lesson 4 reflection

This week we did research on the effects of falling canopy materials that will affect the rate of leaf litter decomposing, speeding up the process and it also provides nutrients to the other plants, making it very useful to the natural environment. These nutrients can also be put into other uses like fertilizers for potted and home plants.

effects of decomposing dead leaves

Due to increase in falling canopy materials, will raise the amount of carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus. The forest floor boost the rate of leaf litter decomposition, which escalates plant growth rates as it provides nutrients for the plant. This is a vital part of sustaining a healthy tropical environment. A leaf can completely decompose and its nutrients return to the soil in a matter of a couple of months. Global climate change is driven by gases like carbon dioxide, when too much is emitted into the atmosphere from things like car exhaust and aerosol. Rainforests act as carbon dioxide scrubbers, taking it out of the air. Rainforest plants can’t thrive, if the nutrients aren’t being released back into the soil from decomposition. Therefore, dead leaves decomposition can help the natural environment.

Lesson 3 Clarifications

Questions: Why can dead leaves be so useful

3 things I learned…

Decaying dead leaves make what is called "humus," and this humus is a very important thing to have in the soil as it has mineral salts.
A ton of dry leaves will have the same amount of energy as a ton of wood.
Anything which can be burned can release energy. So burning leaves can release energy to heat water up and cause hte steam to drive turbines which will transform kinetic energy into electrical energy.
But if leaves are used as a seasonal fuel source, would not have an good impact on the generation of electricity. It would release
a lot of carbon and particulate matter into the atmosphere. One of the greatest holding sources of carbon dioxide is decayed vegetative matter. If these sources begin to leech out massive quantities of C02, we will see some serious consequences in climate change very quickly.

Ideas that i agree with: We should always experiment on anything.

-jingren(33)

Reflections for Lesson 2

What i know about the topic:

We are supposed to look up the internet for the uses of dead leaves and show at least 4 useful applications of dead leaves.

What i think we can do:

We can collect those leaves that are present around us and construct some useful things from them. I think we can go to the library or go to the internet to look for relevant stuffs.

What i want to find out about this topic:

Why dead leaves are useful. How are they useful. If the weather affects the dead leaves even when they are dead.

What i can do to start the project:

Start researching and gathering information/dead leaves everyday.

-jingren(33)

Reflection for Lesson 2

Our topic:recycle and use dead leaves

What we already know about the topic:there are many uses of dead leaves

The questions we want to ask:how can the dead leaves be recycled?how can they be used?

The subjects/skills we can make use of:the internet,books,our imagination

Where we can go to find infomation:the net,books from the library

What we want prepare to tell others about our project:that dead leaves are useful

Reflection of lesson 1

Facts: We are doing the topic: Dead leaves. We need to plan time in order to be able to complete the project by the deadline.

Ideas: We should assign each person a role in the group which can do the job perfectly. We should also research separately so that we can join all the research.

Learning issues: I want to find out how i can let other people know the importance of dead leaves and their uses. I also want to make their learning process more interesting and fun by adding maybe riddles.

Action plan: I can do lots of research by surfing the net and looking for facts in the library.

Posted by: Teo Yuhao (35)

Reflection of lesson 3

Questions: I still want to know how else can i use dead leaves.


3 things that i have learnt: 

1. Dead leaves can help the growth of plants
2. Dead leaves can also serve as a home for small insects and help bacteria thrive.
3. Dead leaves is an ingredient of compost.

Ideas that i agree with: The internet can be a good source of research

Posted by: Teo Yuhao (35)

Reflection for lesson 2

Our Topic: Our topic is about recycling and using dead leaves

What we already know about the topic: Dead leaves are very beneficial to plants because it can act as a natural fertiliser; as the dead leaves contain a high amount of nutrients, it can improve the quality of the plant's soil.

Questions we want to ask: How more can it be reused or recycled?/How can it benefit humans or other living creatures?

What are the subjects/skills we can make use of: Try to use our imagination to produce educational things.

Where can we go to find information for our project: We can surf the web and look for helpful sites which teaches us about the uses and benefits of dead leaves.

