Category: Middle School

Chapter 5 Section 2 What Is a Force? Summary

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A force is a push or a pull of an object that allows the object to have motion. The force of an object is measured in newtons (N). There are always something that exerts a force. For example, when you pull up your covers, the object that is exerting the force are your blankets. Sometimes, determining what the object is exerting the force is harder. Net forces are the total amount of force that is on an object. If the forces move in the same direction, the net force would be determined by adding the forces together. An example is when you and your sister are pushing a desk. Your sister’s force on the desk was 20 N left and your force on the desk was 25 N left, the net force would be 45 N to the left. If the forces move in different directions, the net force would be determined by subtracting the smaller force away from the larger force. The final net force would go in the direction of the larger force’s direction. When the net force is 0 N, then the forces are balanced. A balanced force would not let the object start moving or stop moving. If the object doesn’t have a net force of 0 N, then the forces of the object are unbalanced.


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Picture Citations:
1. [Digital image]. (n.d.). Retrieved October 24, 2017, from http://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/ks3/science/energy_electricity_forces/forces/revision/6/
2. [Digital image]. (n.d.). Retrieved October 24, 2017, from https://www.texasgateway.org/node/4135

Studying Journalism

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In this unit, I learned about the 5ws and H and I annotated several news article using Kami and annotated several CNN 10 videos with TurboNotes. The teacher assigned these assignments for our class because it would help us when we write our news article, get used to the format of the news article and practice for annotating for the summative. I also practiced writing articles before this summative. Our homework for some days is to observe things around us and record them down. In class the next day, we would have to choose one observation and write an article. Then, we peer edit for each other and see where we did well and where we can improve.

For the summative, I had to write a news article and in a group, put together all the articles of the group members. The newspaper should look like a real newspaper. Also, I had to annotate and read two articles and write a compare and contrast paragraphs about the two articles.

The newspaper article:

Compare and contrast paragraphs that I wrote:

Compare
The tones of the two articles are objective and journalistic. The articles are written in third person format, since it is a newspaper article.

In both articles, there were information on Hurricane Harvey, damages the hurricane caused, quotes, pictures and they ended with quotes. In “Texas Faces Massive Flooding”, the article’s very first paragraph stated when and where the hurricane happen and says, “It was the strongest hurricane to hit the U.S. in 13 years, causing widespread flooding and destruction (paragraph 1).” Later in paragraphs 4, 5, 6 and 7, it talked about the speed of the wind and other informations on Hurricane Harvey. In “Catastrophe in the Gulf”, the first three paragraph gave information on the hurricane. It talked about where and when this hurricane occurred and also the speed of the wind, the amount of inches the hurricane left, how much water the hurricane is going to leave and how strong this hurricane is.

The damages Hurricane Harvey caused were described in paragraphs 2, 3, 8 and 9 of “Texas Faces Massive Flooding”. In “Catastrophe in the Gulf”, the damages were described in paragraphs 6, 7, 8 and 10. Both articles talked about the number of people who passed away, the amount of damages the hurricane caused and how long it is going to take for Texas to recover from this catastrophe.

The articles included quotes. “Texas Faces Massive Flooding” quoted The National Weather Service and Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo. There are also other parts where the author didn’t directly quote what metrologist and President Trump said, but the author summarized it. “Catastrophe in the Gulf” quoted the National Weather Service, Greg Abbott, Maya Wadler, President Trump, and Brock Long.
The articles also contained pictures. There were pictures of the destruction, people helping others, people evacuating and maps of the hurricane’s route.

Finally, both articles ended with quotes. “Texas Faces Massive Flooding” ended with, “‘It breaks your heart,” Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo said in a video on Twitter on Sunday. ‘But it’s Texas. We’ll get through it.’” (paragraph 10).” “Catastrophe in the Gulf” ended with, “‘This disaster is going to be a landmark event,’ Federal Emergency Management Agency administrator Brock Long said Sunday on CNN. ‘We’re setting up and gearing up [to be in the affected areas] for the next couple of years’” (paragraph 13).”

