Letter to the Editor
Write a 4-5 paragraph (3-5 sentences per paragraph) letter to the editor that discusses the following topic: Is there true freedom of speech and of the press in the United States, and to what extent should there be true freedom of speech and of the press? Use the following example: Should a blogger be allowed to write absolutely everything that they want on their blog, or should there be any limitations on what they are allowed to say?
Use lots of evidence and examples to make your point. Actual people and examples are preferred.
45 minutes.
Financial Advisor Project
You are financial advisors in a major Wall Street investment firm, M.A. Miller. You have taken a summer out of college to be unpaid interns. You are going to be advising clients on what stocks look like they will be performing well in the next year.
Your chief of operations, Mark Miller, has asked you to do research and find out the winning stocks.
- Find at least one (more is better) stock profile that looks like a winner (the price is continuing to increase) and print out a plot that shows it as a winner.
- Draw linear regressions that fit the data pretty well.
- Make an equation in slope intercept form that describes the stock price over time.
- Check to see that the “price to earnings” ratio (P/E) ratio is not too high. If a company has a P/E ratio that is too high, its price might be inflated through speculation, and isn’t really a good buy.
- If you think that the price of a stock is going to increase in the future, do a little research and find out what is happening with the company to make it a good prospect for the future.
- Using the linear regression equation that you generated, predict the price of your stock one year into the future.
- How much money would you make if you bought one share of your company at the current price and sold it one year in the future, if current trends continue?
- Calculate the annual percent rate of change (APR) of your stock.
- Be prepared to present your investment advice in class on Wednesday morning.
The San Marcos Enquirer
Each of you are assigned to make several contributions to the San Marcos Enquirer:
- Letter to the Editor
- Column
- Obituary
- Personal Profile (your own)
- News article
- Feature article
Make sure to check your article with the editor in chief, Mark Miller.
Post your contributions to http://hthncenquirer.wordpress.com
Choose your own tutorial: Assignment for TPOLs
Choose a skill or project that we have discussed this year in Math/Science and explain that skill or concept to the world through a post on your DP. The key word here is action: write a tutorial that guides your DP reader through the process of using your skill or concept.
- Get permission from the instructor about the subject matter of your tutorial.
- Give your tutorial a title such as “Tutorial: How to Invest in the Stock Market” or “Making Predictions Using Regressions: A Tutorial”.
- Your tutorial must include at least 3 image artifacts, (the more the better).
- Your tutorial should have at least 500 words (750 is better).
- The tutorial should lead the reader through actually doing something or making something, for instance, you could teach the reader how to invest in the stock market or to make a prediction about the future using a regression.
- Think of this assignment through the following lens: What have have you learned and how did you you learn about it?
DP assignment: Google Calculator Tutorial
Write a DP post called: “Tutorial: Using Google for scientific calculations”.
In your post, teach how to use Google for the following:
- Addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, etc.
- Powers (e.g., 2 to the third power = 2^3)
- Scientific notation (2 times ten to the 3rd power = 2E3 or 2e3)
- Unit conversions (e.g., degrees Fahrenheit to degrees Celsius, miles to kilometers, etc.)
- Currency conversions (e.g., USD to EUR)
Use screenshots to illustrate your techniques.
Mars Phoenix Lander
(Photos: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona)
You may have heard in the news about the Phoenix lander which just landed near the North Pole of Mars this past Sunday afternoon (Pacific time on Earth). The Phoenix has sent us never-before-seen images of the surface of Mars near its North Pole.
As a warmup problem, we want to find out the following information:
1. For Bow: If the speed of light is ~3E08 m/s, how many minutes will it take radio signals from the Mars Phoenix lander to reach Earth? The lander is currently 171 million miles away from Earth.
2. For Polly: If the Mars Phoenix lander traveled 420 million miles to get to Mars from Earth, and it traveled at 45,000 miles per hour, how many days or months (as appropriate) did it take the lander to travel to Mars?
3. For Bow: What if the Mars Phoenix lander were able to fly straight from the Earth to Mars at 45,000 miles per hour without having to take any “slingshot” orbital paths (i.e. it only travels 171 million miles), how long would it take the lander to travel to Mars?
Post your solution as a comment to this post.
Here is a view of Mars’ North Pole from May 19th, 2008. Click on the image for an article that shows a cool animation!
(Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona/MSSS )
Tornados Hit Southern California Yesterday
Two tornados touched down near Riverside, California, just before 5 PM on Thursday, May 23, 2008.
Twin tornados near Riverside on May 22nd, 2008 (LA Times)
Video of tornado taken on Thursday, May 22nd, 2008
DP guidelines
As you update your digital portfolios, please keep in mind the following guidelines:
- Write at least 5 posts that discuss Math/Science projects from this semester.
- Include images or graphs in your posts (it makes them more exciting)
- Make your entries be either narratives in the first person or write them as educational articles for whoever will be reading your DP. Tell the story of what you learned and how.
- Describe in your posts the skills you have learned or used for the projects.
- Required posts: Oil price forecasts, How it Works posters, Stock Market portfolios
List of Projects:
- Newton
- Africa
- Space Habitat
- Stock Market
- Currency Exchange Rates
- Business Plans
- How it Works Posters (includes many various topics)
- Nate’s T-Shirt Shop
- Quadratics
- Bernoulli’s Principle
- Inventions (End of Year Project – includes many various topics)
- Oil Price Forecasts
Skills we have learned (not exhaustive):
- Analysis of data
- Regressions
- Predictions
- Calculations
- Symbolic representation (algebra)
- Writing
- Reading
- Making Plots and Graphs
- Researching
- Web Publishing
- Graphic Design
- Interpreting Statistics
- Units (proper use)
- Spreadsheets
- Illustrator (posters)
- Digital Presentations
