Erosion

Erosion, or the process of wearing down the surface of the earth by natural processes such as rain, water, wind, and tectonic movement, continues on daily, weekly, monthly, yearly basis whether we humans like it or not. It has been happening since the beginning of time, and will continue to happen religiously forever. Erosion occurs over millions of years; wind, water, sea, and rain continue to shape and reshape the land endlessly, often creating new or oddly formed land structures. The most breathtaking sites in the world, such as the Grand Canyon in Arizona, Niagara Falls, and Mount Everest, were made with at least some process that has something to do with erosion. The earth's natural processes aren't to be stopped, if nature can help it. Places in China, Estonia, Jordon, and Japan, all have been affected at least to some degree by erosion. Coastal or beach  erosion, meaning erosion around the coastlines of various countries occurs, too, and sometimes we can see the changes it creates happen right before our eyes, even after a few years. Glaciers, huge drifts of ice, play a huge part in erosion as well. In fact, over the next million years, several new continents could even be formed. How will erosion affect the earth in the next 100, 1,000, or 1 million years?

In last week's class we started the topic of erosion. We  read about the topic, and this was followed by vocabulary. Then, we completed the vocabulary word practice, and did our usual listening. Finally, we wrote some sentences and shared those, too. At last, today we designed and presented our projects based on erosion.

After that, we briefly started the next topic, environmental economics. After reading, we just touched on the vocabulary, which will be completed after the winter holiday. As for that, please have a great holiday season, get lots of rest, grab a lot of otoshidama, eat a lot, and get ready for the new year! 

Lightning!

Lightning, or a massive discharge of electricity around storms, is as scary as it is amazing. When heat, air, and water vapor mix in a cloud, it can attract many positively and negatively charged particles together, that, when the build-up becomes too great, must be expelled in the form of an explosion. This explosion causes a huge noise to be emitted as well; this noise is something that we call "thunder." Along with the emission of noise, the bombarding particles also cause sparks to form, and those sparks create enormous outbursts of electricity that gets attracted from cloud to cloud, and also from clouds to the ground in streams. These electrical streams, or strokes, are incredibly energy-filled and bright, hence the term, "lightning."

We can calculate the distance a storm is from us by counting the number of seconds it takes to hear thunder after we see lightning. Lightning and thunder occur at the same time, but light travels faster than sound, so we see the lightning first, we know thunder will soon follow. It generally takes sound to travel at 3 seconds per kilometer, so if we can count to 5 before we hear thunder, we know the storm is 15 kilometers away.

Lightning is cool, yes, but can it be used as an energy source? There are people who think so. In fact, some university laboratories are experimenting with harnessing lightning to be used an as alternative form of energy. Will it work? Maybe. If you find out how to do it, maybe you will be the next Thomas Edison!

The Perils of Nuclear Energy

Many people the world over have an undying fear nuclear energy because it's something you can't see, taste, smell, hear, or feel. Radiation creeps up on you from miles away, but you can't detect it by yourself. You need a special meter called a geiger counter to tell how many deadly radiation your body is getting. Radiation can cause many health and environmental problems if it happens to sneak into the environment and your bodily system through foods, the air, or in the water. Nuclear energy is scary, yes. However, if we can harness nuclear energy safely, we can have endless amounts of energy for centuries to come.

This is an impressive notion, indeed! Nuclear energy has both fascinated and scared me from my earliest days of childhood.In fact my state of Pennsylvania had a nuclear accident occur there at Three Mile Island nuclear power plant in 1979. I won't tell you my age, but I was alive then, and I do remember that incident. Ever since then I've been both awed and terrified by nuclear power. Interestingly, one of my hobbies is writing stories, and in one of my stories, the ending occurs in an active nuclear power plant.

