Science 10: Journal

Feb. 21st, 2016/Unit 1

Unit one itself, proved to be relatively easy workwise. However what
really was hard to get going was my eportfolio. Learning about the
biosphere and what was within it was actually quite interesting to me. For
example, I learned that I live in a temperate rainforest biome and that here
precipitation is great but the climate is quite mild due to our biome being
located on the coast of Canada. When working in Unit One, I also learned
how to read and create a Climatograph of which depicts the average pattern
of weather conditions over the past several years in a certain area. The
learning guide overall was a breeze, but the eportfolio is where I met some
difficulties. After a long period of time trying to setup my website, I was
then faced with the struggles of editing it. After a hard three weeks
however I got the website up to standards.
March 5th, 2016/Unit 2
In comparison to Unit 1, Unit 2 went quite a bit smoother. Not only
did I now have more skill when working with my eportfolio but the unit
itself was actually shorter. I learned how organisms in their ecosystems
were all interconnected and a part of a food chain. I then moved on to
learning about the various nutrient cycles in our world and how each
nutrient is continuously recycled. One example is nitrogen being put into
soil through fertilizers and then being added back into the environment
when plants grow in the fertilizer. Lastly, I wanted to add that I had the
chance to write a story about a nutrient cycle of which you can look at on
my eportfolio. I thought that this was a change from the usual science
curriculum and had a good time writing it.
March 12th, 2016/Unit 3
When working throughout Unit 3, I learned a lot about what exactly
impacted ecosystems. There were three main factors that affected
ecosystems both negatively and positively. The first was how natural
occurrences effect ecosystems. Organisms live with their own unique traits;
however still belong to a certain species. I also learned about natural
selection, of which is a process where individuals with advantages are
better able to reproduce and pass on their advantageous traits. I learned
that an organism can develop from one original species and develop
adaptations for it if its niche has been changed. There are also two types of

succession, primary and secondary succession. Primary begins with

nothing but bare rock, but wind carries lichens and organisms that can
survive in a barren environment to eventually form soil. Secondary is when
a major disturbance has happened but living organisms and soil has already
been present so that life can start developing right away. Forest fires are a
common form of secondary succession.

March 19th, 2016/Unit 4

Unit four was the start of chemistry unit. Because I was at Argyle for
the first four months before being taken out, I was able to gather some
knowledge about Chemistry as we started with it in Septemeber.. The unit
started off with learning about Bohr and Lewis diagrams. I learned how to
both interpret and construct both. After this, I was introduced to both ionic
and covalent bonds. Covalent bonds share electrons whereas Ionic borrow
them. It was also fairly easy to tell if a compound was ionic or not as a ionic
compound has to start with a metal or ammonium ion. When dealing with
ionic compounds; I also was able to recognize and solve multivalent
compounds.
April 6th, 2016/Unit 5
Working through Unit 5 was probably the fastest I have worked
through a unit. The first part of the unit focused on Acids and Bases; I
learned that a base formed H- and acids formed OH- when dissolved in
solution. I then learned about salts and how various reactions take place to
form salts. Lastly I learned about organic compounds, of which were fairly
easy to comprehend. Carbon is an essential part of all organic compounds
with the exception of a select few. Unit 5 was the shortest Unit and took the
least amount of time to complete; personally I also think its content was the
easiest to learn as well. I really enjoyed the cabbage pH indicator lab, and
thought it was actually quite a little fun procedure. I found that there are
quite a few liquids that are basic that I probably would have thought acidic.
The final exam was a little disappointing, but I will work harder and focus
more during the next Unit so that I am better prepared for the challenges
that await.

April 11th, 2016/Unit 6

Unit 5 began with learning about the various types of chemical reactions.
The first of the five that I learned about was a synthesis reaction where two
chemicals come together to form a compound. The second of the five was a
decomposition; which started with a compound and broke down into smaller
elements/chemicals. The other types included single replacement, double
replacement, neutralization and combustion. Following this, I was able to
grasp the concept of balancing equations. A helpful tip that I learned was
to always put a one in front of the largest looking part of the equation, and
if one did not work out, continue trying with 2,3 and so on. Balancing was
not the only other system I had to learn however, I also learned about the
rates of chemical reactions. For example a high temperature will increase
the rate of a reaction whereas low temperature will decrease it.

April 18th, 2016/Unit 7

Unit 7 to me personally, was definitely the hardest. The nuclear equations I
was faced with were not actually to bad but it was the atomic theory on top
of the radioactive decay that confused me at times! Understanding wave
types was something in unit 7 however where I thought I excelled at. I also
learned the three types of radiation; beta, alpha and gamma. When
learning about these three, I then moved onto nuclear equations using the
different types of radiation and various isotopes. Next in the unit, the
understanding of fission and fusion was important. Fusion was the joining
of two nuclei into a heavier nucleus whereas fission was the splitting of a
nuclei into two smaller particles. CANDU reactors which were developed in
Canada and are used in many countries around the world use fission to
produce large amounts of usable energy.
April 29th, 2016/Unit 8
Unit 8 began with the introduction to Physics. I first learned the difference
between vector and scalar quantities as well as the difference between

displacement and distance. Distance is the total area traveled whereas

displacement is amount of area you have between your starting point and
final position. This then evolved into the concept of positive and negative
displacement of which was a concept that proved to be hard to grasp. I
struggled with this one concept very much and was the only learning
outcome this unit that I was almost unable to comprehend. The next part of
the Unit was being able to understand how to graph both distance and time
on a graph. This however was much easier for me as it did not involve
formulas or negative and positive factors.

May 6th, 2016/Unit 9

In Unit 9, I began physics for the second time in my life, being based more
on a math basis, I struggled to grasp some concepts, but eventually I
grasped the basics. The first concepts were made up of learning about
Uniform Motion, Changes in Velocity and learning about positive and
negative acceleration. I then learned how gravity affects acceleration on
Earth. The second half of Unit 8 consisted of the graphing component of
physics. I learned the difference between a d vs t graph and a v vs t graph.
I then moved onto determining motion on a v vs t graph. Overall Unit 8
became easier at the end because the formulas were provided.

May 16th, 2016/Unit 10

When beginning Unit 10, I was very excited for two reasons; one, because it
was earth science and not physics and two, because it was the last unit in
the course! The unit began with the explanation of Continental Drift and
the thesis behind Alfred Waegeners theory. There was then evidence given
to support Waegeners theory. Plate tectonics was then brought to light, I
learnerd about various boundaries and how they moved, for example a

convergent plate boundary meant that the two plates were coming
together and usually formed mountain ranges. Divergent plate boundaries
were the opposite and moved apart usually creating valleys or rifts.
Transform Boundaries rubbed against eachother and were often the cause
of earthquakes, small and large.
Thank you for reading my findings in Science 10!