April Journeyman Inspirements

KNOW

Read this article on Joseph Banks, an early enthusiastic botanist.

Go to this website to learn about plant cell basics.  Just roll over each part in the picture and a short explanation will come up for you to read.  Then you can play the game to identify the plant cell parts.

Study this diagram about the cycle of photosynthesis.

INTELLIGENCE    Do one of these:

Share a poem or a story about plants or trees that inspires you.


Find an interesting way to teach us about photosynthesis.

Teach us about a plant cell using some sort of visual. 


UNDERSTANDING    Do one of these:

Make a plan to begin a garden in your yard.  It could be a flower garden, a vegetable garden, or a combination of the two.  If you already have one, ask your parents if you could have a small section of it for a garden of your own.  Plan out what you will plant, what you will need to do to prepare the soil, and where the plants will go.  Bring a drawing of your garden plan.

Take pictures of 10 different kinds of trees and identify them.

Draw or paint a picture of a particular tree or flower that is beautiful to you and bring it to class.

Write your own poem about nature, the forest, trees, or something like that.

April Master Inspirements

"Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces,

I would still plant my apple tree."

-Martin Luther

KNOW

Read about Carl Linnaeus here.

Read about Dr. Nathaniel Ward here.

There are other botanists of this time that you can look up on PlantExplorers.com if you're interested.

UNDERSTAND    Do one of these:

Do some research on Seed Savers Exchange.  Find out when it was organized, who’s involved, and what they do.  In your opinion, is this an important work they are doing?  Why or why not?

Do a little research on xylem and phloem.  Tell us what part of the tree they are and what role they play.

Do the plants around you have benefits to us besides their beauty?  Identify plants in your yard or your area that have other uses and what those uses are.

Identify poisonous plants or trees and tell us how we can recognize them (so we can avoid them  :) ).

Start your own seeds for a plant (or plants) you’d like to grow.  Take care of it indoors until it is ready to be “hardened off,” and then plant it.  For class, you can tell us what seed(s) you planted and when you plan to put it/them outside.

What project would you like to do in your yard?  If you have something you would really like to do, plan it out, find out if it’s ok with Mom and Dad, figure out how to make it happen, and do it.  Tell us about it in class.

Is there a plant or tree that is not doing so well, in your yard?  If so, find out what’s wrong with it and what you can do to help it.  Some plants or trees just need a little TLC.  A little digging around it to aerate the soil, maybe some manure dug into the dirt around it, or maybe it has a disease you can do something about.  It might just not be getting enough water.  See if you can save it!  Use your initiative to make a difference.  Tell us what you find out.

INTELLIGENCE   

Come and help us plant a tree and some flowers at the church where we've been holding our Vanguard classes.  Bring some gardening gloves and a small shovel.  You can bring a treat if you like :)  We'll talk about our inspirements while we're there.

March Journeyman Inspirements

KNOW

1.  Read about Spallanzani in Ch. 2 of Microbe Hunters

2.  Watch this video about single-celled organisms  

3.  Research different kinds of single-celled organisms (both prokaryotes and eukaryotes).

UNDERSTAND

Do this:

1.  Perform an experiment with microbes.  You can do this with someone or on your own.  Here is a website with some ideas you could use for your activity. 

     http://archives.microbeworld.org/resources/experiment.aspx

Tell/show us about your adventure!

And do one or more of these:

2.  If you’re 15 or older, enter the Germ Challenge contest, details here, http://www.cambridgesciencefestival.org/2014Festival/TheGermChallenge.aspx

3.  If you can get to some pond water, take a tall drinking glass and hold it right side up into the water.  Look into it and if you can see well, watch for a little while.  Do you see anything interesting?  If you do, draw it and tell us about it.

4.  Choose 5 of the single-celled organisms you found from your research.  Draw and label them.  Identify what mode of locomotion they use?  Identify if it is a prokaryote or a eukaryote. 

5.  Choose 1 of the single-celled organisms you researched and make a model of it using materials of your choosing.

6.  How is integrity important to a scientist?  Was it important to Spallanzani?  Why or why not?  How is it important to you?  Write about it and share it with us.

7.  Make a Venn diagram comparing prokaryotes to eukaryotes.  

INTELLIGENCE

We'll be passing out petri dishes with nutrient agar in them along with sterile cotton swabs at the end of Geo-Conquest.  Using sterile cotton swabs, get samples of bacteria from various places (the inside of your cheek, a doorknob, a dishrag, the phone, your ear, the steering wheel, dirt, a tree trunk, pond water, etc).  Make sure to use one sterile cotton swab per sample and don’t touch the swab with your finger.  Streak the swab on the agar.  You could do a few different samples in the same petri dish, just don’t overlap them, give them their space.  Then put the cover on, tape it or put an elastic band around it, turn it upside down (to avoid condensation), and let the bacteria grow!  They grow better if they are warm and cozy.  

        See if you can identify what you've got growing in your dish.  

