19th July 2012
Today I had great fun continuing to do Murder Under The Microscope. Here is what I thought was really interesting:
What are the greenhouse gases?
- Water vapour is the most common greenhouse gas. But others are very important too. Some occur naturally and some come from human activity.
- Carbon Dioxide or CO2 is the most significant greenhouse gas released by human activities, mostly through the burning of fossil fuels. It is the main contributor to climate change.
- Methane is produced when vegetation is burned, digested or rotted with no oxygen present. Garbage dumps, rice paddies, grazing cows and other livestock releases lots of methane.
- Nitrous oxide can be found naturally in the environment but human activities are increasing the amounts. Nitrous oxide is released when chemical fertilizers and manure are used in agriculture.
- Halocarbons are a family of chemicals that include CFCs (which also damages the ozone layer), and other human-made chemicals that contain chlorine and fluorine.
Today we actually found out the true definition of climate change which helped us understand our topic better. We also continued on our poster about climate changes, which we think is coming out really good. We still need to do more labeling on our poster to make it more descriptive. I went on the computer to research climate changes in Egypt, but unfortunately i couldn't find much information. Can't wait till Murder Under The Microscope starts, 4 days to go.
20th July 2012
Unfortunately my group and I were unable to complete our poster on climate changes. This was the last day that my group and I worked on climate changes due to the M.u.M (Murder Under The Microscope) competition starting on the 23rd of July 2012. We managed to achieve 1 goal and that was to understand what climate change actually meant.I cannot wait till Murder Under The Microscope starts, 3 days to go.
Today was the day when everyone was excited because today was the day for Murder Under The Microscope to start. My group researched climate change in Egypt, we found some very interesting facts. We then logged onto Murder Under The Microscope and went onto a website to watch documentaries on different types of ecosystems, there were 9 different ecosystems but we only watched 5 or 6 documentaries. Then we were all given a new topic to research about and the topics were the 9 different types of ecosystems. My group was assigned Rivers and Riparian Fringe, my group were really happy that we got a topic that we did not know much about. Soon it was home time so we had to pack up. I am really happy to get the topic Rivers and Riparian Fringe.
24th July 2012
Today I had lots of fun continuing to do Murder Under The Microscope. One of the message had a picture of a place and the Longitude (121.913971E) and Latitude (31.789062S) of it. So I went on Google and typed in Longitude and Latitude finder. I found a great website, when I typed in the Longitude and Latitude, it told me it was the Longitude and Latitude of Lake Cowan. Lake Cowan is located near Norseman in Western Australia. My group thought that our wall needs to be rearranged because of less space and by the look of it. So we took every single thing of the wall and thought how can we arrange it so it looks better. Soon it was only 5 minutes left till we had to pack up so we put all the papers on a shelf, unfortunately we have to wait till tomorrow.
25th July 2012
Today my teacher Mrs. Anderson told us we are going to write an information report on a catchment to send it to the Murder Under The Microscope Headquarters. There were 9 different subheadings that each group got, we luckily got the subheading Climate. We then decided to write about the Cowan Catchment located near the Hawkesbury River. Everyone in my group were on different computer. The information i gathered was:
It is mild hot in summer in the region of the Hawkesbury-Nepean catchment, the maximum temperature in January reaching 30°C at Richmond. Further south at Moss Vale, the maximum temperature reaches 26°C. Meanwhile, at Katoomba summer highs at average of 23°C. Hawkesbury-Nepean Catchment experiences approximately 3 days above 35°C each year, but more hot days are expected in Richmond and fewer hot days in Katoomba.
In winter it is mild cool with average maximum temperature in July of 17°C in Richmond and 9°C at Katoomba. Temperature rarely falls below 0°C at sea-level, but frosts are common at higher altitudes. Hawkesbury-Nepean Catchment receives approximately 800-1400mm of rainfall each year.
Other students in my group found other information which we thought was really good, we were really happy with the above information I gathered. Then we put some facts up on our wall and restyled it. Today was a very short day for me.
