Week 6: Geologic Time

 

  1. What did you do in lab today? This week in lab we spent the beginning of class reviewing for our first exam on Thursday. After that, we started talking about our new unit, geology. We spent time on an online website, looking at different timelines surrounding the earth. I felt this activity was a good introduction to our new unit, and allowed me to understand a little more about major events that have happened on earth. ​
  2. What was the big question? The big question we were discussing in lab this week was "What are the significant events in the history of Earth?" ​
  3. What did you learn in Thursday’s discussion? No discussion this week- exam. ​
  4. Read the online textbook chapter:                                                                                  What did you learn?​ Something that I learned from reading the textbook this week was the term "Snowball Earth". I learned that "Snowball Earth" has occurred at least 3 times in Earth's history. I had no prior knowledge to the fact that the Earth has been fully engulfed by ice, so this was surprising information to me. Furthermore, I learned more about the "positive feedback loop", which is the chain of events that was responsible for Snowball Earth. I learned that as ice accumulated the earth, it increasingly reflected more sunlight and cooled Earth even further.                                                                                                   What was most helpful?​ The key takeway's section was the most helpful part of the textbook for me this week. I learn well from having explicit and direct information given to me, so the timeline of Earth's history being presented in that way was extremely helpful for me.                                                                                                                                      What do you need more information on?​ I would like to learn more about the origins of life on Earth. The table presented in the textbook was helpful, however this is something that I think I would like to spend more time talking about in class.  
  5. What questions, concerns, and/or comments do you have? One comment I have is how surprising it is that I have never heard of the term "Snowball Earth" before reading this. I think it goes to show how many key concepts students do not learn in science in their elementary school classes. 

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