Lesson 2 People and the Environment – We learned that all human activity draws on natural resources and has both short and long-term consequences. We gathered evidence to explain how activities and technologies can mitigate the negative impacts on Earth.

Lesson 1 Human Population Growth – We learned that biodiversity describes a variety of species found in Earth’s terrestrial and oceanic ecosystems. The completeness or integrity of an ecosystem’s biodiversity is often used as a measure of its health.

Lesson 3 Design Solutions to Slow Landscape Changes – We learned about design solutions to help slow changes to landscapes caused by natural disasters. One solution is straw wattles which are cylinders made of straw wrapped in a degradable material. They are used to prevent water from eroding the soil on a slope. They are used when there isn’t any vegetation to minimize erosion. They add roughness to slow the water flow and help prevent mudslides.

Lesson 1 Human Population Growth – We discovered how different organisms and populations of organisms are dependent on their environmental interactions both with other living things and with nonliving factors.

Lesson 3 Design Solutions to Slow Landscape Changes – We learned that we can use natural and human-designed materials to slow weathering, erosion, and flooding. People can help prevent and cleanup the effects of volcanoes, landslides, and earthquakes.

Lesson 1 Human Population Growth – We learned that when you evaluate solutions it is important to take into account a range of constraints including cost, safety, reliability and aesthetics. We investigated how to test different solutions.

Lesson 1 Human Population Growth – We investigated the effect of human activities on the land, vegetation, streams, oceans, air, and even outer space. We discovered that as human populations and per capita consumption of natural resources increase, so do the negative impacts on earth unless the activities and technologies involved are engineered otherwise.

Lesson 2 Quick Changes to Earth’s landscape – We learned that flooding can be considered both a slow and rapid change to Earth’s surface depending on the amount of snowmelt or precipitation. Flash floods may result from heavy rainfall and can sweep away crops, rocks, soil, and plants. We learned that volcanic eruptions can happen quickly. The sudden eruption of a volcano can be violent, resulting in gas, molten rock, ash, and bits of rock spewing into the air. A volcano can also produce the slow release of lava resulting in landforms. We learned that geophysicists study changes to Earth’s surface.

8-4 Writing Rules for Linear Functions – We learned to construct a linear function to model a relationship using an equation in the form y = mx + b. We practiced writing functions from two values and from a graph. We also interpreted linear functions from representations in tables.
Assignment: Complete assigned problems for homework.

Quiz on Lesson 4 Electromagnetism.