What do we want to prepare to tell others about our project: We want others to know how useful dead leaves could be and not just discard them.

Posted by: Teo Yuhao (35)

Reflection for Lesson 3

Questions:There are still some questions I have but I m confident that i will be able to solve them by further research.

3 things I learned:Dead leaves,though dead,are still able to produce oxygen.

                                 Dead leaves are a home for many small insects.

                                 Dead leaves,when decthatomposed,provide nutrients to the soil.

Ideas I agree with:surfing the net and reading up books for infomation on dead leaves

                                 co-operating with certain organizations

Reflection for Lesson 1

Facts:I know that we are doing a project on recycling dead leaves.And that we must plan ahead of schedule so that we will have ample time to finalise our work.

Ideas:I think we can assign each group member a particular job to do such as researching on different ideas as to how to recycle dead leaves etc.And then at the end of the day,we can compare everyone's ideas and choose the best out of the stuff available.

Learning issues:I want to find out how to recycle dead leaves,what they can be used for and how to make it interesting so that people are willing to check it out.

Action plan:I can research on the different ways to recycle dead leaves by surfing the net and also by going to the library to check out the many books available that may allow me to gain more knowledge on the recycling of dead leaves.

lesson 3 reflection

CLARIFYING WHAT I HAVE LEARNT:

QUESTIONS:

I have still some questions that need to be clarified like how do i get the different types of dead leaves and where can i find the different varieties.

3 THINGS THAT I HAVE LEARNT:

Dead leaves can be of many uses to us and the environment.

Dead leaves contributed to us, providing oxygen so we must not take them for granted.

Dead leaves provide home to small insects and organisms in the undergrowth.

IDEAS THAT I AGREE WITH:

Co-operating with N parks to set up the proposal of a dead leaves recycling factory.

Useful resources for research like the internet, magazine etc.

Sorting out different types of dead leaves for different recycling purposes.

OUR PROJECT PROPOSAL FORM

 

Class: sec2B Group:  Black Buttons Date: 21 jan 2009

 

OUR PROJECT PROPOSAL FORM
Title of our Project: Research on recycling dead leaves.		Our Project Focus: We want to find out how dead leaves can be recycled to become something useful, beneficial and at the same time contributing to recycling and saving the earth by not wasting resources and by making the most out of dead leaves.
Our reasons for choosing this project: We hope to contribute to society by recycling our natural resources and not consuming so much of them, and recycling dead leaves is one of the many good ways. With the earth’s resources depleting rapidly, we cannot afford to keep on using the natural resources at such a rate, if not, earth’s resources will soon be depleted. By doing dead leaves recycling, we can save the earth and there may be lots of uses for dead leaves. Another reason is that we don’t want people to think dead leaves are just any other dead objects lying around. It was once a living thing that provided us with the fresh oxygen so we must not take it for granted.
This project is linked to:	Topic:   ·  Recycling natural resources.			Subject:   ·  Geography
	·      Saving the earth			·      Sciences
	·      Reusing natural resources			·
Guiding Questions:   1.     How many percentages of dead leaves are put to good use after sweeping, sucking them up? 2.    What are the companies reusing and recycling dead leaves and how many are there? 3.    To what extend have we met the criteria of recycling dead leaves. 4.    How have we let people know that dead leaves are not just any other useless objects? 5.    What is the amount of perseverance and hard work needed for the process of recycling dead leaves? 6.    How to sort out different types of dead leaves based on their properties to recycle into different materials? 7.    What are the factors that might affect the research process or the recycling process?			Suggested Resources:   Ø  Internet. Ø  Magazines. Ø  Special reports. Ø  National parks(N parks) website.

  

2/2

OUR PROJECT PROPOSAL FORM
What we plan to produce
q  Oral Presentation: Who is our audience? What is the purpose of our presentation? Our audience are N parks and NEA: Propose our ideas to them so that they can consider it and probably implement recycling of dead leaves to all parks as Singapore has very little natural resources and therefore we must recycle.
q  Product:  Who is our audience? What is the purpose of our product? Our audience is N parks. Our purpose is to let N parks make some arrangement for dead leaves collection and build a dead leaves recycling factory where dead leaves are recycled.   Tick the appropriate box and elaborate:
§  Written submission                      √ §  Artefact*                                     §  Others (to specify):	§  Visual/Graphic Presentation*   §  Performance*
* - these are to be accompanied by an explanatory brief
Name of Recorder Kenneth Teo, Teo Yu Hao, Tong Cai Sheng, Tan Jing Ren.