Contrast
The difference that was the most obvious was the organization. In “Texas Faces Massive Flooding”, the article was organized first with an introduction. Under the title, there was a subheading stating, “Rescue efforts in Texas underway as storm moves to Louisiana.” The introduction included when and where the hurricane occurred, damages and the people who helped the damages. Then there is a heading that says, “A POWERFUL STORM”. In this section, the author talks about hurricanes in general and slowly it leads to Hurricane Harvey and its information. For example, the author talked about the wind speed of the hurricane. The section also includes what meteorologists and what the National Weather Service says. In “DAMAGE CONTROL”, the author talks about the number of people have evacuated, how long it would take to recover from this hurricane and what Art Acevedo says. In “Catastrophe in the Gulf”, the article included more topics. This article didn’t include a subheading. First, the article talked about the hurricane. Second, there were informations on injuries. Third, there were solutions to the problems and how others helped. Finally, the article tells us where the hurricane is heading and what the government is going to do about the hurricane. The author of “Catastrophe in the Gulf” focused on the damages more than the author that wrote “Texas Faces Massive Flooding”. Also in “Catastrophe in the Gulf”, there were no heading, but only paragraphs.
The formats of the two articles and how they annotate the pictures are also different. In “Texas Faces Massive Flooding”, the pictures for this article are mostly small with a one sentence caption. As for “Catastrophe in the Gulf”, the pictures inserted were enlarged and easy to read with captions that are mostly two sentences. The captions of the pictures in this article gives much more information than the other. An example is the last picture in “Catastrophe in the Gulf” where the caption stated, “Evacuees from Hurricane Harvey in Austin were given shelter by the Red Cross. Shelters like this one were set up across southeast Texas to care for people displaced by the storm.” There were a lot of information, such as who gave the shelter to the evacuees or where were these kinds of shelter located.

I only annotated one article. This was my annotation:

Mitosis and Meiosis

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Mitosis and Meiosis are two kinds of reproduction. Mitosis is an aesexual reproduction. During the Mitosis reproduction process, the chromosomes makes an identical duplicate of itself and this results in two new cells. Meiosis is a sexual reproduction. During the Meiosis reproduction process, two parent cells are needed. The cell makes four new cells that are not identical to the two parent cells (also known as sex cells), but somewhat similar. The cells made during the Meiosis reproduction process are reproductive cells, which are eggs or sperms.

Before the mitosis actually starts, the every chromosome duplicate themselves once. This phase is called the Interphase. There are three sub-phases in the Interphase: G1, S, and G2. During the G1 phase, the cell gets larger. During the S phase, the chromosomes would have a duplicate of itself. The G2 phase is to help the cell prepare for the Mitosis reproduction cycle. The prophase is when the mitosis really starts. During the Prophase, the chromosomes, starting from long strands would shorten and become thicker. During the Metaphase, the nuclear membrane disappears and the chromatid pairs would align at the equator of the cell. Then spindles would be attached to the
chromatids. During the Anaphase, the chromatids disband and heads to opposite sides of the cell. Telophase, which is the last phase of the Mitosis reproduction cycle, is when a nuclear membrane would be created around each group of chromosomes, then, the two new cells that are created would separate.

Meiosis is somewhat similar to mitosis. Before the meiosis reproduction cycle starts, the cells also undergoes Interphase. The chromosomes are duplicated, the nuclear membrane of the cell dissolves and the cell gets a little larger. Every chromosomes all have a duplicate of itself. In Prophase I, the chromosomes pair up with their homologous partners and exchange genes. In Metaphase I, the homologous chromosomes line up at the middle of the cell. The spindle connects to each chromosomes. In Anaphase I, the spindles tug on the chromosomes and pull them to either sides of the cell. In Telophase I, nuclear membranes would be shaped around each groups of chromosomes, creating two new cells as they separate. The cells goes into Prophase II. This is when each chromosome shortens. Like Metaphase I, in Metaphase II, the chromosomes would align at the equator of the cell and the spindles attaches themselves to the chromosomes. In Anaphase II, the chromosomes would be pulled to either sides of the cell. In Telophase II, nuclear membranes then form around each chromosome set of each cell. This step allows four new cells to be created. In each new cell, there are different combinations of cells.

After each reproduction cycle ends, the cell would go into Cytokinesis. Cytokinesis is the cytoplasm’s separation of one cell. In other words, two cells would pinch together if both cells don’t have a cell wall, making two daughter cells; if both cells both have a cell wall, a cell plate would be created in between cells. Cell plates include the ingredients for the new cell walls and new cell membranes. Later, when the cell divides into two cells, a cell wall would replace the cell plate.

Here is a diagram of an example of the Mitosis reproduction cycle:

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Here is a diagram of an example of the Meiosis reproduction cycle:

2)

Citations (Websites)
1) “Cell Cycle.” CELLS alive!, www.cellsalive.com/cell_cycle.htm. Accessed 22 Sept. 2017.
2) “Meiosis.” Khan Academy, www.khanacademy.org/science/biology/cellular-molecular-biology/meiosis/a/phases-of-meiosis. Accessed 22 Sept. 2017.

