Thursday, February 26, 2009

Homework for Monday

Answer the following questions on your handout:
Which paragraph explains why many people are drawn to psychics, cold readers, or mentalists?
Which paragraph explains the purpose of this book?
Which paragraph explains the organization of this book?
What is the purpose of the longest paragraph on page 9?
What is the main idea of the final paragraph of the prologue?

Do not do the other side of the handout concerning vocabulary.

Turn in your science fiction short story report.

Saturday, February 21, 2009

Vocabulary

In a notebook or folder, make a list of these vocabulary items.

From the first week

  1. analysis (see my example from the previous vocabulary posting)
  2. anatomy
  3. atom
  4. cell
  5. dynamics
  6. embryo
  7. galaxy
  8. hydro-
  9. immune
  10. laser
  11. mathematics
  12. mineral
  13. molecule
  14. nuclear
  15. organic
  16. petro-
  17. plasma
  18. quantum physics
  19. soil
  20. solar
  21. static
  22. taxonomy
  23. toxic
  24. volcano
From the second week

  1. subsequently
  2. established
  3. genre
  4. novella
  5. inhuman
  6. chilling
  7. warn
  8. decades
From the third week

  1. prediction
  2. skeleton
  3. conflict
  4. paranoid
  5. introspection/introspective
From the fourth week onwards

  1. disturbed/disturbing (as in "I was disturbed by this story")
  2. prologue
  3. skim (as in reading)
  4. skepticism/skeptic/skeptical
  5. psychic
  6. neutral
  7. clue
  8. scan (as in reading)
  9. pursue
  10. "hope springs eternal"
  11. increase
  12. decrease
  13. to level off
  14. pseudo-
  15. probability
  16. paranormal
  17. (printing) press
  18. detect
  19. prove
  20. disprove
  21. invisible
  22. immortality
  23. concentration camp
  24. meditation/meditate
  25. retrospective
  26. altered state of consciousness
  27. hypnosis/hypnotize
  28. duplicate
  29. consciousness
  30. hallucination
  31. near-death experience
  32. compelling
  33. dismissed
  34. tunnel
  35. italics
  36. to go out of one's way to (do something)
  37. verify
  38. witch
  39. evolution
  40. holocaust
  41. racism

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Homework for Monday

Bring Why People Believe Weird Things by Michael Shermer to class.
We will start reading this book in class.

Monday, February 16, 2009

Homework for Wednesday

Read pages 15-16.
Answer all questions on the handout concerning those pages.
Be prepared for a vocabulary quiz. I will quiz you on 5-10 words from the list of 37.

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Homework for Monday

Read pages 5-13 of "Blood Music" in The Best of the Best Science-Fiction.
Answer the questions concerning pages 5-13 on the handout.
We will discuss the answers on Monday.

Circle or highlight all the science-fiction movies you have seen on the other handout.
I will collect this handout.

Monday, February 9, 2009

Homework for Wednesday

Do the worksheet on biochemistry.
Study for the quiz on biochemistry.

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Homework for Monday

Start a vocabulary journal in a notebook for this class.
After each vocabulary item, do the following...
1. Write the closest translation in your first language
2. Write a personal sentence using the vocabulary in English

You should start with the 24 important science vocabulary (analysis-volcano) and continue to the 8 words we studied in the last class (subsequently-decades).

Here are a couple of examples with Russian as a first language.

  • Subsequently - Впоследствии, I trained English teachers in Russia and subsequently became an English teacher at the University of Wisconsin at La Crosse.
  • Analysis - Анализ, As a teacher I have to do a lot of classroom analysis.

Bring the notebook to class as evidence. I will not collect it on Monday. I will only collect the notebook twice, before spring break and before the last day of class. This vocabulary journal is for you to study from as we will have vocabulary quizzes about 4 times a month.


Monday, February 2, 2009

Science Vocabulary

Chemistry - v) composition, structure, and properties of matter
Physics - i) matter and its motion
Astronomy - y) celestial objects, such as stars and planets
Earth Science - r) the planet Earth
Environmental Science - g) interactions between parts of the environment
Biology - u) life
Biochemistry - j) chemical processes in living organisms
Mechanics - b) behavior of physical bodies when meeting forces
Thermodynamics - t) the transformation of energy into different forms
Electronics - f) the flow of charge through nonmetal conductors
Climatology - x) climate; weather conditions over a period of time
Geography - z) Earth and its land, inhabitants, and phenomena
Geology - k) solid and liquid matter that constitute the Earth
Meteorology - w) weather processes and forecasting
Oceanography - o) the ocean
Paleontology - q) prehistoric life, such as dinosaurs
Topography - e) Earth's surface features
Botany - p) plant life and development
Dermatology - s) skin
Ecology - d) distribution and abundance of life and its interactions
Evolution - c) process of change from one generation to the next
Genetics - h) heredity and variation in living organisms
Marine biology - l) living organisms in the ocean
Microbiology - m) microorganisms, such as fungi and bacteria
Neuroscience - n) the nervous system, such as the brain
Zoology - a) animals

Homework for Wednesday

  1. Finish categorizing the themes of science-fiction on the handout.
  2. Bring The Best of the Best book.