Focus+Questions

I assign an open-ended question about once a week. They require students to think like a scientist and work at expressing their thoughts in written form. In addition, they are a great exercise in answering this type of question for the CMT. These questions are dated and can be used to make-up work if you were absent or you can view the current week's question if you have lost the handout given to you in class. Go to Grading for a description of how these questions are graded.

Students at Ashford School have been taught a technique called TAB that helps students provide complete answers to open-ended questions. (An open-ended question is a question that requires you to write a few sentences to explain your answer. Focus questions are all classic open-ended questions.)
 * What is TAB?**

TAB stands for: T urn the question around, A nswer the question, and B ack up your answer with a reason. This means you must restate the question being asked. Then you must clearly state the answer to it. Lastly, you must provide a reason why you feel that your answer is correct.

Students have been hearing about TAB for a long time and in many classes at school. It should be very familiar and well practiced. TAB must always be applied to Focus Question in order to receive full credit.

TRY THIS NEW AND IMPROVED FEATURE Click on the link below to download a TAB organizer that can be used to help you with your answer.
 * RETURN TO HOME PAGE**



Students have been hearing about TAB for a long time and in many classes at school. It should be very familiar and well practiced. TAB must always be applied to Focus Question in order to receive full credit.

__**Focus Question for the week of February 28to March 4**__ Do an advanced Google search on the statements below and identify the one that is least likely to be plagiarized. Explain why you made this choice.
 * 1) Older mothballs consisted of naphthalene, but due to naphthalene's flammability, modern mothballs use 1,4-dichlorobenzene.
 * 2) Old Mothballs consisted of a flammable substance called naphthalene, but modern mothballs use 1.4-dichlorobenzene.
 * 3) New mothballs are made with a material called 1.4-dichlorobenzene. They are safer than the older ones, which are made of naphthalene. Naphthalene is known to be very flammable.
 * 4) Older mothballs consisted of naphthalene. But due to its flammability, modern mothballs are made of 1,4-dichlorobenzene.

There is not hint for this question because it does not need one. However, your score will still be based on four points.

Students will be required to use a TAB organizer on this focus question that will be collected in class. **Do not attempt to hand in an email response.**

__**Focus Question for the week of February 14 to Feb 18**__ Explain how the spaces between soil particles will affect the way water percolates through it.

Students will be required to use a TAB organizer on this focus question that will be collected in class. **Do not attempt to hand in an email response.**

Click here for a hint.

__**Focus Question for the week of February 7 to Feb 11**__ One of the two bones in the forearm is called the radius. Where do you think its name came from?

Students will be required to use a TAB organizer on this focus question that will be collected in class. **Do not attempt to hand in an email response.**

Click here for a hint.

__**Focus Questions for the week of January 31 to February 4**__


 * Here is your chance to improve your FQ average before the quarter ends. There are two questions listed for this week. You must answer at least one FQ before the due date, but answer both of them for extra credit that will improve your overall FQ average. **

1. Explain the difference between percolation and absorption.

2. What role does absorption play in causing a mudslide?

Students will be required to use a TAB organizer on this focus question that will be collected in class. **Do not attempt to hand in an email response.**

Click here for a hint.

__**Focus Question for the week of January 17 to Jan 21**__ What is wrong with the following Essential Question? Explain why.


 * **Which flavor ice cream is the best flavor?**

Students will be required to use a TAB organizer on this focus question that will be collected in class. **Do not attempt to hand in an email response.**

Click here for a hint.

__**Focus Question for the week of January 10 to Jan 14**__ Explain how the intestine and the heart work together to supply cells with the nutrients necessary for cell respiration. Describe these organs' roles and how they relate to each other.

Students will be required to use a TAB organizer on this focus question that will be collected in class. **Do not attempt to hand in an email response.**

Click here for a hint.

__**Focus Question for the week of January 3 to Jan 7**__


 * Empirical data** is data that can be observed and measured on a scale. It is based on fact that can be compared and proven correct or incorrect. It is not based on opinion or conjecture. Which of the following observations **does not provide** Empirical data?
 * The height of the plants grew 32 cm during a period of 72 hours following the dose of fertilizer.
 * After we added the fertilizer, the plants turned from a pale yellow color to a dark green color.//(see photographic samples)//
 * The plants looked happier and grew better after we gave them fertilizer.

