Happy Tuesday! Today's Science Solutions blog entry is to explain, in our own words, why temperate climate fossils have been found in Antarctica.

We're not specifically learning about this right now, but it is related to evolution and geology both. To answer the prompt, fossils from certain climates have been found in radically different ones because of plate tectonics and separations. A long time ago, all of the continents were one mass called Pangaea. Several million years ago, Pangaea began to spread apart. A very long time later the continents eventually separated into the seven current ones. Animals existed and evolved during the periods of continental mass, but did not survive and eventually evolved and adapted to their new climates. The ice ages froze the earth over and made climates colder as they pushed further and further apart. 

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Happy Tuesday! Today's Science Solutions blog entry for today is to review on a tool we have used in Science class, Quizlet, and explain how or how not it has helped us to study.

At the beginning of each unit, we create a set of flash cards on Quizlet that list the vocabulary terms for the chapter. Mrs. Poole checks it at the end of the unit, but we are welcome to use the list any time during it to study. Once we have created our flash cards, there are a few games and practice exercises available for us to do. We can learn how to spell the terms with audio, learn the definitions through games like Space Race, and even take a pre-test on the terms. We personalize our flash cards and set viewing settings to private so that our flash cards are special to us.

I've noticed that a lot of my peers only create the Quizlet flash card set without actually using it to study or practice. I think Quizlet is a pretty effective method, but many students are not putting effort into using it, which is why their test grades drop. I can't name any other, more effective ways to help learn vocabulary terms, so my solution is just to encourage students even more. If Quizlet had a point system or was worth extra credit if extra goals were reached, it could motivate the kids to want to use it as a study method. I believe that if we used Quizlet for more classes, more pupils might be drawn to using it to study for Science, too. 

To summarize my points, Quizlet works for me and others because it itself is effective and a good study method. The fault lies within students who don't put enough effort or time into their work.

Happy Thursday! It is Late Start Day, or LSD, but it is an unusual Thursday. Instead of Core Concentration, we are writing a Science Solutions blog entry post since we had the writing test on Tuesday and chose that day to write our history blog. Anyways, the assignment for today is to write about who or what contributed and helped Charles Darwin in constructing his theory of evolution and natural selection. We have already wrapped up our unit on this material, so we have plenty of knowledge of it.

Lots of research is what formed the basis of Darwin's theory. He traveled around the world finding evidence of evolution and changes in species relating to climate and adaptation. He wrote his findings in his journal to keep them fresh in his mind. Eventually he began working them into a book later in his life. However, Darwin did not formulate this theory alone. He was influenced by and used publications by other scientists and naturalists such as Charles Lyell and Thomas Malthus, especially when researching natural selection and adaptation of species. For example, both of the above published scientific novels about selection and Thomas Malthus termed "selective breeding". Darwin was the one who named "natural selection" and used principles discovered by Malthus to explain that selection occurs in nature, too. It should be known that not all of Charles Darwin's work was based on his instincts and intellect, but most of it was original and ingenious. In a way, it was almost as if Darwin had worked alongside scientists to create the complex theory.

I said previously that Darwin published his book explaining what evolution and natural selection were later in his life. This was due to his wife, who encouraged him to get the word of his findings and thoughts out. He had previously been hesitant to expose his ideas to the world because he did not want speculation of his being a heretic or non-believer out.