Mr. Damon's quatrième classes

The assignments will be listed in reverse chronological order so that the most recent work will be on top of the list. 

Latest assignments:

• Keep bringing you lab coats.  We will need them for just about every lesson in both groups, even when we just have a one hour class. 

Exam revision:

The test you will have during the Compositions Groupées week will be on Module 1.  Here is a revision list:  

• the different "spheres" - atmosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere, biosphere
• the experiments from the Meudon trip:  soil porosity, Tullgren funnels, pH of soil, particle size using the seive towers, solubility of minerals and ions.
• plants:  anatomy of a plant, the transportation of water in a plant, leaf pores, capillary tubing, wettable surfaces, evaporation
• photosynthesis:  seedlings germinating in the dark/light, unbalanced chemical equation for photosynthesis, glucose, carbon dioxide
• food chains:  autotrophs, heterotrophs, decomposers
• carbon and oil:  peat, coal, oil, natural gas formation from dead organic material, determining how much energy can be obtained, renewable and non-renewable resources, plastics and other petroleum products, the carbon cycle, global warming

The exam will focus not only on your factual knowledge but also on your ability to observe and think like a scientist.  You will be given a situation and you have to deduce a scientific answer based on the skills you have acquired. 

Have a look at my guide for preparing for and taking the compositions groupées.

Updated 20 January 2008:

• The 4eSA11 group may be doing an experiment on Tuesday 22 January so bring your lab coats.  Otherwise, continue to bring your science folders with the B2i booklet and your USB key every time you have science. 
• For Tuesday, the 4eSA9 group is asked to do some research about where petroleum (oil) comes from and what things in our everyday lives need petroleum products.  About 1 page of text is expected and some images would be nice. 
  • For this assignment, it is OK to simply copy and paste but the information must be at a level which is not too babyish and not too complex. 
  • Save your work on your USB key in a format which the computers at school can open (.doc or .txt or .rtf) 
  • If you are using Word 2007 or Works, be sure to Save As and change the format to a previous version of Word such as Word 2003.  If you are afraid that your USB key will not work, you may print out the research you have done. 

Updated 15 January 2008:

• For the 4eSA9 group, we will be doing an experiment on Thursday 17 January so please bring your lab coat.  The experiment will be in the lab MO1 instead of our regular lab.  For this experiment, please have a look at the Bunsen Burner page and the peanut burning experiment which shows the technique we will use with fossil fuels. 
• Both groups are asked to do some research about where petroleum (oil) comes from and what things in our everyday lives need petroleum products.  About 1 page of text is expected and some images would be nice. 
  • For this assignment, it is OK to simply copy and paste but the information must be at a level which is not too babyish and not too complex. 
  • Save your work on your USB key in a format which the computers at school can open (.doc or .txt or .rtf) 
  • If you are using Word 2007, be sure to Save As and change the format to a previous version of Word such as Word 2003.  If you are afraid that your USB key will not work, you may print out the research you have done. 
• For the 4eSA11 group, we will be doing an experiment on Thursday 10 January so please bring your lab coat.  The experiment will be in the lab MO1 instead of our regular lab. 

Updated 9 December 2007:

• Task 4: By Tuesday 11 December (or before if you can), prepare the text and / or tables and graphs for what you promised to contribute to the web page.  The best thing to do is to send the work by email because everything must be in electronic format.  Text must be done by word processor and graphs must be done by Excel.  If you have a drawing, you must scan it.  When you send it, send it to me and I will forward it to the student in charge of making the pages.  If you have any questions, contact me by email. 
• If you would like to help out on Saturday, December 15th for the inauguration of the new building, please contact me by email.  We need students to show the experiments and posters we have done.  Rumor has it that some famous people will be visiting including politicians, a Nobel prize winner and an astronaut. 

Updated 1 December 2007:

• Reminder:  send me an email if you are interested in helping out on the 15th of December. I only need about 2 students per half-hour session (13:30 to 14:00 or 14:00 to 14:30.)  If I have too many volunteers, I'll have to narrow down the list.
• All students and parents are invited to come to the inauguration any time between 11 and 16:00 on December 15th. 
• Task 3:  (see calendar) 
  • Print out and have a look at these organisms found in soil.  Can you recognize any of them from the organisms we saw from the Tullgrens funnel experiment?  Use the key given in class to try to identify at least 3 of them.  (SA9 - I need to give you this key on Monday or Tuesday - remind me in class)
  • In class this week we will be discussing our web page.  Please send me any photos you have taken of the experiments we did with the soil.  We will also need tables and graphs showing the results of the experiments.  Do you remember what your job was for the web page?  Start doing it....
  • for SA9, here is the photo of the capillary tubing: 

(click for a larger image)
From left to right:  thick glass rod, Pasteur pipette, thin rod, micro pipette

•  Bring lab coats on Monday - we are going to look at our seedlings.