Explain why you chose answer. Students will be required to use a TAB organizer on this focus question that will be collected in class. **Do not attempt to hand in an email response.**

Click here for a hint.

__**Focus Question for the week of December 6 to Dec 10**__


 * Here is the description of Patty O'Furnature's lab experiment again:** Patty has taken three groups of plants. She has put one set of plants in a window that receives over eight hours of direct sun each day. She has placed a second group of plants in a window that receives light, but faces in a direction that does not allow any any direct sun to reach them. She has placed a third set of plants in a closet that is completely void of any light. Patty then measures their growth for three weeks and records the height of each plant every day.

After Patty ran her experiment for several weeks, she noticed that the plants in the closet looked a bit pale and were not growing very fast. She felt sorry for them and decided to give them some extra fertilizer in hopes that this would help them keep up with the other plants in the experiment.

Why is it wrong for Patty to do this?

Click here for a hint.

__**Focus Question for the week of November 29 to Dec 3**__


 * Here is a description of Patty O'Furnature's latest lab experiment:** Patty has taken three groups of plants. She has put one set of plants in a window that receives over eight hours of direct sun each day. She has placed a second group of plants in a window that receives light, but faces in a direction that does not allow any any direct sun to reach them. She has placed a third set of plants in a closet that is completely void of any light. Patty then measures their growth for three weeks and records the height of each plant every day.

What is Patty's essential question? Give reasons why you chose your essential question.

Click here for a hint.

__**Focus Question for the week of November 15 to Nov 19**__

Why do warm blooded animals require such large and complex lungs in comparison to cold blooded animals?

Click here for a hint.

__**Focus Question for the week of November 1 to Nov 5**__

When doctors perform organ transplants, they look for a compatible donor. When we discussed compatible donors in class, we said that family members, especially identical twins make the best donors.

Why is this true?

Click here for a hint.


 * __Focus Question for the week of October 25 to Oct 29__**

Our class discussed the way coldblooded animals slow down their cell respiration when their body temperature lowers. When our goldfish got their coldest, they became very sluggish and unresponsive. They even appeared to stop breathing.

How could this slowing down of cell respiration help a coldblooded animal survive the winter?

Click here for a hint.

__**Focus Question for the week of Oct. 18 to Oct 21**__

Some cells like human cells have lots of vacuoles while others like bacteria do not. How does this affect cell size? Why?

Click here for a hint

__**Focus Question for the week of Oct. 4th to Oct. 8**__

Last week, we learned that cells depend on the process of diffusion to get oxygen and nutrients inside of them and remove carbon dioxide and waste outside of them. Our lab showed that a cell that is too large cannot survive because the process of diffusion will not allow for this movement of materials to happen quickly enough to reach the center.

Keeping this in mind, why can't the science fiction movie __The Blob__ happen in reality?

Click here for a hint.

Can you remember a day when you showed up at school and nothing seemed out of the ordinary when you walked into the building? You just walked right up to your classroom and the day began. But sometime around 10:00 you began to smell something cooking. The scent of tomato sauce and cooking pasta began to fill your classroom. Before you know it, your stomach was growling and you can't wait to go to lunch for a meal of spaghetti with meatballs.
 * __Focus Question for the week of Sept. 27th to Oct. 1__**

Despite the kitchen being at another end of the school, explain why you were able to detect the cooking lunch in your room.

Click here for a hint.


 * __Focus Question for the week of Sept 20th to Sept. 24__**

This is copy of the spaghetti graph made in class last week. It shows several Atlantic storm tracks. Look at them and make a generalization that is true about most of these tracks.

Click here for a hint.


 * __Focus Question for the week of Sept. 13th to Sept. 17.__**

What does it mean when the barometric pressure begins to fall? What does it mean when the barometric pressure begins to rise?

Click here for a hint.


 * __Focus Question for the week of Sept. 7th to Sept. 10.__**

When a hurricane moves north in the ocean, it tends to weaken and dissipate. Why does this happen? When a hurricane moves south in the ocean, it tends to strengthen. Why does this happen?

CLICK HERE for a hint.