Maps, maps more maps!

Maps are used to locate a certain place in a particular location. Apart from that, maps are also used for creating a plan to organise a particular city. It creates structure. They are used by a few categories of people. They include: scientists, tourists, sailors, pilots and urban city planners. There are different types of maps which usually fall into two main categories: digital and physical maps. Can you think of an example of a digital map? One of the popular ones will be Google Earth. It is electronic which gives a three dimensional view of the whole Earth and enables us to zoom and focus into a certain state or city or even road. This will be what is called a satellite view. Next up, comes the physical maps. They include: Tourist maps, Information maps and lastly, Topographical maps. They give a bird's eye view of the certain place and is unable to zoom in or identify another location. In total, there are three types of perspectives: Satellite view, Aerial view and Landscape view(from your eye level).Miss J emphasised on topographical maps during our lessons. She went through the elements of this types of maps. A topographical map has grid patterns and grid references, which are numbers at the sides of the map. There is also a colour bar at the top of the map to check if a person is colour blind as the legends that are located at the bottom of the map require a person to identify certain colours to locate his or hers destination. There is a degree at the top of the map to identify the place showed by the map. There are lines on the map called Northings and Eastings. What do you think are they? They Northings are the lines that run vertically down on the map while the Eastings are the horizontal lines that run on the map. We also need scales to measure the actual distance in the real world using the scale on the map. Example, 1 cm in the map could mean 50000 cm in the real world.

Field Trip to Bukit Timah Nature Reserve

On 28 July 2011, we, the Secondary 1 ACE Geography girls together with Ms J and Ms Lie, went on one of the most exciting event of the year: a field trip to Bukit Timah Nature Reserve! It certainly was a totally new experience for most (if not, all) of the Secondary 1 girls. It was both interesting and fun, the best combination for the perfect lesson! Through this field trip we learnt so much easier, with the use of 4 of our senses: seeing, hearing, touching and smelling.

We had to climb a steep slope in order to get to see the plants. We were encouraged to see all of the nature through a geographer's eye. Seeing it through that perspective helped us to learn and understand what we saw more easily. We saw, with our 'geographer's eyes', many different plants that look so much more appealing than those in our textbook. It helped us to come up with new questions that we have never thought of before. We saw lianas and buttress roots. They looked like as if they came out of the textbook, only in 3D!

Scaling was another thing we learnt too. For example, we compared the size of a broad leaf to a 50 cents coin. For things that are thick and big, we use the human body to compare it. For example, the big and thick tree was compared to Nicole and the thick lianas were compared to Matthea and Mildred. For the incredibly thin stems we used a pen.

Going there with a heart to learn is much more important than just going there to get good grades for that project (or for Geography, although that is also important). We share wonderful memories of not just learning more about the environment but also of a time forging not just new but good friends that we can go to for help and support. We will cherish that memory, that’s for sure!

Natural Vegetation 2: Temperate

This blogpost is on the lesson conducted on 27 July.

This is Ms Lie's last lesson with us, and she taught us on the Natural Vegetation Types: Temperate Deciduous Forests and Temperate Coniferous forests. Let's do a recap:

Difference between temperate and tropical:

1. Temperature

• Temperate: Not so hot all year round, experiences the 4 seasons
• Tropical: High temperature all year round

2. Rainfall

• There is more rainfall in the tropical climate than the temperate climate.

Okay. Here we come to the temperate deciduous forest. They can be found in countries that experience all 4 seasons (duh, it's in the temperate climate!). Its characteristics are linked to the weather and climate, just like its name. Deciduous mean to fall off. I'm sure it is referring to its leaves. Its leaves fall off during autumn. Here are some photos of the trees during different seasons:

Autumn

Summer

Winter

Spring

Beautiful, aren't they? Okay, as I was saying,the deciduous trees drop their leaves to prevent transpiration ( to minimize water loss. During winter there isn't much water.) Thus, the trees are NOT evergreen, which means that their leaves fall off.

Next up, we have the coniferous forests. These forests are full of what we call 'Christmas Trees'. If you realize, whenever you put up your Christmas trees, they are full of needle-like leaves. This is to minimize water loss due to transpiration. They have supple (flexible) branches, too, so that any snow that is collected can just slide off without the branches snapping. This is also the reason why the trees are cone shaped. The trees are evergreen too. Some of the beautiful trees:

See you soon, Ms Lie!

Natural Vegetation: Temperate forests

This blogpost is based on the lesson we had on the 27 July 2011.