 

Submitted by

Name Signature

Kenneth Teo

 

 

 

________________________       __________________________

lesson 2 reflection

OUR TOPIC:research on recycling dead leaves.

WHAT DO WE ALREADY KNOW Dried leaves, for instance, are extremely beneficial for the gardens  Sustenance for your plants may be found in the form of dried leaves. In fact, dried leaves if tilled back into the soil, helps to improve the quality soils which have a high content of clay and sandy.

QUESTIONS WE WANT TO ASK:how else can dead leaves be used, how can it save resources,how can it be reused, recycled, and what are the properties of it.

WHAT ARE THE SKILL WE CAN MAKE USE OF: use our knowledge and creativity to help recycle dead leaves and make it into something fun and useful.

WHERE CAN WE GO TO FIND INFO: we can go  to some useful sites that also find ways to recycle dead leaves or some scientific websites and search for what researches think about recycling dead leaves.

WHAT DO WE WANT TO PREPARE TO TELL OTHERS ABOUT OUR PROJECT:

we want to tell others that dead leaves are not just any other dead or waste material. they can be very useful in a lot of ways that we did not discover. we also can do our part in researching on dead leaves and find their uses.

Reflection for Lesson 1

Facts:
We should go ahead of schedule. It's important to plan before we work. Sharing ideas is very important. We must be responsible to produce work on time

Ideas:
I think that we should separate the jobs evenly. We should do research on our own and share them on a day to compare so that we can get the best of what we found from our research.

Learning Issues:
What dead leaves can be used for. How important are dead leaves. Hopefully to find most ways to use dead leaves and make sure it's interesting and something that most people would not have heard of.

Action Plan:
I can do online research on the internet and go to the library to find for relevant books. And also to do our work together as a group and try our best to give all we can for this project

-jingren(33)

Project Tasks

FACTS: I have learnt how to recycle dead leaves. I think that by recycling them we can help save our environment and not use so much natural resources. There are many ways in which we can recycle dead leaves. Dead leaves can be made into many interesting and useful things.

IDEAS: I think that it can be made into soil by decomposing it. It can also be used to make the roof of huts to keep the interior cool. Another way is using it as clothing(although nobody uses it now, it's so embarrassing...)as it is cool. Finally it can be used to stuff pillows to make the cooling and soft effect.

LEARNING ISSUES: I want to find out what else it can be useful as. I want to know what i can contribute to stop global warming. I also want to know what other properties it has. I want to know how is the process of decomposing.

ACTION PLAN: I can gather dead leaves and try to invent things out of them. I can study their pigments in the dead leaves. I can gather different specimens of dead leaves and examine them. Lastly i can try to preserve them for future reference.

Project Focus

PROJECT FOCUS:

use dead leaves that are present around us and construct some useful things from them and show at least 4 useful applications of dead leaves.

-jingren (33)

Our topic

We are doing "To recycle Dead Leaves".

-jingren (33)

Group Formation

Hi. Welcome to the blog of the Black Buttons. We are doing this project. Our group name is 'Black Buttons'

Our group name doesn't mean anything.

My name is Tan Jing Ren. I am a good member of our group because i take care of my group members and ensure they know what to do.

My name is Teo Yuhao. I am a good member of our group because i will work very hard and try to complete the assignments on time.

My name is Kenneth Teo. I am a good member of our group because i do my part to help on the work we are supposed to do.

My name is Tong Cai Sheng. I am a good member of our group because i contribute to my group and encourage them.

Our motto is: Quality and Quantity.

GROUP ROLES:

Tan Jing Ren = Leader

Kenneth = Questioner

Teo Yuhao = Recorder

Tong Cai Sheng = Encourager

-jingren (33)