Unfortunately, today Mrs. Anderson our awesome teacher was away so we were split to years K-2. I was split with my friends Dylan and Marlo. We were allowed to use the computers so we used the computers to research. Jan, Jessica and Sonali were split next door to us, they wanted to use one of the computers as well. As I went on to Murder Under The Microscope, Jan and I looked at the messages and found a clue about acid rock. We researched acid rock and found:
When rock surfaces are exposed to air and rain, a reaction can occur with the elements in the rock which results in a change in the characteristics of the water that drains off. If the rock contains sulphides, a natural oxidation process can acidify the water. This is known as acid drainage (also acid rock drainage (ARD) or acid mine drainage (AMD)). As the water becomes more acidic, its capacity to leach out other elements from the rock, such as metal, increases. The resulting drainage can become very acidic and contain a number of harmful constituents. In some cases, elements from the rock can leach out into contact water without acidification and result in water contamination – this is known as metal leaching (ML). In either case, polluted water drains away from the exposed rock and can have significant impacts on surrounding water bodies (rivers, lakes, coastal areas, groundwater) and the wildlife or people who come in contact with these sources.
We weren't sure if this would help us with our investigation. We also checked out the 10 possible crime sites, Jan and I thought it could be the Hawkesbury River, Lake Cowan or Kiewa River but we were not sure. Today I had a very bad day because I did not get much research completed.
27th July 2012
Today Mrs. Anderson was away again, so we were split again but to different classes and with different people. This time I was split to 3/4S with Marlo and Shantel. First when we got their Ms. Fitzgerald asked us to cut out some letters, we were having fun cutting those letters out. When we were finished we asked Ms. Fitzgerald if we can use the computers. She gave us a laptop because the computers were broken. The laptop had no internet connection so we couldn't do much on it. Then Marlo and I started playing chess titans to warm up for the after school chess competition, just 15 minutes before the sports bell. Soon the sport bell went.
30th July 2012
Today Mrs.Anderson gave each group a Crime Site to investigate, my group chose Embley River, Weipa, QLD. Before we went to the library to research Mrs. Anderson asked students what they were going to research about their Crime Site. Some of the things discussed were:
- Accidents
- Endangered Species of Plants & Animals
- Man Made & Natural Disasters
- Climate Change
- Tea Plantation
- DDT
- Acid Rock Drainage & Mining
- Plum Rain Season
- Chinese Industries
31st July 2012
Today I focused on the Tantalising Case of the Tree Top Towers. I also found out that Danno was definitely in China. One of the messages gave us four possible Villains for this mini mystery, they were:
- Blue Mountains Panther
- Electronics Disturbance
- Land Clearing
- Pesticide
1st August 2012
Today we did not have much time at all to investigate, we had to organize something that was really important as well. Today was the day when the accusations for the mini mystery would open, but we did not have enough time or information to interpret. But the good thing we looked at was this email:
Hello Investigators, Yes those are our towers. They are part of an experiment we call EucFACE. That stands for Eucalyptus woodland Free-Air CO2 Enrichment facility and it’s the only one of its kind in the world. But let me answer your concerns about the missing species.
1. We have not cleared the land. All equipment has been raised off the ground so that the ecosystem remains intact.
2. We do not use any chemicals or pesticides on the site.
3. We have not seen any evidence of a Big Cat in the area.
4. All electronic equipment is above ground and does not emit any sounds that could harm any part of the ecosystem.
Perhaps the answer lies elsewhere. Best of luck with your Investigation.
I thought this might help us with our mini mystery. Another message said that The Cumberland Plain Land Snails eat fungi. The other BIG clue we got was a message from Perry who is the owner of the strawberry farm, he messaged:
Oh AJ, Perry here, I’ve just remembered. I actually did use some pesticide last week. Although I’m a totally organic farmer, there was this nasty little fungus that popped up - probably a result of that dead tree I told you about. Anyway you cannot have any fungi around when you’re growing strawberries. It just ruins the entire crop. So I sprayed the blighter. I mean it was just fungus, nothing really important!
