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online lessons = a shorter lesson schedule

During this pandemic almost all children have to sit behind their computer or IPad to follow their lessons. The lesson schedule for children differs a lot but for our year it is normal to have lessons from 8.25 hour until 16.05 hour, this is an extremely long time because you only sit still. In this essay you are going to read why I think the lesson schedule should be way shorter when children are doing online school.

Firstly, the online lessons engage children to be a lot more inside, whilst many parents want their children to go outside because it is better for them to be active outside then to sit behind a screen. It is very bad for your health to stay inside for a very long time and even worse if you sit all day long. When children finished their school day you would think they have free time, to go outside for a bit or play sports or something like that, but this is not the case in fact they get a lot of homework.

Secondly, many people say that cutting the lessons short will give the children a setback for their next years leading up to the Central Exam they have to do. I think this is false, when the lessons will be 40 minutes long instead of 50 minutes it will already make a huge difference for the time the children will be free. 10 minutes per lesson won’t really make a big difference for the teacher’s time. Also teachers will profit from this because they will also be free sooner, and then they can do their work they have to do or check sooner and then also finish sooner to have time to relax.

So I think cutting the lessons shorter will be better for the health of children and teachers, and because they then have more free time they can even go outside.

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Big History blog

How did Earth and the Solar system form?

The Earth formed about 4.5 billion years ago. Supernova exploded to form new elements but the Universe still mostly existed of hydrogen, helium and empty space. A supernova is a large explosion that takes place at the end of a star’s lifecycle. By the shockwave of the supernova, all the elements that we know today are being shot into space, and so a large cloud of gas remains. When the cloud collapsed it started to spin and became flatter, this is also known as a proplyd. At the centre of this proplyd fusion began (it became hotter and hotter) and the sun was formed.

Supernovas triggered the collapse of the cloud and they created chemical elements that were perfect for the formation of the Earth and the Solar system. Planets formed from leftovers around newborn stars, they contained a much greater chemical complexity then anything else in the Universe. So new elements made new possibilities, creating conditions around the stars that were just right for making planets. On rocky planets (like Earth) much greater things could happen. In the picture below you can see a supernova making a very big explosion.

https://www.google.nl/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.scientias.nl%2Fastronomen-ontdekken-de-helderste-supernova-ooit%2F&psig=AOvVaw3yVFrW6CKPylEoTVxUM8ge&ust=1612360183896000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CA0QjhxqFwoTCIDVj_ery-4CFQAAAAAdAAAAABAR

Two ingredients that were needed to form the Earth and the Solar system are newly forming stars and clouds forming rich matter. Then there were also three perfect conditions needed they are gravity, accretion and random collisions. Accretion is atoms clumbing together to form bigger masses and then at the end planets are made. New forms of complexity emerge out of new chemical elements because atoms bond to form molecules and accretion.

The moon formed when an object the size of Mars collided with the Earth and pieces orbited around the Earth and the small object picked up al other pieces so it became bigger.

Our solar system currently has 8 planets and a number of other celestial bodies. Our planets have been divided into three groups, namely the silicate planets (Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars), the gas giants (Jupiter and Saturn) and the ice giants (Uranus and Neptune). Planets rotate in orbits around the Sun. Most planets are made of hydrogen and helium because there was a lot of in space. The heavier elements (for example iron) are only formed in really big stars and they eventually end in a supernova explosion. The gas giants are further away from stars because intense radiation blasts the planets away, this is because they are so light. Regions closer to a star contain a high concentration of heavier elements because the heavier stuff doesn’t get pushed away.

https://www.google.nl/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FSolar_System&psig=AOvVaw0eRyCziueze9gFcUveChp2&ust=1612359940529000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CA0QjhxqFwoTCNCAyICry-4CFQAAAAAdAAAAABAU

There are different kinds of celestial bodies: dwarf planets (= they are smaller then planets but they also orbit the sun, for example Pluto), planetoids (= pieces of matter also orbiting around the Sun, they are also known as asteroids),comets (= small celestial bodies that often rotate very large elliptical orbits around a star and the outer regions of the solar system) and meteorites (= a piece of waste from space).

The relation between threshold 3 and threshold 4

In threshold 3 they talk about new elements and increasing chemical complexity, stars and supernovas. Because of stars and supernova making heavy elements the Earth was made.

The relation between threshold 4 and threshold 5

Threshold 4 is about how the Earth and the atmosphere are created. Threshold 5 is about biodiversity and life on Earth. Now that there is an atmosphere animals and plants could live on Earth.

Sources:

https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/big-history-project/solar-system-and-earth/earth-and-form-solar-system/a/how-our-solar-system-formed

https://cdn.kastatic.org/KA-share/BigHistory/thresholdCard_04.pdf

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Blog test

This is my dog Indy. She is 6 months old. She loves to play and eat.