Oct. 6 Kavya Rubric

Art Reverse Value Drawing

In art, I just finished a reverse-value drawing assignment. We had to draw items found in our locker, with a reverse value. Here is a picture to show what I mean:

As you can see, there are black and white borders. When an object is drawn on a black background, the details are black. When it's on a white background, the details are white. You also notice that I have one colored object, that draws attention. This was part of our emphasis grade. In this assignment, I was really proud of my water bottle drawing because it looked really realistic. It took a lot of effort to draw it, but it looks really detailed.




Here are some questions I had to answer:

1. What was the most challenging part(s) of this assignment?
Drawing detailed objects and making them realistic seemed difficult, but I think I have experience with that, so I did well. But it is always hard to draw things exactly the way they are. Reversing the value was also really confusing, and I actually messed up at first. Initially, I though a white background means black details, but I had to change that. So it was challenging to wrap your head around the reverse value idea, and coloring that way.

2. Find an Op art of Dualism art piece online that you like. Post it on your blog (cite the source) and comment what you like about it. 

click here for source

I chose this picture because it really shows how op art can show depth. The small square in the center shows that well. I find that really interesting, and it really plays with my eyes.

3. Take a photo of the object you emphasized in your art work and explain why you chose this item to be the focal point of your artwork.

I chose to emphasize a slice of pie, because it is the only object that doesn't fit with the theme. This is why it makes sense for it to be emphasized even more.

PE Tennis Reflection

In PE, we just finished our tennis unit. The movement pattern we were focusing on was the rotation of our bodies when we swing. Here are a few sentence prompts/questions I had to answer. My swing is shown at 2:34 in the video above.

A. Two things I think I am doing well with my forehand swing are... WHY?
I am doing well with my follow through because I bring my racket over my shoulder, and make that and the swing one motion. This is effective because it makes the ball travel faster and smoother. I am also positioning my body well for the ball, because I have a low, athletic stance, and I drop my back foot for the ball.

B. Two things I’d like to work on with my forehand swing are… HOW?

One thing I want to do is consistently keep the ball low, and close to the net. I can do this by keeping my racket face parallel to the net, and pushing the ball straight through instead of bringing it upwards. Another thing I want to do is rotate my entire body, instead of just my arm. I should do this by making sure my hips turn. 

1. Are you in a forward facing ready position? 

Before I hit the ball, I am facing forward, in an athletic stance. 

2. When ball comes, do you move by dropping your racquet foot back?

I do drop my racquet foot back when the ball is coming. 

3. Does your wrist stay firm? 

I think I kept my wrist firm because my racquet didn't wobble. 

4. Do you start stroke low, then swing up and over the ball to impart topspin to the ball? 

For my backhand, I did swing over the ball. But in my forehand I went straight through more than over the ball. 

How do Demographics Affect My Life?

We may not realize it, but the growth and structure of the population of our country makes a big difference in our own lives. After our unit in Social Studies about demographics of a country, I have become aware that the population statistics of the country I live in affect me.

One way population growth has affected me recently is the haze from Indonesia. Because there is a worldwide growing population, more people want produce. Indonesia is burning palm trees so they have land to produce more. This is affecting me directly because it is the air I am breathing, and it is cancelling some after school activities.
The image to the left shows how population affects my lifestyle. Since I live in a zero/slow growth country, I live a life that is more convenient than someone who lives in a rapid growth country. For example, I can take a half hour long shower, while someone in India would use four cups of water in a shower.

Finally, this connects directly to my future as an adult. When I grow up, the country I live in will affect my job, my lifestyle, the number of kids I have, etc. For example, if I lived in a country with a demographic like Singapore's, I would most likely be living a fast-paced city life; and by living in a city, I would probably have one or two kids. Learning about demographics will help me now and in the future, because it affects my life.

Kavya Plate Boundary Excersise

The animation above shows how Iceland was created through two divergent oceanic plates. The plate on the left represents the oceanic North American Plate, while the one on the left represents the oceanic Eurasian Plate. Since the two plates are diverging, they are separating, and the space in the middle leaves magma that is not dense underneath. This is why the magma surfaces, and hardens immediately, which creates rock. This is how the country of Iceland was created in between these plates. The two plates are still moving apart, so Iceland grows approximately 1 centimeter from each side or plate that moves. Iceland will continue to grow this way.

Catalyst 10 9/16/15

Order of the earth's sublayers from the center of the earth outward:
Inner Core, Outer Core, Mesosphere (Mantle), Asthenosphere, Lithosphere

Photo Credits

How Old is the Ocean Floor?

In science, we have learned about the continental drift, and are learning about the age of rocks in the ocean and on land. This post is about the age of the ocean floor.

This map I have labeled shows the Mid-Pacific, Mid-Atlantic, and Mid-Indian ridges. At these ridges, new rocks come up from the earth's mantel, and push aside the old rocks. This is why most new rocks are at the ridges, or in the middle of the ocean, and older rocks are closer to land and near continents.

This map shows the Mid-Atlanic ridge, and its youngest and oldest rocks. The youngest rocks in the Atlantic are about 0.5 million years old, and the oldest are about 172 million years old.

Where are the oldest parts of the oceans?

The oldest the parts of the oceans are closer to the continents and land. There are some exceptions, but in general, the closer you get to continents, the older the ocean gets. This happens because the newer rocks come up to the surface in the middle of the ocean, and push the older rocks aside, and put them near the continents.

Do the Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, and Arctic ocean basins have the same age and patterns?

In general, all ocean basins follow the same age pattern (that the younger rocks are in the middle) but an example of an exception would be in the Pacific. There are no old rocks at the western outline of North or South America, while there is a huge outward bulge of really old rocks coming from eastern Asia. In this case, it would just mean that the tectonic plate is at the border of a continent. But in the Atlantic ocean, the tectonic plate is exactly between Africa and North and South America.

How does the age of the ocean floor compare with the age of rocks on the continents?

Rocks on land are 2.5 billion years old on average, while rocks in the ocean are 80 million years old on average. Erosion is one factor that tells us why the ocean rocks are so much younger than rocks on land. Since more erosion happens in the ocean with the water, it eats the rocks away, leaving newer or younger rocks. Another factor could be plate tectonics and ridges. When the new rocks come to the surface of the ocean, and push the older rocks aside, the older ones could either go under the surface, where they are not visible to us, or they could form new land (or connect to land), which would become the old rocks on continents.

These questions were the same as the questions in your pre-test. Reflect on what answers, if any, you changed after completing these activities. What did you learn from these activities with GeoMapApp? Did you need a lot of help from friends or your parents or teacher? What do you think helps you learn new material in science class? 

I think the GeoMapApp helped me understand the age of the ocean really well, because it was a great visual representation. Before I used GeoMap, I think I had a slight idea about what the answers were, but I wasn't sure, and didn't understand them in detail. I know this because the length of my answers has increased, and I was able to explain my answers in better detail. The one question I was way off on was the third one, because I said that rocks in the ocean were older, but my explanation didn't make sense. So the explaining was really where I grew here. Sometimes, the questions confused me, so I learned some things from my parents and teachers. In science class, I like when we get to have an activity like GeoMapApp on our laptops and be able to go at our own pace. But the big downside of using our computers like this is that if we are doing it at home, we can't ask our teacher about any questions. It's better to do it in science class, so we can ask our teacher to explain something to us, or show us something.