So I am going to be concentrating on Pesticide. Today we got some very IMPORTANT clues!
First the anemometer, or wind gauge, checks the direction and the speed, and it's all the way at the top of this tower. Based on that information the carbon dioxide from the tank stand is pumped through just 25 of these holes and gently dispersed into the circle. By the time the gas gets to the other side, it’s all been taken in by the leaves or the soil.
And now for the man box. What is the man box? Well, while the tower can provide alot of information, it can't measure the carbon in the trees towards the edge of the enrichment zone. But a scientist in a crane can go anywhere. These guys leave nothing to chance. Let's go Steve. So it is a sort of spy mission after all. Oh, don't worry about me. It's quiet in the office; I'll just hang here for a while.
The CO2 in the air is measured by this probe - Just one of the 300 experiments going on within this carbon enriched circle. 300. Wow! They are measuring the carbon in the stem, in the leaf, and in the soil. They are measuring the water content, the nutrients and the elements in every part of the trees. And they are measuring every climatic input you could think of.
Already the trees are showing accelerated growth from the extra CO2. But interestingly, that may not last, as the trees may not have the resources to sustain that growth. Isn't that fascinating? It's research, that's what scientists do!
This information is so interesting that I want to keep researching about it. Another interesting factor of M.u.M today was that they posted the 15 possible Victims. We have already linked 2 possible victims to the 2 possible crime sites. Northern Quoll is found in the Nogoa River, Emerald, QLD. Green Turtle is found in Embley River, Weipa, QLD. Another thing we realized is the music of the opener relates to Chinese music. There are lots of the letter M's on the openers tree. That was all we got through today.
3rd August 2012
Today Mrs. Anderson told us we will not have much time to do Murder Under The Microscope. We were about to do Murder Under The Microscope at the end of the day when the internet said "give me some rest", meaning it stopped working. So we didn't get through M.u.M today, this means we will need to catch up on what we missed on Monday.
7th August 2012
Today we only looked at the videos due to Olympathon which was going to last for the rest of the day.
8th August 2012
Today Mrs. Anderson put up my website to show the class. Here is her feedback:
Could be graded B but there are mistakes which would bring it down to a C grade. Great information but more needed, but good overall.
Then we went straight on Murder Under The Microscope and also looked at Danno's blog. In Danno's blog there were french words that we could not understand, so we translated them and found it meant WATER. Mrs. Anderson said we have to link the clues with the crime sites, so we did. We had crossed out Pentecost River but today's clues all lead to Pentecost River. So now Cooktown, Weipa and Kununurra are the most likely crime sites but more likely Kununurra. Today I worked with Lovleen, Shantel and Sidney. We went to the library to research. All of us gathered some great information that could help with this investigation. Most likely Victim is the Northern Quoll and the most likely Villain is the Cane Toad. Some of the information we gathered was:
- Almost all male Northern Quolls die no long after mating.
- Pink Diamonds are definitely found in Kununurra.
- Buffalo turf supplies in Kununurra.
- Pandanus Trees are found in Kununurra.
- The Argyle Diamond Mine is located in the east Kimberly region in the remote area of Western Australia.
Today was Glendenning Public School's Open Day, the day when parents where allowed to come in classes and have lunch with there children . Today we straight away started to do Murder Under The Microscope. Today we found out that Floater is Agent X and he is not trust worthy. Danno also interviewed Candy Downs owner LPK. Secondly we read Danno's Blog which helped us by telling us there is a bird called Northern Rosella found in the Crime Site.
10th August 2012
Today we did not get through much of Murder Under The Microscope due to spelling test, sport and Spelling Bee. We only got to look at it in our own time. I found out that Danno has been arrested due to trespass.Today's video from Danno showed he was in a different accommodation this time. I thought I knew where he was and that was Kununurra. I think I am right but could be wrong, don't know. In Danno's blog it told us a street (Coolibah Drive) which is located in Kununurra. The Wredge - tailed eagle is found in the Crime Site. We did not get through much today.
