Category Archives: MYP
The Biggest Wave Ever Surfed
Garret McNamara, a Hawaiian surfer who looks suspiciously like the dad from Modern Family, has broken the world record for the largest wave ever surfed. At an estimated 90 feet (30 metres), the wave is off Nazaré, Portugal. Here it is:
This video clip from the Guardian has his board-cam and a short interview with him.
To find out more about the science of riding big waves, this is a good ten-minute clip from KQED Quest explains how giant waves are formed at Mavericks.
Riding Giants, about the history of big wave surfing and Laird Hamilton, is great too.
Command Terms and Drawing Skills
My class need to review the definitions and the way we approach some of these command terms, so here is the Command Terms presentation as a reminder. November sessioners – your exam is in one week! Maybe these resources will help.
Get practicing with those calculators, too.
Jae Rhim Lee’s Mushroom Burial Suit
It’s Halloween!
In topic 5.1 we learn that energy flows… but nutrients recycle. We are made of organic molecules – nutrients. So why not truly go green?
Watch the TED talk below and think about how many connections across the course we can make so far.
I want one!
For more on how saprotrophs such as fungi can be harnessed to solve pollutant problems, check out Paul Stamet’s talk: 6 ways mushrooms can save the world.
……….o0O0o……….
In other grisly news, a UK taxi-driver has donated his body to science – to become a mummy (in the ancient Egyptian sense).
……….o0O0o……….
Mummy image courtesy of halloweenclipart.com.
Thai Floods – Shelterbox appeal
The recent floods in Thailand have killed many and displaced many more. John Burrell, author of Click4Biology, lives and teaches in Thailand and has posted an appeal for donations to relief charity Shelterbox. If you have taken advantage of his free site over recent years, please pay it forwards – visit the site and make a donation.
Forces & Change in Motion Resources
As the Grade 10 classes end the content of the unit this week, the resources have been updated and uploaded to the class unit page here. When we return from the holidays, we will review the content of the last two units, complete a short unit test and start working on our One World/Communication in Science assignment “Acceleration Kills”. If you think of any good ideas for topics when you’re away on the break, keep a note of them. Otherwise, have a good holiday!
Here’s another Veritasium video to make you think:
Sex, Lies and Cigarettes
I came across this video via Steve Harton’s Hartonline Bio website and clicked on it because of the Indonesia connection. I’m glad I did, though it made me quite angry.
Aldi
Having spent most of the last eight years in Indonesia, I have long been concerned about the ubiquity of the tobacco industry and the all-pervasive nature of the advertising. Everything – literally everything – is sponsored by tobacco. From TV and movies to sports (!), some schools (!!) and music concerts. There is no escaping the message that smoking is cool, good for you and leads to an exciting life.
So how did it get this way when the developed world is shunning the dangers of smoking?
This 40-minute documentary by Vanguard puts it all in context. From the viral video sensation of Aldi the smoking baby, to the simple, ruthless economics of exploiting a developing country and targeting their children as an emerging market, the film-makers lay it out clearly and passionately. It focuses too on the work of an anti-smoking action group who face the huge challenge of taking on big tobacco in a country where so much depends on it – it’s a major cash crop and source of income.
This video is a YouTube upload, but there are clips and resources on the official Vanguard page.
I loved the bit where the Miss Indonesia contestants help the film-maker crash the World Tobacco Asia conference!
Some questions and thoughts to consider when watching the movie:
- Near the end of the movie, there is a quote from Warren Buffett: “I’ll tell you why I like the cigarette business. It costs a penny to make. Sell it for a dollar. It’s addictive. And there’s fantastic brand loyalty.” Although he has changed his stance on tobacco, it neatly illustrates the bottom-line ethos of business.
- As a publicly-owned company, your main responsibility is to the shareholder – you must maximise profits. Discuss the ethics of targeting children in emerging economies as a market.
- Accepted science states that tobacco is addictive and harmful to human health. Why then has this not been recognised by the Indonesian government?
For more good documentaries, have a look at Vanguard's website.
There’s no such word as ‘amount’
Here’s the presentation flipbook for the Grade 9 Intro Chemistry group:
For more resources for this unit, visit the Matter and Measurement page.
Inside Fukushima
The Guardian has a nice interactive gallery this week of some images taken inside the Fukushima clean-up operation. In the months since the Tōhoku earthquake, there have been published a wealth of very useful educational resources regarding nuclear power, radiation, earthquakes and tsunamis. Sadly too the internet has been inundated with rubbish. When we come to our Atomic Energy unit of inquiry in Grade 10, we will look at some of these and try to evaluate their usefulness.
For now, enjoy the pictures. If you want to learn more, the Guardian was pretty good with their coverage and their links are well worth following.
The end of the shuttle
Here’s a neat little clip from Nature Video, with natty soundtrack, highlighting 135 space missions of the NASA shuttle programme. If you have access to BBC iPlayer, you can see a very insightful documentary on the final shuttle flight here. Visit NASA’s shuttle resources to find out more about the shuttle programme, its successes and dramatic episodes, as well as what is next for NASA.
i-Biology 