Mesozoic Era

Geologic Time Scale By: Hayden Hogen-Esch

The Mesozoic era is an era in the geologic timescale, in which the dinosaurs were the main species of animal that ruled the land. This time is also when the first mammals appeared on Earth. During the Mesozoic, Pangaea was still formed, but it later split apart, into two different super continents, called: Gondwana and Laurasia. The climate in the Mesozoic era was much dryer compared the Paleozoic era, having much less marshland, and much more deserts. 

Backward-Looking
When it comes to making interactive posters I need to improve a lot more, because when it came to making a poster, all I really made was flaps that you could put up to see information. What I really want to do is find the perfect balance between putting in information, and user interactivity. So that when people look at the poster, they are not only interested, by the interactive parts, they also learn about the subject at hand.


Inward-Looking
One thing I found frustrating about the project was the fact that not all of the teammates did all of their work. Before one of the members could put any information on the board they left on a vacation, leaving one member to do a lot of the work. One member also couldn't finish their work in time so, the same member that picked up for the last persons slack, also finished their part of the project, which was frustrating for me to watch, and not be able to help as much.

Outward-Looking
If I were to give my part of the project a grade, I would give it a B, because I feel like it got out all of the information that it needed to get out, and also had some interactivity. But I feel like the project doesn't go beyond, it only does what it needs to do, and I would have put more information and I would make the user interact with the project more, and also in a better way.

Forward-Looking
One thing I would like to improve is my creativity, when making the project, I didn't have any real ideas on what to put on the poster, I knew I had to have some interactivity, so I put information on flaps and left it at that. I would like to make it more interesting for people to not only look at, but also to play with. I need to find more ways to ignite my imagination. 

 

Geologic Time Scale

Geologic Time Clock By: Woudlooper

The geologic time scale is a scale that represents the entire history of the earth, The geologic time scale is separated into different eons, which have eras in them, which have periods in them. Each period is separated by a geological event, such as a minor extinction event. Each era is separated based on a major geological change, such as a major extinction event. The geologic time scale is separated into four main eras, the Precambrian, the Paleozoic, the Mesozoic, and the Cenozoic.

SP1: Asking questions and defining problems
The questions I asked in class were quite varied, I asked questions such as what killed the dinosaurs, and how did we know that? I defined problems with many different hypotheses proposed by different scientists. I used the problems that I found in each hypothesis to determine, which theory is the most accurate as to what actually happened. This allowed my to reach the most accurate data, I could think of.

XCC: Cause and Effect 
During the different eras there were many things that led to other things, like the meteor that caused a major extinction event at the end of the Mesozoic era, caused lots of dust particles, and other things to fly into the air, blocking out the sun. This caused the temperature on Earth to drop significantly, and cold blooded animals like the dinosaurs died out. That is when mammals took over, being able to scavenge for food, and their warm blood, and fur coats helped them out to. So, because the meteor hit the Earth, mammals were able to become a much more prominent type of animal. 
  

Rock Cycle

Rock Cycle By: Woudloper/Woodwalker

The rock cycle is the process in, which rocks change into different forms of rock, through processes like weathering and erosion. There are three types of rock, Sedimentary, Metamorphic, and Igneous. An important part of the rock cycle is any form of rock can change into any other form of rock. When a rock goes through weathering and erosion, then compression and compacting it turns into Sedimentary rock. When a rock goes through a lot of heat and pressure it turn into a Metamorphic rock. When a rock melts, and then it cools, it turns into an, Igneous rock.

SP2: Developing and using models
The model we used in class was a version of the rock cycle, where a student represents a rock in the rock cycle and we roll a dice to see where we are going next. Another model we used was gizmo that helped use describe the processes a rock goes through during the rock cycle, it also helped us see that there are various smaller cycles in the rock cycle.

XCC: Patterns
A pattern we observed in class, was the pattern that we use to find out the relative age in rocks, as in the age of a rock compared to the ones around it. The pattern that we saw was that, when rocks appear on multiple layers, those layers must be next to each other. If a rock is on one layer, but not the next then that rocks lifespan is over (We use fossils found in the rocks lifespans). Using these patterns we can find out the relative age of a rock.