Citation (Pictures)
1) “What is mitosis?” What is mitosis?, Yourgenome, www.yourgenome.org/facts/what-is-mitosis. Accessed 22 Sept. 2017.
2) “What is meiosis?” What is meiosis?, Yourgenome, www.yourgenome.org/facts/what-is-meiosis. Accessed 22 Sept. 2017.

News Article: 52th Taekwondo Test At The Kaohsiung Chinese Taekwondo Class

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52th Taekwondo Exam At The Kaohsiung Chinese Taekwondo Class
By Allison Chen
August 31, 2017

On August 26th, at around 1: 00 PM, many students gathered at the building where a taekwondo exam was about to occur. It was the 52th exam at the Kaohsiung Chinese Taekwondo Class. Younger kids about the age of 6 were listening carefully to the black belts’ tips and guides.

The exam started at 1:30 PM. The coaches introduced themselves, then the black belts demonstrated the test routines for the white belts. The exam was in the order of the belts from white belt to black belt. Three person were called per time. First, they did the poomsae. Poomsae is when you demonstrate a specific set of moves. Each belt level has been taught different poomsaes. The black belts would have to demonstrate one poomsae, and have another poomsae be picked randomly by the coaches. After the poomsae, there would be kicking. The coach assistant would tell the students to kick a specific kick. The student would have to perform the kick as best as they can, as the belt levels increase, the complexity of the kicks also increase. The third part of the test is kicking the boards. Students under blue belts kick plastic kicking handles. As for students above and including blue belts, students would have to kick a wooden board, and for the students above and including red belts, there would be sparring. Sparring is when two people kick each other while wearing protection. When student were sparring, there were cheering and excitement from younger students, as for they don’t see sparring that often, since they didn’t start training for that yet.

“I was so nervous,” said a student. “I was scared that I would not pass the exam, but, I did and I am so happy.”

Many students were waving their new given belts happily. Some were jumping up and down in excitement. Students were also telling their parents what they had accomplished today.

Product Research: Adidas T-Shirt

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This is my product research presentation on a Adidas t-shirt. For some steps of the production line, I couldn’t find the specific information for the Adidas t-shirt, so I included general information. I labeled the title slides with “(General)” when I only found the general information. I labeled the title slides with “(Adidas)” when the information is specifically of the Adidas t-shirt.

Conserving the Red-crowned Cranes

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The Red-crowned Cranes lives in Eastern Asia. They live in colder climates. Their natural habitats are marches. They build their nests in water that is shallow and damp ground. Unfortunately, they are decreasing in population because of human activities. There are only 2,700 Red-crowned Cranes left in the world, estimated by scientist.

The Red-crowned Cranes are endangered because of habitat loss, overexploitation, harassment by humans, fire and poison. The habitat loss of the Red-crowned Cranes are due to the destruction of migration paths, breeding grounds and areas that are cold. Drainage of wetlands are also part of the habitat loss. Another main reason of habitat loss is the development of the humans. Humans are building roads, clearing forest, channelizing rivers and enlarging agriculture. The marshlands are being turned into factories, rice fields and farmlands, causing their habitat to decrease in number. The Red-crowned Cranes are also facing overexploitation. They are being hunted and eaten. Another danger that the Red-crowned Cranes is that humans are harassing them. The Red-crowned Cranes are also being poisoned by the pesticides in grains.

There are many organizations that are conserving the Red-crowned Cranes. For example, the Wild Bird Society of Japan. They do many events that help the Red-crowned Cranes. One example is that they are protecting areas in the Kushiro Shitsugen that are legally not protected. They even set up a Nature Center that gives explanations on Red-crowned Cranes, give nature information, and has photography contests. The photography contests are held because they want other people to know the beauty of Red-crowned Cranes and the conservation acts of the Red-crowned Cranes in Japan.

You can also start help conserving the Red-crowned Cranes by spreading the awareness on Social Media. I wrote 5 Guidelines To Sharing Information On Social Media. If you want to know more about how to help conserve bird species, check out this link: https://share.kas.tw/allche22/2017/06/06/humans-responsible-for-jeopardizing-bird-species/.

