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Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Waskowitz Outdoor School



It's almost time to go to Outdoor School. Before we begin our journey, I thought it might be nice to go online with a partner to learn more about Waskowitz using the current website the Highline School District provides and other web resources. This will help us begin to identify...


What do we want to learn at Waskowitz Outdoor School?


Answer the 10 questions below to learn as much as you can about camp. You will find all of your answers using the links below.

Q1: Why was Waskowitz built? What was the Civilian Conservation Corp?

Q2: Who was Carl Jensen?

Q3: If you go to Maps page and click on the Waskowitz Trail Map, what trail would you like to hike? Estimate the distance in meters from Main Campus to the Lookout Tower.

Q4: What zoo was Smokey the Bear put in after his home was destroyed by a forest fire started by 1 person? (Hint: Read the story at the bottom of the Outdoor School-Elementary page.)

Q5: When looking at the facilities page, what building was recently remodeled?

Q6: What building has a stage?

Q7: What time will your day start and end?

Q8: What are 3 things you should bring to camp?

Q9: Who was Fritz Waskowitz?

Q10: What is Outdoor Education?

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Review: What happened to the shake test?

We looked briefly at the shake test from yesterday and witnessed that the materials in our stream table models settle differently. The sand settled to the bottom much faster than the clay. You can clearly see this separation in the picture below.

Monday, May 24, 2010

The Mystery of the Play Field Steps

Every school year I notice changes around the school yard. Sometimes I'm able to make connections with what's going on at our school with what we're studying in class. For example, the picture below is a mystery. I'm not sure what happened, but I have a theory as a scientist. I'm thinking that this connects to the Landforms Unit. Are you able to make any connections? Look at the stairs to the Play Field. There have been changes that have occurred over time to the earth that borders the perimeter of the stairs.










Q1: How did so much sediment end up on the sidewalk leading to the stairs?

What happened to the materials in the stream table model?

We revisited the stream table models to determine what happens to the materials during the time we poured 1 liter of water, representing 1 million years of rainfall, over it. We noticed that it moved the material from the water wearing it away, erosion. The video shows this process.


Now consider,

Q1: Where did most of the material end up? Remember this is called deposition.

Q2: What landforms do you see forming?

Let's look even deeper to find out how the sediment moves in the models. The stream tables we built are made out of sand and clay. Today I put the materials through the shake test. I simulated the material getting disturbed by flowing water. As you can see from the picture below, the mixture has a mocha look. What would you expect to happen to the materials?