Today we went straight onto Murder Under The Microscope. We found a great clue, a map of the crime site sketched. After watching all the videos and looking at the messages, we headed of to the library to research. Leandro my friend found out that the map matches Pentecost River, Kununurra, WA. This totally told us that the crime site is Kununurra. We now really had to work on the Victim and the Villain. At first we thought the Victim is the Northern Quoll and the Villain is the Cane Toad, but one of my pears told us there are no Cane toads in WA. Which meant that the Cane Toad can not be the Villain. We are mostly going with Northern Quoll as the Victim. My group did not find much information today but I am looking forward to research tomorrow and find more information......................
14 August 2012
Today my group and I had a successful day as we found out some great information and were able to eliminate more Victims, the Bridled Nail - Tail Wallaby and the Green Tree Frog. While researching in the library, Sidney and I found out that Cane Toads have crossed the WA border, which means it is a high chance that Cane Toad will be the Villain, we still need to wait for more clues. In the library we eliminated 2 Victims and in the afternoon session we added the Black Python and the Bilby on the most likely Victims List. While in Mrs. Lumley's classroom researching we had a lot of fun and discovered some great information. My whole group and Brayden left school as the Happiest Students...........
- Pastoralist Programs
- Dusk Dip
- Elderly Aboriginal Mick is collectible
- El Questro’s History
- Main Road
- Information on the Bilby
- Salmoned River
- Calicut Gorge
- Wildlife Trade
- Pastoralist Programs
Today as normal we checked out the videos and the messages. The most important piece of information today was a message from Nina to Danno:
Another thing about the Calicut Gorge Refugee Facility. It’s at great example of the extraordinary vision of LPK. Refugees come to this country with a wide variety of skills and professions. And that’s just what we need. So none of this behind bars stuff. They’ll live on Candy Downs and they’ll come to town every weekday to work on local projects, to learn English and to practice and teach their skills - and they’ll get paid for this. Are you getting this down? It is sheer genius. Honestly if that woman is not Prime Minister within ten years I’ll…anyway...the only fly in the ointment is Canberra. If you’re speaking to anyone down there, I’m sure these refugees would be only too willing to be trained up as operatives. I mean they’ve practically run whole wars by mobile phone - a small bit of electronic eavesdropping shouldn’t be beyond their skill set. Anyway just mention it to your friends. I’m sure they’ll see the possibilities.
After checking the messages and the videos, as a class we researched the list of illegal fauna trade in Western Australia. Unfortunately we were unable to find the list so Mrs.Anderson asked us if we could research this topic at home. Today we were also given the water sample analysis of Calicut Gorge.
17th August 2012
Today we were able to get through a lot in Murder Under The Microscope. The clue for the Victim we got today was that it has a strong body smell. Shanuka my dear friend told the class that the Northern Quolls have a very strong body smell, this gave the Northern Quoll another point for it to be the Victim. Some other clues that we have to research are:
- Gibb River Road.
- CTA.
- Land Clearing for Asylum Seekers.
- If the Bilby or the Northern Quolls are aggressive.
- If the Red Headed Mouse Spider is Native or Introduced specie to Australia.
- Cane Toad
- Red Fox
- Climate Change
- Red Headed Mouse Spider
20th August 2012
As normally we watched the videos and checked the messages. Today we checked out another factor of Murder Under the Microscope, The Scientist's Area, a factor of M.u.M where you can ask Scientific Questions. The question that I really liked was:
Team Name: SA
Subject: Baits
Question:
Is, or
has the WA Department of Environment and Conservation or any other
organisations conducting or conducted toad aversion baits anywhere near
Kununurra? Could such baits kill the Northern Quoll?
Answer: To the best
of our knowledge cane toad aversion trials have not been conducted near
Kununurra at this stage, although there are possible plans to do so in future.
Baits designed for use with the Northern Quoll would not kill it. This would
defeat the purpose of the baiting. Baits designed for other fauna would be
unlikely to be selected by the quoll.