After the Tohoku earthquake (in March of 2011) which decimated the town of Kessenuma and the Fukushima nuclear power plant, we all became more aware of the immense power and undeniable danger, of nuclear energy. We are slowly beginning to learn about the true outcome of that accident, and as such we can say that the area is probably unsafe to live in, and the food there might be unsafe to eat, and we surely don't want to find out! After the Kumamoto earthquakes, too, we all became fearful of the immense power of a devastating earthquake. We all found out that it is not a pretty experience. In Chernobyl in Russia in 1986, a nuclear accident occurred which caused radiation to leak for many years, which had undue health effects and continues to wreak havoc to this very day. It is still quite unsafe to live there, and we wouldn't even want to visit.

In the upcoming class about nuclear energy we will watch a short movie about the dangers of nuclear energy, but not only about the dangers - about the incredible potential of nuclear energy as well. Of course nuclear energy is dangerous, but it also has the capability of producing vast amounts of energy. Isn't that we we need to help humanity evolve? Isn't that better for progress? For advancing to the next level of awareness, of creating the next generation after generation of society?  This is something we all must ask - are the benefits worth the risk? Perhaps only time and advances in nuclear technology will tell.

Think about it!

Welcome back to Science English1

Ecosystems are comprised of everything that lives in a particular area. This could include plants, insects, small animals, larger animals, and even humans. Anything that lives and needs sustenance is part of an ecosystem; small plants create food by photosynthesis, and then insects and small animals feed on these small plants, creating energy for lives to carry on in the future. Larger animals, in turn, feed on plants and smaller animals, and then larger animals still feed on these smaller ones, continuing the cycle. Humans, at the top of the food chain, feed on all of the producers that fall under the human race contained in various trophic levels, powerfully taking in all the vital necessities one needs to live effectively.

We'll start this semester with this particular topic. The design project of this unit is going to be designing an ecosystem under a dome. What this means is to design an ecosystem that can be used for educational purposes - one that could be displayed in a museum, for example. If an extensive search of the Internet is undertaken, many examples of mini-ecosystems that come in kits so people of all ages can learn how all of the members of an ecosystem interact can be found. This is our design objective this term.

I will provide you with pictures and examples so you may all design your ecosystems effectively. Then we will present at the front of the room using the overhead camera, on which you can show your designs, as this room has a very good projection system. Eventually I would like to incorporate this with your own visual material, shown on the computer, as well as power point presentations that can help in explaining your designs and ideas. 

The first class will contain an explanation of the second semester and the new room which we will use. Many of you are probably already familiar with this room. All students have computers, there is a teacher monitor, and there is an overhead projection system. We will also do a writing activity where you tell me what you want to learn more regarding science in English. Let's have a great semester!

Recycling!

This week's topic will be recycling. Recycling is important the world over, basically because we as humans have made too many items that are difficult to dispose of. Human ingenuity is grand, and our inventions are useful indeed, but when it comes to end of some items' lives, there are not many options of what to do with things that have become needless. Sometimes these left-overs get tossed on the street and in natural areas, creating an environment of litter and waste. For decades people have been aware of this, and we have begun taking steps to take care not to fill our world with garbage. However, in many developing countries, disposing of waste is no easy matter. They have not the area, knowledge, or know-how to dispose of things properly, let alone recycle. As a result, garbage builds up and is dangerous for humanity and the environment. This, students, is where you come in. Those with education and who have thought and learned about the dangers can help long into the future.

Alternative Energy Explanation Example

Hello students, thank you for your attention last week. I hope you're doing well with your flip-book presentations. I can't wait to see them! As I said I would, I am posting the alternative energy explanation sample now. Please have a look, and try to aim for something like this, although keep in mind it is just an example and that there are many possibilities for explanations.

My alternative energy source is called______________. It is used by ___________, _______________, and ____________. It has _________ parts: the _______, _______, and the ___________. It makes energy by _________________________. I wanted to create it because __________________________________. It is located in/at/near _______________. It costs \/$____________ to make. Its two most important features are its: 1)__________________, and 2) _______________________.

Invent a New Alternative Energy Source!