Bibliography:
1) (n.d.). Retrieved June 09, 2017, from https://www.zoo.org/page.aspx?pid=1858#.WTZ9KhOGNE5
2) (n.d.). Retrieved May 31, 2017, from https://www.konicaminolta.com/kids/endangered_animals/library/sky/rc-crane.html
3) Red-Crowned Crane. (2013, November 24). Retrieved June 09, 2017, from http://www.ourendangeredworld.com/species/birds-bats/red-crowned-crane/
4) (n.d.). Retrieved June 09, 2017, from https://www.savingcranes.org/species-field-guide/red-crowned-crane/
5) (n.d.). Retrieved June 09, 2017, from http://library.sandiegozoo.org/factsheets/red_crowned_crane/red_crowned_crane.html
6) Wild Bird Society of Japan / Tsurui-Ito Tancho Sanctuary. (n.d.). Retrieved June 09, 2017, from https://www.wbsj.org/en/tsurui/

5 Guidelines To Sharing Information On Social Media

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In this interdisciplinary unit, it was about combining both Language and Literature and Science to communicate the information collected of an endangered species to spread awareness. Language and Literature helps communicate the information collected, and in Science, it is about finding data. Social Media is a great way to share scientific information to a wide range of audience. If you want to post and share the information, you would want to make sure that it is your best work. Here are few guidelines that would help you do that, with examples of students in Grade 7 who demonstrated that specific guideline(s).

The first guideline is to use correct grammar and spelling when posting a post. Make sure that everything is well-written in the correct form. There should be no grammatical errors in the post. If you don’t use correct grammar or spelling, it might make the reader feel that the author of the post unprofessional. Also, if there are grammatical errors or spelling mistakes, it might be misunderstood by the audience. Before posting, read the text again to proofread what you wrote.

@h_seria (2017, May 25). Climate change is the main threat for polar bears.Let’s #SaveTheArctic! This is my infographic ↙️https://t.co/q61TR2l6Q1#KASeaBears pic.twitter.com/O13LCbR1DE. Retrieved June 05, 2017, from https://twitter.com/h_seria/status/867717574422810624

This is a good example of someone who posted a grammatically correct post. Every word that should be capitalized is capitalized. There were no incomplete sentences. The sentences were punctuated correctly. Seria also included an infographic that gives more information about her topic.

The second guideline is to include visuals that supports the data or gives information. For example, graphs could support data and give information. Graphs are easy to comprehend and communicates the idea or information faster. When you post articles/blog posts or information on Social Media, you can just attach the graphs at the part where you want to support the data and/or give information. Another way is to put the graphs in an infographic. In an infographic, there would be words, data and visuals. Also, adding visuals would make the viewer to want to read the post or article/blog post. It would catch the viewer’s attention.

Shen, A. (2017, May 26). The Plight Of The Christmas Frigatebird: Habitat Destruction. Retrieved June 05, 2017, from http://share.kas.tw/jiashe22/2017/05/26/the-plight-of-the-christmas-frigatebird-habitat-destruction/

Take a look at Anthony’s blog post on Christmas Frigatebirds. In the beginning, you would see an introduction and an infographic attached to the blog post. The infographic gives information of the conservation status, range, population, the estimate of breeding pairs and threats of the Christmas Frigatebirds. There are also visuals that are included which makes the infographic look full. You wouldn’t want your infographic to look empty.

Anthony also included another picture that was a map in the same blog post. This picture gave information about the Christmas Frigatebird. These visuals that were included inside of Anthony’s post were informational and helpful.

Not all social medias allow you to include a lot of information in one post. This leads us to the third guideline, write a strong headline and attach a link in one post. The headline is like a brief introduction to your article/blog post, so make sure the headline allows you to make the viewer want to go to the website where there is more about the topic.

@MirandaLi9 (2017, May 31) Scientists predict that after 2 to 3 generations, Pandas would go extinct! More information: http://share.kas.tw/mirli22/2017/05/30/save-the-pandas/ #KASendangered Retrieved June 05, 2017, from https://twitter.com/MirandaLi9/status/869970721811816448

On Twitter, you can only tweet 140 words. So you cannot write a lot in a tweet. In this tweet, Miranda tweeted a strong headline and attached a link to her blog post. The blog post contains more information about pandas. This allows viewers to go to the link and find out more about pandas.

When you are posting information, use appropriate language. Appropriate language is words that is used correctly, easy to understand and no swear words. Make sure that your words are used correctly, or else, you might confuse the viewer. Your message may not be conveyed. If you use words that are hard to understand, it would limit your audience. You don’t want to limit your audience when you want to spread awareness or information. Especially when you are sharing scientific information, don’t use terminologies that are difficult. Also, don’t use swear words in your posts. If you use swear words in your post, it would be impolite.

@ShenAnthony (2017, May 24). Protect the #christmasfrigatebird. Degrading #Habitat by mining could be corrected by government intervention! https://t.co/ZcoJi25A5n pic.twitter.com/FaPas8erkp. Retrieved June 05, 2017, from https://twitter.com/ShenAnthony/status/867375545184436225

This is an example of a tweet that doesn’t include In this tweet, there were no hard words that would limit Anthony’s audience. People can understand the message. Anthony’s tweet on protecting the Christmas Frigatebirds did not include any difficult words, but still conveyed a message.

