Module+2+Week+1


 * Getting to Know Research Tools**

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The goal of this activity is for each student to become comfortable adding information to our class wiki in an orderly way and for each student to create his or her own wikipage with GreenerTeacher as a co-organizer. 1) Add comments to active page on class wiki 2) Create personal wiki - naming convention R followed by last initial first name --- eg**R-slinda** 3) http://www.wikispaces.com/site/tour#introduction 4) Make GreenerTeacher co-organizer 5) Organization a) table of contents and left navigation pane 6) Upload an image 7) Upload a document 8) Upload a link

The goal of this activity is for each student to download the most current version of Google Earth, become familiar with the controls and features and create a map that shows, with a marker their home, the school and measures the distance between the two locations. Students will create a .kmz file and post it on their personal wiki's Students will record the longitude and latitude of these two locations and work on a method for determing the polar circumference of the earth using easily collected data.

1) Download latest version of Google Earth http://pack.google.com/intl/en/integrated_eula.html?hl=en&ciint=ci_earth&ci_earth=on&utm_source=en-cdr-earth4&utm_medium=cdr&utm_campaign=e 2) Open it and make sure you know how to use the navigation tools (upper right) 3) Get to know Google Earth features - http://earth.google.com/tour.html and http://www.google.com/educators/start_earth.html 4) Place a marker on your home and Label it eg. "Suzy's house" 5) Record the longitute and latitude in all available formats (you can do this by adding them to the marker label) 6) Repeat 4 & 5 for your dorm (except change the marker name eg. "Suzy's dorm") 7) Draw a line on the map between your home and NCSSM. Use the measuring tool to measure and record the distance in miles and kilometers. 8) Save the map to your desktop (it will have a .kmz extension). 9) Post the map on your personal wiki page. 10) Add your home to the shared map at

3. Write up


Explain how you did each of these (the numbered tasks outlined under __1. Wikispaces__ above and __2. Google Earth__ above) so that you can do them again.

Describe a method for determining the polar circumference of the earth using : a) 1 6 meter long tape measure, b) a GPS unit c) some outdoor area on campus d) some math, unit conversions etc.

4. Longitude/Latitude Game
This game is a fun way to refresh your knowledge of longitude and latitude. Click on the Image below and it will take you to the game site. Try "Find You Longitude" first. The "GPS:The New Navigation" animation will also be helpful as we will be using GPS units next week. You can play either game with Shockwave or Non-Shockwave video players. If you don't have Shockwave installed on your computer you have a choice -- install it from this NOVA site or play the game with a player that is already on your computer. Just choose one or the other from the two options offered after you select the game.




 * 5. Research Paper**

Identify a research paper on a topic of interest to you that uses grids or mapping techniques to understand a phenomena. Try to find one that does not use longitude and latitude. Instead, look for research on a topic like active sites on the surface of a cell or distributions of species at the edges of ecosystems, or distribution of neuron density in the brain. Once you have located an article that you are interested in, read it (maybe 3 or more times). To help you understand the paper :

1) Create a list of words or terms that you did not understand on first reading the article. Look for a definition or description of each of these terms and collect them on your personal wiki page.

2) After you have read through the article more than one time and have become quite familiar with your list of words and terms, try to draw a flow diagram of what the scientist are describing in the article.

3) Write a summary of the article on your Journal page. Keep it short - maximum 5 paragraphs. Feel free to incorporate diagrams, graphs or images but be sure to describe them in your Journal entry.