Mr. Powell Science
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  • Home
  • APES
    • Unit 1: Ecosystems
    • Unit 2: Biodiversity
    • Unit 3: Populations
    • Unit 4: Earth Systems and Resources
    • Unit 5: Land and Water Use
    • Unit 6: Energy Resources and Consumption
    • Unit 7: Atmospheric Pollution
    • Unit 8: Aquatic and Terrestrial Pollution
    • Unit 9: Global Change
  • CHS Environmental Science
    • Environmental Chemistry
    • Ecosystems and Population Interactions
    • Earth History and Natural Resources
    • Weather and Climate
  • Science Resources
    • Genetics >
      • Genetics Exam Review
    • Evolution
    • Chemistry
    • Physics - Motion and Forces >
      • Speed, Velocity, and Acceleration
      • Force
      • Newton's 3 Laws of Motion
      • Gravitational Force
      • Weight
      • Newton's Second Law - Finding a Net Force
      • Newton's Second Law of Motion - Finding Acceleration
      • Newton's Third Law of Motion
    • Physics - Energy and Waves
    • Astronomy
    • Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)
  • BMS Lacrosse
  • STEM at CHS
  • About
  • Contact

What Makes Us Human?

10/31/2017

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We are finally bringing our evolution unit to a close. Today students began working on their final project about What Makes Us Human? Students are researching one of four topics, tools and technology, fire and cooking, DNA and bodies, and Art and Language and are relating them to what it means to be human. The assignment is attached below. Projects are due Tuesday November 7th 2017, when students will set up their own Human History Museum to display their exhibits for their classmates.
what_makes_us_human_project_packet.pdf
File Size: 183 kb
File Type: pdf
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Abstract Thought, Art, and Language

10/30/2017

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Today students played "Caveman Pictionary" drawing only by candle light with chalk on the wall. We also watched a short clip about a recently discovered human ancestor.
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I Have Made Fire!

10/25/2017

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          Whether it's Prometheus stealing fire from the Gods on Mount Olympus, or the Ojibwe trickster Manabush who steals fire while disguised as a rabbit, fire holds an important place in both human legend and history. According to Dr. Richard Wrangham, fire (particularly used to cook food) may offer the best explanation  for how our pre-human ancestors began experiencing a reduction in tooth and gut size as well as an increase in brain size. 
            In class we read about Dr. Wrangham's research in an excerpt from the Scientific American article "Cooking Up Bigger Brains." We discussed the implications of early fire use by humans and how, according to Wrangham, major advances in human evolution can be attributed to cooking. 
                   Finally in class, students tried their hand at fire making using a primitive (yet relatively modern) technique, flint and steel. Many students successfully started fire with these primitive tools.
Gold Tape Question: Early flint and steel fires were made with a material called Amadou. What is Amadou and how was it used in firemaking?
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Atlatl Invasion!

10/24/2017

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As we study what it means to be human, we are looking at different changes and events throughout the 250,000 years of human history. We are starting with the development of tools and technology that resulted from ever increasing collective learning among humans. Students built atlatls and threw darts on the football field to get familiar with an ancient hunting technology that allowed our ancestors to hunt the mega-fauna of the ice-age. Atlatls continue to be use around the world for hunting and fishing. If you want to make your own atlatl with simple materials the directions are below.

Make your own Atlatl and Dart

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How did we get here?

10/23/2017

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As we continue to explore evolution we are starting to narrow our focus on how humans have evolved over time and the bigger question of, what makes us human? Today we watched the Crash Course episode on Human Evolution and talked about our common ancestors with a variety of human-like and non-human ancestors. Tomorrow we will apply our understanding of early human technology to make atlatls to try and throw our darts as far as we can.
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How far can a caveman throw?

10/20/2017

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Today was all about throwing! Our early human ancestors couldn't just head down to the grocery store for some food, they had to hunt it. Some time in the distant human past an early Homo sapien picked up a rock, threw it at an unsuspecting animal, and projectile hunting was born. In class we simulated early attempts at projectile hunting as well as technological advancement by throwing tennis balls, first with just our arm, then with a Chuck-It and finally a lacrosse stick. Although results varied among students. Generally the Chuck-It was the most effective throwing tool. Monday we will discuss why that is and apply it to another primitive technology that helped our ancestors become the apex predator of the pre-historic world. 
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Students measuring how far they threw tennis balls.
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Phylogenetic Tree Conclusion

10/19/2017

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Today students had their Evolution symposium and used different evidences of evolution to explain how they arranged the different organisms on their Phylogenetic Trees from yesterday. Some students presented their findings to the class and we ended our symposium with a reception with cookies and drinks as we discussed our learning.

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How are we all related?

10/18/2017

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Today students were assigned an organism and together they built a Phylogenetic tree on the basketball courts outside. A phylogenetic tree show how different organisms are related to each other and the relative divergence from common ancestors.
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How is a chicken related to a dog?

10/17/2017

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There are as many ways to categorize animals as there are animals themselves. However, in biology some ways give us a better understanding of relatedness among animals. Homologous structures and DNA similarities are clear evidence of common origins among animals. Analogous structures and geographic speciation are ways we can establish differences among organisms. All of these tools help us understand the tree of life, with all living organisms sharing a singular origin, that has been branching into more and more complex organisms over the last 3.5 Billion years!
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ClipBird Island Data Analysis

10/13/2017

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            As with all good science projects, once we collected our data, we took the time to analyze it. Using Google sheets, we graphed individual class results for the number of different birds over time. And although the trends were similar across classes, each class also showed unique patterns. However, when all class data was graphed together (96 data points!)  overall trends became very clear.
                 Surprisingly, both Small and Medium beaked Clipbirds had the greatest success in both survival and reproduction, as well as a fairly direct relationship between time and population. Big beaked birds however, in contrast to many students hypotheses,  always struggled to survive and almost never reproduced on the island due to their vastly higher calorie requirements.  In this activity it became very clear that natural selection does not always favor the biggest, or strongest animal but always the animal best adapted to its environment, which on Clipbird island meant having a small or medium beak, intsead of a big beak. Tuesday when we get back to school we will continue looking at evolutionary relationship among not just small groups of organisms but of many organisms across the tree of life.
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Block 1
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Block 2
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Block 3
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Block 4
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All Class Data Combined
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    Mr. Powell is a High School Science Teacher in Western Colorado.

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