Bring it and show us what sort of goodies you found!  Also, make a little diagram (or map) of your dish showing where each spot of bacteria came from, OR, using a permanent marker, you could mark the outside of your dish so you know where things are.    Here’s a site with more info on successfully growing your new “pets!”  http://www.scienceenterprises.com/growingbacteria.aspx

March Master Class Inspirements

KNOW

1. Read about Pasteur in Ch. 3 of Microbe Hunters 
2. Watch these videos about using microbes to create electricity.  
1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iaZUsASFI6Y
2. http://www.microbeworld.org/component/jlibrary/?view=article&id=11893

     3.  Watch this video about antibiotic resistant bacteria.

UNDERSTANDING

Do one of these:

1. Teach us about antibodies:  how we form them, how they function.  You can do a   demonstration, make a diagram or model, prepare a graphic summary, or use some other way to pass on the information.
2. Teach us about antibiotic resistance.  Give examples of these bacteria.  How has this  become a problem and what can we do about it?
3. Find information or an interesting video about microorganisms being used today for our benefit, or commercially.  There are lots of them out there.  If it’s a video, you can post it ahead of time.
4. Tell us about why our bodies need “good” bacteria.  How does it work in our bodies and help us?  
5. Find out and tell us how vaccines work.  Have a discussion with one or both of your parents about vaccines and find out what they think about them.  Discuss the pros and cons as there is a lot of controversy regarding these now with a lot of differing opinions.  Give examples of pros and cons.

INTELLIGENCE

I think we should be able to visit the Syracuse water treatment plant.  The man who works there is very knowledgeable and excited to teach about the possibilities at these kinds of facilities.  

Do both of these:

1. Come up with an idea for using microorganisms to solve some problem.
2. Come to the field trip with a specific question to ask.

February Master Class Inspirements

KNOW

1)  Read Truth: The Foundation of Correct Decisions by Richard G. Scott.  Think about what sort of sacrifices are required to find truth.  When you come to a crossroads in your life, and a decision must be made, what will you need to do?

2)  Read the story of the Rich Young Ruler in Matthew 19:16-22.  What do you "lack" that you must do "if thou wilt be perfect?"

3)  Watch this video.  What was this woman's sacrifice?

4)  Research a math idea or principle that interests you.  The Math Book by Clifford A. Pickover is an AWESOME resource for this.  You can look at the Table of Contents for this on Amazon to get ideas of what you'd like to research.

UNDERSTAND

Do this:

1)  Present the math principle you researched.  You can tell us about it, use drawings, pictures, or examples, share a video, make a prezi, etc.

Do one of these:

2)  Sacrifice is an eternal principle that applies to our lives in so many ways.  We often only think of it as something that has to do with church, religion, or faith, which it certainly does.  But, as with our faith, the principle of sacrifice can be interwoven throughout the fabric of our entire lives.  Oftentimes, it is looked upon as negative idea, and some people really don't like to talk about it.  For this inspirement, ponder on this principle and write in your journal the thoughts that you have on it.  Answer these questions:  How does it apply to your life?  How can the lack of meaningful sacrifice affect your life?  What is the benefit of sacrifice?  And what can you give up now, that will mean so much to you down the road?

3)  We'll discuss and learn about chemical bonding in Journeyman.  Give a more in depth example of it.  You can perform an experiment or find info about one that teaches us about the effect on specific elements.  You can share this ahead of time or do it in class.

4)  Perform a simple experiment at home with a brother, sister, or a friend using household items.  Talk about it.  What happened?  Why?  What if we did this or that differently, then what do we think might happen?  Was there a chemical reaction?  Did some element sacrifice an electron in the reaction?  Tell us about it!

5)  Memorize the rest of the periodic table (meaning the name, atomic number, and where it is on the table).

INTELLIGENCE

We are going on a field trip to my brother-in-law's house.  He is an chemical engineer and works mostly from home.  He has built a reactor in his basement and is going to talk to us about it.  He'd love to answer questions about what he does and about his experiments.  He is a really fun, interesting person so please feel free to talk to him and ask questions.

Do both of these:

1)  Come with a specific question in mind.  I can't guarantee he can answer it, but it should make for good discussion.

2)  Come prepared to discuss sacrifice and how it applies in our lives.

*Note:  We'll meet at his house first, then we'll head to the Brower's to finish our class.  We'll make arrangements for driving on the yahoo group.

February Memorization

Memorize Elements 1 through 36 from the Periodic Table of Elements

(or more!)

Who can memorize the whole table?

February Journeyman Inspirements

KNOW

1)  Read about Alchemy on Wikipedia.  You can pick a section of the article to read, or just read the  whole thing if you find it interesting.  I looked for other websites about alchemy, but there were so many sketchy, weird sites that Wikipedia seemed like the safest bet.  Turns out some people are still into it…who knew!  Yikes!

2)  Read Ch. 16 in Dr. Posin's Giants about Dmitri Mendeleyev

3)  Watch this short video about chemical bonds, it's pretty fun! You can also look up chemical bonding in a  book of your choice.


UNDERSTANDING

Do this:

1)  Choose an element from the periodic table and give us a short 1-minute presentation on it.

and do one of these:

2)  Teach us about ionic or covalent bonding using a method of your choice.  Drawing, props, food, dance, whatever you think will convey the idea :)  Think about this…what does sacrifice have to do with it? We'll talk about it.

3)  Give us a short report on something about alchemy that you thought was interesting.

4)  Mendeleyev was able to predict that other elements existed and was able to give pretty specific details about what properties they would have.  He said that, "After a lapse (or period) of seven we get an element of similar characteristics again….In this way we get entire groups which resemble each other…."  Teach us about one of these groups and it's characteristics.  Choose from alkali metals, alkaline earth metals, transition metals, nonmetals, noble gases, metalloids, and other metals.  You can use any method of your choosing.


INTELLIGENCE

Do one of these:

1)  Bring a "safe" chemical experiment to share with everyone.  Emphasis on safe!

2)  Make a game or some fun way to learn/memorize the periodic table.  Tell me about it ahead of time and perhaps we can play it in class!

3)  Make a poster of the periodic table, include the atomic number, symbol, name, and atomic weight.