Many kinds of alternative energy sources are in the wind these days, like wind power! This is not meant to be a joke, however. There are many different kinds of alternative energy sources that have the potential to be discovered daily, and many are, whether by accident or by design. In fact, now there are sources such as wave power(power generated by wave movement), human foot power (power generated by people walking on sidewalks), and I've even heard of power generated from dancing on the floor in a dance club. One family I saw on the Internet uses an old stationary bicycle to charge batteries. In middle America, small farms use their own recycled cooking oil to run machinery. Other forms of reusable fuel sources such as methane related products and biomass energy sources are also used to run equipment. Composting toilets and other organic compost can be used for fuel as well, after being treated and cleaned.

We perhaps know of other alternative energy sources of late: solar energy, wind energy, biomass energy, and geothermal energy. The list is far from over, and will keep growing, hopefully. However, which of these energy sources will stay and be put to good use, and which ones will prove to be ineffective or difficult to render remains a question that will long be held into the future. One thing is for sure - most of these sources are cleaner than the dirty coal we've lived with for generations. Unfortunately, we may keep using coal into the future, even though it has many shortcomings. Let's hope not, though.

There is one last question for this blog: what kind of energy sources are good and clean enough to spend time and money developing? Hey, the answer might just be with you! If you invent the newest alternative energy source, you will definitely become rich and famous!

Atmospheric Cleaner Design

Today we will begin the next design project of an atmospheric cleaning machine after checking some sentences from part 6 in your textbooks. I will show you some examples before we begin. This is a good opportunity to take advantage of practicing design and explanation! Who knows, maybe you will invent something like this in the future and will become the next Edison or Einstein!

Actually, it is perfect timing because Ama sensei and Emi are coming from University of Montana next Wednesday, and will observe our class. It will be great if we can do poster presentations in groups of 7-8 people, based on the atmosphere unit. All groups will present at the same time, and Ama sensei, Emi, and I will walk from group to group to hear you. Today we will begin to prepare, and you can finish for homework.

I will provide B4 size paper for you to use for your posters. Please try your best to make them in color. I will also provide you with an example of your explanation for use in the class next week.

Thank you for your effort!

The Atmoshphere

Thank you for your participation last week. We started to practice presenting in the previous class. In this week's class we will work on the next topic which we started briefly last week: the atmosphere. Your homework was to read the passage and then to write the meanings of the vocabulary words in both Japanese and English. We all know how important the atmosphere is, right? Without the air we would not be able to breathe, act, eat, or live. It's amazing that although we can't see or touch air, it is still something incredibly important. When small particles contaminate the air, however, the air turns a brown color, which is what we call 'smog' in English. Today we will hopefully be able to finish sentences, move on to listening, and may even get writing answers to questions.

When we reach the end of this unit you will can put your design skills to work again for designing and explaining atmosphere and air cleaning machines, some of which are available on the market today. They are real machines that engineers and scientists have designed for the purpose of cleaning air. Your own cleansing designs will be equally important, so please try your best!

That's all, see you in the next class.

Presenting Ideas 1

This week in Science English class began our first presentations. It was the first presentation day, so I showed you how to have good eye contact, how to relieve stress of presenting and how to show your designs appropriately. You all seemed to get the hang of it and did quite well. We will do more of this in weeks to come, you can rest assured! Now we are writing your thoughts on the air in Kumamoto which will help lead us into Unit 2: The Atmosphere.

During the last week in May, we will have a class observer who works at a University in America. He will come to visit PUK. He will observe our SE class, and I think it is a good idea to present something for him. I am still considering it, but perhaps if we can present these ideas or ideas from Unit 2 to him, it would be a great experience.

The next unit is Unit 2, The Atmosphere. Here, we will learn about the air and atmosphere and will consider the air quality and how to cleanse the air in Kumamoto, Aso, and surrounding regions. That's it for today.