Miss J went through the temperate forests with us as we have covered the tropical rainforest. There are basically two types of temperate forests: the coniferous forest and the deciduous forest. Now, lets see the differences between the tropical rainforests and the temperate deciduous forests. It is not so hot all-year round in temperate forests. They experiences the four seasons, has lesser rainfall and are located in the Northern hemisphere. They are widely found in Japan, China, Europe, North America and New Zealand. They are on the higher latitudes of 60 to 70 degrees North and South of the equator. Some examples of their leaves will be: the oak leaves, sycamore leaves and the maple leaves. However, the tropical rainforests have more rainfall, does not experience four seasons and are located in countries nearer to the equator, like Singapore. They are 23.5 degrees North and South of the equator.

Deciduous leaves fall on in the seasons of winter and autumn. Do you know why? It is due to their adaptation to the climate where they shed their leaves to prevent water loss due to transpiration. They also have very large, broad leaves(large surface area) to get more sunlight in summer and spring. Moreover, we also learnt a new term called "evergreen". It denotes a plant that retains its green leaves throughout the year. Then, Miss J asked us for the meaning of density. It is about the amount of trees that are growing and how close they are from each other(packed). And when we talk about "diversity", the first thing that will most likely come to your mind will be types or variety. Next, we came to the difference between coniferous forests and tropical rainforests. They reach higher altitudes of 70 to 80 degrees North and South of the equator. It usually contains cone-shaped trees so that the snow will slide easily so it does not cover the trees. They also have needle-like leaves(small surface area)

and supple branches for flexibility so the pressure of the snow will not cause it to break or collapse. Furthemore, they are evergreen. They are only three or four varieties in an area.

Natural Vegetation

This blogpost is on the geography lesson on 21 July.

This lesson on Natural Vegetation was taught by Ms Lim. This was the first time teaching us. However, she was very clear in her teaching and we understood her every word.



The examples of natural vegetation in the world would be:

• The Amazon rainforest

The Amazon Rainforest is located in South America and (according to Wikipedia) encompasses seven million square kilometers (Singapore is 693 sq km!). This rainforest,which is located in South America, is also known as 'The Lungs Of Our Planet'. Why? It is quite obvious. Because the Amazon rainforest has a lot of trees, which create lots of oxygen for our planet. However, in one website, I found that they also consider the rainforests the 'heart' of our planet too. The website, http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/04/rainforests-lungs-and-heart-of-the-planet.php, contains why it is considered the heart. I've never thought of it before. Check it out!

• Chek Jawa

A mangrove in Singapore! This mangrove is not alone. There is also the more well-known 'Sungi Buloh Wetland Reserve'. According to http://www.sbwr.org.sg/,Sungi Buloh Wetland Reserve is located at 301 Neo Tiew CrescentSingapore 718925. I have been there before, but when I went there it started to pour so my class and I couldn't go for a tour there. However when my sister went there it was cool and windy, thus she and her class had a tour there. She said that it was incredible with so many animals to see. What a pity I could not see them for myself!

• Muir Woods

According to http://www.muirwoodsnationalpark.com/, Muir Woods is a scenic national park in USA. It was declared a national monument in 1908. It is home to many birds and other forms of wildlife. It is dense and dark, thus it is hard to spot animals, most of whcih are nocturnal. The pictures shown in the website shows of a serene park with so many kinds of plants that I have never seen before.

We come to the different types of natural vegetation. Let's see some of them...

• Tropical Rainforest

Tropical Rainforests are dense and have many varities of plants, for example, the Buttress Roots. Buttress Roots are very thick and big roots. Why? According to http://www.answers.com/topic/buttress-root, they are found in 'nutrient-poor rainforest soil and do not penetrate to deeper layers. They prevent the tree from falling over (hence the name buttress, which means any prop or support ) while also gathering more nutrients.' 'They can grow up to 15 feet tall and spread for 30 metres above the soil then for another 30 metres below. When the roots spread horizontally, they are able to cover a wider area for collecting nutrients. They stay near the upper soil layer because all the main nutrients are found there.'

• The desert

Guess what climate does this one fall under? Yup, Wikipedia teels us that it falls under the desert climate, also known as the arid climate. This is a climate that does not meet the criteria to be classified as a polar climate, and in which precipitation is too low to sustain any vegetation at all, or at most a very scanty scrub.

Yep, that sums up most of the interesting lesson. God bless and see you soon!

