scale image similar to an ultrasound.

Goals:

1. Give examples of why human’s understanding of light has gone back and forth between particle, wave and dual models.
2. Explain how information is encoded in FM and AM waves.
3. Calculate the depth of an object in an ultrasound.
4. Explain the physics of an ultrasound.

Notebook Table of Contents

1.  Practice with Digital Signals
2.  Part 5 Coding in ASCII (not 3rd period)
3. An Evolving Understanding of Light
4. Echolocation and Ultrasound
5. Waves and Technology Review Packet

Weeks 4-6 Waves and Technology

Sorry this post is coming late.  For the sake of thoroughness these are the goals and the binder table of contents for  the last cycle.   

Goals

1. Describe how cell phone communication works using appropriate physics vocabulary.
2. Analyze wave behavior using the following terms:  transverse, longitudinal, amplitude, frequency, wavelength, speed, tension and medium.
3. Describe key details about sound and electromagnetic waves.
4. Evaluate the possibility of cell phones causing cancer and cite evidence from texts.

Notebook Table of Contents

1.  How are you Hearing Me
2. Anatomy of a Wave
3. Patterns in Waves
4. Electromagnetic Waves - Notes

The quiz was on March 1 and retakes are to be completed by March 15.

Weeks 1-3 Semester 2. Finishing the Force and Momentum Unit

The unit wraps up on February 6 and 7 when students take their Unit Test and turn in their binders.

On February 4 and 5 students will complete their egg "helmet" challenge and work on their project reflection.

New Goals for this three week cycle include
1.  Using concepts of force, momentum and impulse, design and evaluate a device to protect an egg.
2.  Explain the relationship between force, mass and acceleration.
3.  Correctly use the idea of conservation of momentum.
4.  Solve problems with force and momentum.

The binder table of contents will probably on be.
1.  Practice with Newton's Second Law and Momentum
2.  Review for Unit Test.

The review packet will be handed out on Jan 29 and 30, and assigned as homework.

Weeks 15-18. Beginning of Force Unit.

These are the last weeks of the semester.  Here's how we're going to wrap it up.

Last week in December:   basic facts about Forces
First 2 weeks of January:  Impulse Lab (20 pts) and Practice
Finals Week:  Quiz, Acceleration Lab, Notebook  (20pts, each)
The final two weeks of the bike helmet unit occur in the next semester
 3 days:  Engineering a Helmet
2 days:  Review and Unit Test.

Last day for retaking bungee unit test is January 11.

Goals.  Weeks 15-18 (until end of semester.  stuff for final quiz)

1. Describe key details about forces, such as units, examples, laws and definitions.
2. Explain the relationships between force, impulse, time and change in momentum.
3. Solve problems with the impulse equation.
4. Apply force and impulse ideas to the designing a bike helmet.

Notebook:

1. Helmet Engineering Brainstorming
2. Introduction to Forces
3. Force Explorations Stations Lab
4. Force Explorations Follow Up Notes....  (Updates to come)

Weeks 12-14

These weeks will wrap up the engineering and energy unit.  Students will create a spreadsheet to calculate how much string to add to their bungee jumper, present their results and test them.  They will take a major test on the last day.

Goals:

1. Define model and calculate Elastic Potential Energy
2. Determine the necessary amount of added string for the bungee jump by applying ideas of Ek, Eg, Ee and conservation of energy.
3. Build a spreadsheet to perform calculations
4. Explain your reasoning about the bungee jump persuasively

Binder Contents:

• Energy Vocabulary
• Practice Quantitative Energy…
• Claims Evidence Argument about Skydiving
• Bungee Jump Engineering Project
• Bungee System Analysis

more to come...

Key dates:  Presentations and Bungee Jumps - December 5 and 6

Test/Binders due - Dec 7 and 10