Updated 25 November 2007:

• We will continue working on laboratory experiments and examining the results we get.  Bring your science folders with the results of the latest experiments.
• We will also be working on the web site for the 15th of December soon.  We will discuss this in class the last week of November and the first week of December. 

Updated 13 October 2007:

• Task1:  Complete a finished version of a bar graph for the particle size investigation.  Use a ruler, pencil, etc.  Be sure to include a title, units and which layer you measured.  (For the date when you will pass this in, see the calendar below.) 
• Task 2:  Poster work.  For the poster, you should bring in printouts of your interesting facts and your images.  These cannot be only on your USB key, they must be printed out.  Remember, try to use your own photos, drawings - if you need a picture which is copyright free, check out NASA Image Search or my photo gallery.  For the text, you should print it out in large letters.  (See the calendar for the dates of each group.) 
• Bring the sheets you have been sent by email.  (Check your email accounts once in a while to see if I have sent you anything.)
   
• Week A group (SA9): should bring their lab coats all week. 
• Week B group (SA11): Should bring their lab coats on the week of 22 October. 

Updated 7 October 2007:

• Week B group (SA11): should bring their lab coats on Tuesday 9 October for more experiments.
• Both my 4ème classes should have printed out the emailed documents about the soil experiments.  Put them in your science folder and bring them to our lessons. 
• Both classes should continue research, drawings, photos, etc. for their posters.  You should know which themes you are working on and which jobs you have for the big open house presentation on December 15th. 

Updated 30 September 2007:

• Week A group (SA9) should meet at the front courtyard (between the reception desk and the front door) at 13:15 to take the bus for the trip to the forest on Monday  Oct 1st.
• Both classes should continue research, drawings, photos, etc. for their posters. 

Updated 27 September 2007:

• Continue working at home on the text and the images for your poster. 
  • Remember that the text should not be long paragraphs but rather should be short key facts. 
  • Do not copy/paste from your sources - please write in your own words. 
  • You may use some images from other sources but we want as much original art work as possible.
  • Think about a scale for presenting your poster clearly and in an attractive way.
• Once the class has decided on a layout theme fror the poster, decide which part you are going to work on and get going!
• Keep a list of your sources for info and
• Week B group (SA11) should bring a lab coat on Friday 28th.  Also bring materials for working on posters if we have time or if the lab materials are not available. 
• Week A group (SA9) should bring their poster stuff on Friday Sept. 28th and don't forget the trip to the forest on Monday  Oct 1st. 

• Continue research (see topics below)  Put all the info you find on your USB drive and print out 3 pages of interesting information or diagrams.
• Start thinking about a poster and which part your team would be most interested in working on:  hydrosphere (oceans), atmosphere, lithosphere, biosphere.
• Have the paper about the Trip to Meudon signed by a parent and bring it back with 7 euros.
• Double-check the assignments below to make sure you have done everything else.

Reasearch to begin working on in September:

• Try to find out more about the following:
  • Earth's atmosphere:  composition, temperatures how high does it go, layers
  • Project Excelsior and Joe Kittinger 
  • Earth's oceans:  depth, pressure, temperature, light
• Please copy any information you find onto your USB thumbdrive and bring it to class. 
• If you do not already have one, you should get some kind of science notebook to keep all your research and notes.  Click here for an example of a Science Folder

To Do for the week beginning Monday 10 September 2007

• Send me an email with your name, class and science group so that I can gather everyone's address.  You can find my email address and further instructions on my How to Contact Mr. Damon page.  Note that the address a little different from what I wrote on the board.
• Buy a pack of blank Flash Cards and bring the cards in to class to show me.  (Click on the words to see more information.about their size)
• Bring a USB thumb drive to class.  Be sure your name is on the outside somewhere.  If ever I collect them, I need to know whose is whose!  Also, if you lose it, we know who to return it to.  If you are buying a new one, I do not recommend the U3 Smart drives in class.  For the moment, they are not compatible with Mac or Vista.  Also, 1 or 2 Gb is enough - do not spend more than 25€ for this.

• Eventually you will need a lab coat but as long as the new building is still under construction, we will not be doing many experiments which require one. 

© A.W. Damon 2008