Term three week three

In term three week three, we only had a lesson with Miss J as our health check on Thursday interrupted our lessons. Miss J started with a brief revision on the previous lesson and then went on the four seasons. The four seasons associate with the weather, not the climate. Do you know why? It is because the climate associates with long term changes (over thirty to thirty-five years) but the weather associates with short term changes (daily). After that, she went through a brief explanation about tropical climate. Countries near the equator, like Singapore, always experience warmer temperatures. Do you also know its cause? The equator holds a latitude of zero degrees and it is the part where the Earth juts out most and hence, the distance and the time the sun rays need to take to travel to that particular part of the Earth is shorter. Thus, we can say that the heat there is more intense. Later, Miss J moved on to the factors influencing temperature:


>Altitude


>Latitude


>Cloud Cover


>Distance From The Sea


The last two terms I mentioned are new to me and Joanne. Cloud cover affects the temperature as clouds block solar radiation (heat) from reaching the ground surface. Sadly, Miss J did not explain the other factor affecting temperature: distance from the sea, as it was a bit too far-fetched from our syllabus. Though I did ask a bit more about the topic and she said that it was related to maritime and continental effect. I have done a little research and I found out that are more than four factors affecting temperature. They include: Ocean currents, Winds and Slope Of The Land. However, I will not be explaning all of them today. I will just talk about the distance from the sea. If you guys want to read up on these other factors, you could go to this website: kish-in/factors_affecting_temperature/

Weather and Climate: Intro

Hello everybody!

On 7th July we had our very first Geography lesson in Term 3 (and what a great start!). It was about the weather and climate. So let’s start!
Basically, in Singapore, we have a tropical climate (which is, we experience mostly rainfall). While I was reflecting on the lesson, a question came to my mind- why does Singapore have a tropical climate? Is it because of where we are on this giant Earth? In http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geography_of_Singapore, it says:
‘Owing to its geographical location and maritime exposure, its climate is characterized by uniform temperature and pressure, high humidity and abundant rainfall.’
So it is because of its location on Earth. Singapore is 1 degree north of the Equator. Tropical climate, which is also known as ‘equatorial climate’, is usually found at the Equator. Interesting, huh? That means that Malaysia also has a tropical climate too, right? A big, red tick for that one!
Moving on, the question comes- what is weather? Right-o. It is the atmospheric conditions at a specific place over a short period of time. Climate? Long term trends and generalisations of the weather over a loooooooooooong period of time (which is, 30-35 years. WOW!). Then Ms J left us with a question: are the 4 seasons considered weather or climate? I tried to answer that myself before going onto the internet to check it out. I weighed the options:

• If it is Weather...

A specific location over a short period of time. Yes, the weather does happen at a specific place (eg. Canada) but over a short period of time?Hmm. Winter usually lasts (according to Wikipedia) 200 days in Scandinavia and 61 days in New Zealand and South Africa. Which means that winter lasts, according to the information that I have found out, around 60 to 200 days, which is a very long time to us but compared to 30 years, it is very short.

• If it is Climate...

Long term trends and generalisations of the weather over a long period of time. Okay, you can say that 60 to 200 days is long, but 30-35 years? No way! 200 days is not even a year! So I think that the 4 seasons is the weather.

Do you agree with me? The bad news- I couldn't find the answer even after more than half an hour of research. So, I guess it is up to you to decide!

Next question: Can climate changes fluctuate in the same way weather conditions very daily? Well, according to the dictionary, 'fluctuate' means: to change continually; shift back and forth; vary irregularly. According to http://www.suite101.com/content/the-difference-between-weather-and-climate-a184014, 'The main difference between weather and climate is that weather may fluctuate on a daily or even hourly basis, but climate remains relatively constant over decades, centuries or longer.' So there is the answer to the question, and the answer is no. Simple, eh?

On elements of weather, the next question is asked, 'Why do people need oxygen tanks when they climb mountains?' In other words, why isn't enough oxygen on top of the mountain? Well, the answer lies in http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Why_do_mountain_climbers_need_oxygen_tanks_when_climbing_great_heights. Basically the answer is because there is less oxygen up there because there is less air pressure.

While studying the elements of weather (temperature), we learnt that Singapore is warmer than the north pole because of the shape of the Earth (because the part with Singapore in it 'sticks out'). Then a question popped into my mind- which country is the warmest? Some say it's Singapore, others Arabia, but I'll put my bets on Libya, where the hottest temperature on Earth was ever recorded(57.7 degrees Celsius). The answer? Africa (according to http://www.buzzle.com/articles/hottest-country-in-the-world.html), or more specifically, Ethopia. Why not Libya? Because the temperature there flutuates. Interesting, eh?

What is the best place to put a thermometer? We all know the answer, and the answer is in the 'Stevenson Screen'. However, did you know that we can put many more instruments excluding the thermometer? Here are some of them, according to Wikipedia:

1. A Hygrometer

A hygrometer is an instrument used for measuring the moisture content in the environmental air, or humidity.

2. A Barometer

A barometer is a scientific instrument used in meteorology to measure atmospheric pressure.

3. A Thermo-hygrograph

A Thermo-hygrograph is a chart recorder that measures and records both temperature and humidity.

Whew. It has been a long blog post, hasn't it? Hope it was informative!