Tuesday, October 2, 2012

TEAMWORK.

Things our team did well:

  • We worked together and helped each other out throughout the assignment. We each carried an even workload.
  • Each member of the group knew our strengths and weaknesses as students; for example, if one person was not skilled using Excel, someone else was willing to take on that responsibility according to our own skills.
  • Everyone worked at a decent pace and no one slacked off.
Things our team could improve upon:
  • When measuring the trees, we were completely unorganized and the entire procedure was all over the place. Next time, we need to work better together when collecting this information.
  • None of us knew how to use the ARCGis software, so we put that off for a while because no one wanted to figure it out (even I am guilty of this).
  • We should have been more thorough when dealing with the flaws in our project; I will admit I had no idea what I was doing so a lot of the information was somewhat crazy and we did not want to take the time to redo the entire assignment. However, we are just high school students, not scientists, so I suppose error was bound to occur anyway.
In general, I enjoyed this project more than I disliked it and our group worked well together.

Monday, September 24, 2012

Procedure 10-2 UPDATED


  • During class, the class went outside and measured off a 100 square meter area within the forested area of the campus
  • Teams then picked out six trees that seemed to be a profitable size out of the area measured off
  • Students identified the six trees' species using a guide book
  • The trees were then measured using a clinometer and recorded this information (the top and bottom angles, the difference between the two angles, the circumference, etc)
  • The class then prepared to determine the price of each tree using the information collected
  • Students calculated the prices of each tree and were given the prices of each tree from other classes
  • With the ARCGis software, each team measured the approximate size of Huntington High School's campus in order to estimate a price for the entirety of the timber
  • Using the information gathered from the ARCGis software and the measurements from each class, the students came up with an approximate price for the campus
  • Most measurements within the class were flawed, which was due to the lack of accuracy using the clinometers, the overly generalized area (400 square meters is not enough to determine the price of the entire campus), and the confusion using the ARCGis software.

Monday, August 27, 2012

How I Have Used the Scientific Method in my Life


  1. Problem/Question: Saturday night, my manager left me in my store for two hours after closing; I cannot leave work until my manager comes by and locks the door. He said he'd be back a few minutes after closing. After two hours of waiting, I wondered if he was ever coming back to lock the store.
  2. Observation/Research: It was 10:30 PM. All the lights in the park were off and all of my coworkers had gone home.
  3. Formulate a Hypothesis: My manager forgot about me and I'm going to have to figure out a way to get home without leaving the store unlocked, seeing as I do not have a key.
  4. Experiment: I called the office and there was no answer. I walked outside and everyone had gone home. I was the last person in the park.
  5. Collect and Analyze Results: My manager has definitely forgot about me. I had no idea how to get a hold of anyone to come lock the store, so I was pretty much stuck.
  6. Conclusion: I was going to have to just leave the store. If he wasn't coming back for two hours, chances were he had already left. This has happened before, so I had no doubts. Luckily, a coworker had forgotten something and told me to go home; she assured me that I was the only person left in the park and my manager had gone home.
  7. Communicate the Results: I found my manager in the parking lot smoking a cigarette. I told him he had forgotten me and he didn't quite care. I informed the office the following day to make sure it won't happen again.

Wednesday, August 15, 2012