About Earth and Space Science

Is their life in outer space? Do aliens exist? Will an asteroid or a supernova destroy earth? What we can see in space boggles the imagination in both size and distance. Bizarre objects appear daily in astronomers' telescopes.

A couple of schoolgirls in India recently discovered a new comet.
"Campfires" appeared on the surface of the sun in the latest satellite's investigation of the sun.
A wall of stars, hidden from view from all but an observatory in Antarctica, showed up this year on the other side of our Milky Way galaxy.

Space is objects and math. We need to compute gravity, distances, orbits, and size. Stars don't burn. They fuse! Orbits wobble and planets change speeds and distances from the sun continuously. Even light changes speed in space!

Like space, the study of earth, "opened up" in the last fifty years.

We can look inside the earth with new methods.
New data from the interior of the earth shows the iron-nickel, liquid, inner core rapidly rotating, producing a magnetic field that changes drastically in short periods of time.
Sometimes the North Pole becomes the South Pole!
Weather and climate have never been more researched and still, huge, complex questions remain.
Volcanoes and earthquakes puzzle geologists even though we have the most sensitive and accurate measuring devices.
We can "see" into the earth with sensitive locating devices using sound and energy waves. Buried cities have been found! Fossils, too!
Coal deposits a mile thick were just found under the ocean floor.

Much of what we learn happens in small portions daily. It pays to do all the work I assign. You will become familiar with the new terms and research when you do the work. Some of it is difficult. All of it is very interesting!

Expectations

Use Kami to write your assignments and submit to Canvas.
Study everyday. Keep vocabulary lists and use an app like Quizlet to find existing lists for practice.
Quizizzs and Kahoots are for quick assessments of knowledge. They do not represent the difficulty of test questions.
Find a Study Buddy to quiz your knowledge.

Grading Scheme

Nine Week Grades:
1. Homework, assignments, projects, and worksheets are 50% of your final grade. Canvas files these under the "Assignments" category.
2. Quizzes are 15% of your final grade (Quizizz's are not included in this. Only Canvas or Illuminate Quizzes)
3. Tests are 35% of your final grade.
The Final Exam is 15% of your Semester grade.