Today I also worked on Agent X's quiz to see his clue. His clue was an image, a picture of a CODE:
I remembered Danno's Code after seeing this image. Using the number and letters given at the side of this picture, I tried solving Danno's Code and it came up with 12U1450001-16. I had no idea what this meant. I am not sure if i even did it the right way but I did try some other ways as well. At this moment we have 3 Villains in the running (Cane Toad, Rising Temperatures and Red Fox), 2 Victims in the running (Northern Quoll and Bilby) and we know the Crime Site (Pentecost River, Kununurra, WA). 3 days to Accusation Day!
Today we did not get many clues from the videos but we did get some clues about Totem 1 from the messages. One of the messages said:
For Old Story
While Mick Mjiergur claims Totem 1 is just the reworking of a story he has been painting since his youth, this painting is quite simply the best new work to come out of the region in the last 20 years.
Today the Question I found really interesting was:
Team Name: Week Warriors
Subject: Quoll Survival in GG Fire
Question:
We know that the Northern Quoll requires a denning/shelter habitat, which allows it to breed, as well as providing protection from fires and other predators. If the Northern Quoll has managed to set up such a habitat, what is the likelihood of it surviving a very intense fire fuelled by gamba grass, by hiding in such places as a rock crevice?
Answer:
The extreme nature of Gamba Grass fires, due to the fuel load available, would make survival for any species quite difficult. Dennings would need to be a fair distance from these fires to ensure the safety of their inhabitants.
While researching I found out that when toads first invaded Kakadu, quolls went rapidly extinct because the first toads they encountered were these giant toads at the invasion front and they're lethal to most predators. So the quolls that attacked those toads died and so they had no opportunity to learn. At this point we as a class have dropped down to 2 Villains (Rising Temperatures and Cane Toads) but we think we know the Crime Site (Pentecost River), Northern Quoll as the Victim. 2 days to go till Accusation Day!
One of the videos showed their was charcoal on Danno's face which only meant FIRE. It was also said that the Villain was found everywhere in the Crime Site, an elephant wouldn't miss it.We crossed out Rising Temperatures after Danno telling us that the Villain is everywhere. So we were left with CANE TOAD. Still some people including myself were confused about the Villain. Them people were confused with CANE TOAD and RISING TEMPERATURES. While in the library researching Sidney and I found this website which we really found interesting:
(http://www.dec.wa.gov.au/pdf/plants_animals/threatened_species/frps/nth_quoll_rp-adopted_261110.pdf).
Just some of the trees I should have seen but didn't. Danno
23rd August 2012
Today was the day that everyone had waited for, the Accusation Day! We had a final vote to decide what the Villain was going to be, we decided Cane Toad. Mrs. Anderson left Shantel, Sonali, Casey and myself incharge of putting in the accusation due to the Aurthur Visiting Performance. All four of us were nervous. Everyone was crowding the laptop including Mrs. Anderson. Right after we put in our accusation everyone started celebrating. I then had to go help 6H put in their Accusation. There Crime Site was Katherine River, Northern Quoll as the Victim and Gamba Grass as the Villain. At 1340AEST, some people watched the last clue which told us that our Villain was definitely wrong and the Victim was definitely right. We weren't sure about the Crime Site. The correct answer would be revealed on the website on 24 August at 1100AEST. Everyone was really sad due to our Accusation being incorrect. We have to wait till tomorrow to see what the right answer is.................
24th August 2012
Nooooooooooooo, we got the villain wrong, it was actually Gamba Grass. But we were good and clever enough to get the Victim and the Crime Site correct. Gamba Grass the Villain, Northern Quoll the Victim and Pentecost River as the Crime Site. History repeated for the students who were in 5F including myself because last year we got the Villain wrong as well. Mrs. Anderson was really proud of us because we spent extra time researching at home and finding some great information to get all of us on the right track. Everyone was so depressed, only if me pears and I had researched and found if Gamba Grass was in Kununurra, but we were unable to find if it actually was, unfortunately. Murder Under The Microscope is not over yet, there is still more to come but this it from me.................