Topic Design Project, No. 1

In last week's class we nearly finished the book portion of unit 1: What is Environmental Science? Your homework was to write answers to questions about environmental science. In this class period, we will start our first Topic Design Project which will be to design an environmental resource center  or learning center. This background of the center should be designed purely for environmental education purposes, not fun or recreation, although learning can often be both fun and recreational. It should contain at least five various sections (as can be seen in the example) and must offer interesting and useful information for visitors. You should draw it from overhead view, and please be as detailed as possible. In addition, you must draw a location map (where it will be). This can be drawn in a small box to the right of your main design.

In the first part of class this week, we will finish checking the questions on the board as a class. Then we will start the designs, which will be first done in your textbooks. Sometimes I require them to be completed on separate sheets of paper and turned in. After that, we will have an opportunity to practice presentations in pairs, and then small groups. I will explain useful techniques for presentations. Don't forget: pronunciation is very important in English presentations. Be sure to pronounce clearly!

This week is the first presentation, so presentation points will be practiced. Later in the month we will create a larger version of your design on A3 paper to present in front of groups within the class. I will explain how to do this as time goes on. Finally, you have an opportunity to present your ideas in slide form to the whole class. Next semester, we will do many presentations in front of class, so now it is a good idea to practice.

Please don't forget to bring all your books and notes to every class! If you forget your book, or neglect to do the homework, book-work, designs, or don't take quizzes and tests, you grades will go down.

The Meaning of Environmental Science

Hello new Science English students! In this week's class you will start the first project, "What is environmental science?" You will begin by reading a passage about environmental science. Then, reflecting on the reading, you will write the meanings in English and then check them in Japanese. After this you can practice writing the words we learned into the sentences; after this, you will be able to practice listening. After the listening section you must think about questions with a partner and write your answers in English. But the unit isn't finished yet! You will continue on to one of the biggest activities we will do in the class: creation of designs and presentations. The first design will contain an environmental resource center will be used for educational purposes. You must write an explanation and design the center, and then later present it in pairs and small groups.

All the activities in each week's class will be checked after finishing. Please bring your textbooks to each and every class. In addition, don't forget pencils, pens, paper, and you may have to bring a USB flash drive if possible. You will present our designs and research to the class, so please try not to be nervous; it will be a good experience for all of you. The presentations will take place several times a month in small groups, and then at the front of class. Presentations will be completed mostly twice per month.

Please come to every class, bring all the materials, try to write and speak your best in English, and try to use mainly English rather than Japanese! In addition, please follow this blog. Speaking of blogs, we will all have a chance to make a blog about an environmental issue and also will complete some homework using blogs, google drive, and e-mail. I will write a new blog entry every week, and it will cover past homework answers/comments, things we will do in the upcoming class, and new and interesting information.

Let's have fun in SE! That's all for now.

Environmental Economics

Welcome back to SE after a well-deserved winter holiday. Contained within the winder vacation are the holidays of Christmas Eve, Christmas Day (in Western countries anyway), New Year's Eve, and New Year's Day (the world over). It is a time to be with family and friends, sitting around the fire, opening presents, eating & drinking, and spending time resting from the long year. It is now 2019, and I have the feeling it will be a very good year; I'm not sure what tells me this but I just have a gut instinct that says: 2019 is it!

When one thinks of the environment, many things come to mind: recycling, water shortages, food waste, atmospheric pollution, to name a few, and the list goes on and on. One doesn't often think of economics when one thinks of the environment, however. But make no mistake about it - the two topics are tightly intertwined. Then environment opens the way for economic activity to take place, such as in paying a fee to get into a wildlife refuge, paying to enjoy a zoo or a bird sanctuary, or our tax money going to upkeep a national park. With the influx of tourists to those places, though, natural things experience wear and tear, break-down, littering, pollution, and other negative effects. One good thing is that economics can be brought in to help combat these problems, too, such as in levying a carbon tax, instituting fines for littering, and administering government sanctions against countries who participate in less-than-positive environmental activities.

We will begin to focus on environmental economics in the next class, where we will read the passage, work on some vocabulary, write some sentences, answer some questions all under the topic of environmental economics. Then we will turn to our design projects as usual. What will our design project be? Can you imagine designing something that combines the environment with economics? Think about it. You will find out soon enough!