The fifth guideline is that be sure the information that you share is cited correctly. The sources used should be cited, this would allow the reader to know where the information you are sharing is from. Citing your sources is really important because, you are giving credit to the author(s) of the sources you used.

Shen, A. (2017, May 26). The Plight Of The Christmas Frigatebird: Habitat Destruction. Retrieved June 05, 2017, from http://share.kas.tw/jiashe22/2017/05/26/the-plight-of-the-christmas-frigatebird-habitat-destruction/

This is the bibliography from the blog post by Anthony Shen that had been analyzed earlier. He cited the sources he used in APA format. This shows where he got the information from and gives credit to the author(s) of the articles. If a reader wanted to know where he got his information from, the reader could go to Anthony’s bibliography on this post and find the sources Anthony used.

These are a few guidelines that could help you with your posts on Social Media about the information that you would want to share.

Humans RESPONSIBLE For Jeopardizing Bird Species

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Written By Olivia and Allison

International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has reported that 12% of birds species in the world are endangered. Furthermore, it has also been calculated that 150 birds species are extinct. A wide range of bird species are endangered due to human activities. Both African Penguins and Red-crowned Cranes are being threatened by habitat loss.

The African Penguin is located in Southern Africa. This type of penguin species are located within 24 tropical islands such as the Dyer Island which currently contains the largest colony. It is one of the penguin species that can survive in hot climates, due to their modified wings that enables them to swim efficiently with 12.4 miles per hour and more adaptation features. To avoid the hot sun during daytime, African Penguins cool down in the waters near their shelters and dig out burrows for nesting sites. Their main diet mostly includes pelagic fish such as sardines, horse mackerels, round herrings, anchovies and squid. An adult African Penguin typically eats 14% of their own body weight.

The Red-crowned Cranes are located in Eastern Asia, where there are large wetlands. The migratory population (mainland population) lives in the mainlands of East Asia and in Russia and China. The migratory population also divides to two/three wintertime subpopulations. The resident population is in the Island of Hokkaido, Japan. The natural habitat of the Red-crowned Cranes are marshes. Marshes are a sort of wetland. There are more grass than trees in marshes, unlike swamps, where there are a lot of trees. The Red-crowned Cranes feeds on rodents, fish, amphibians, insects, corn, plants, grass, invertebrates that are aquatic and more.

The African Penguin and Red-crowned Crane’s population are decreasing due to human activities. African penguins are critically endangered because of nature destructions that humans cause. Overfishing and climate change are affecting their prey to relocate to further places, prompting the penguins to swim longer distances in order to hunt for food and feed their families. Many African Penguins die from either starvation or fatigue during the journey. A large amount of fish have also been reduced in the ocean due to industrial fishing. The main human activities that caused Red-crowned Cranes to be endangered are because of the developments of the humans. Examples are roads, the expansion of agriculture, clearing forest and the channelization of rivers. There are marshlands being turned into factories, rice fields or even farmlands. Leaving the Red-crowned Cranes, who lives that area, no home.

The methods we can use to conserve birds species is by spreading the awareness. You can go on your social media accounts and share how a wide range of bird species populations are decreasing. Spreading awareness can let the general public know more this important topic. The Wild Bird Society is an organization that helps the Red-crowned Cranes. An organization called Bird Life, South Africa includes more information about the African Penguins how you can get involved in saving this species.

There are many birds harmed due to human activities. We need to take action to conserve these unique bird species before they become extinct. Birds are very important in our ecosystem because they show indicators of the biological health in our environment. Since we are mostly responsible for endangering birds, we should help to sustain them before it is too late. Every bird matters.

Bibliography:
1) What threatens bird populations? Is it man or environmental changes? Find out here! (2017, January 26). Retrieved June 06, 2017, from http://www.seethewild.org/bird-threats/
2) Marsh. (2012, October 09). Retrieved June 06, 2017, from https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/marsh/
3) The 1,300 Bird Species Facing Extinction Signal Threats to Human Health. (2017, May 25). Retrieved June 06, 2017, from http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/08/140825-bird-environment-chemical-contaminant-climate-change-science-winged-warning/
4) (n.d.). Retrieved June 06, 2017, from https://www.zoo.org/page.aspx?pid=1858#.WTZ9KhOGNE5
5) Braun. David, Maxwell. (2010, June 2), African Penguin Declared Endangered. Retrieved June 6, 2017 from http://voices.nationalgeographic.com/2010/06/02/african_penguin_endangered/