Science Workbook Criteria

 Your Science Workbook is Your Reference Book! 

You can briefly and neatly fill in the answers to earn minimal marks.

Or you can earn higher marks by adding more…

1. Start by categorizing right from the beginning.

I divided the technology question between home and work. Then, I told how I used light waves in each area of my life.  I like making categories because it is difficult for my brain to memorize more than 7 items in a list.  But if I make categories, I can make up to 7 categories with 7 items in each category for a total of 49 memorized items.  Much better!

2. Make a plan for colour-coding.

While only visible light shows the ‘Roy G. Biv’ spectrum, because I know that spectrum so well, I decided to use it for the whole electromagnetic spectrum: radio waves = red; microwaves = orange; infrared = orange; visible light = green; ultraviolet = blue; x rays = indigo; gamma rays = violet. I also like using green for visible light because I like seeing all the green of nature and so that helps me remember that it goes in the middle with 3 different waves on either side.

3. Underline key words and add mnemonics using that colour-coding system.

You will notice that I underlined as few words as possible.  And I made sure my colours matched the code I created at the beginning. I also added some memorizing tricks: I wrote the first letter of each wave in the margin on the left and drew waves to show that radio waves have a greater wavelength than gamma rays.  Then, on the right hand side, I wrote the first letter of each example of the type of wave; for instance, ultraviolet waves help our bodies make vitamin D, so I wrote D. I also added a long vertical line on the right side that changed colour to show all the sections of the entire electromagnetic spectrum.


 4. Summarize information in the margins:


5. Add diagrams and your own connections in the margins.

To remind myself of the 7 types of light waves that all come from the sun that radiates down upon us, I made a great big sun and labelled it with the first letters of the waves. You will notice that I put the longer wavelengths together above visible light and the shorter wavelengths below visible light. I think now that it would have been better if I had done it the other way around because ‘ultra’ means ‘above’ and ‘infra’ means ‘below’, so my diagram should have made that obvious.

6. Now go into the textbook and add information that isn’t in the workbook.

I found some interesting information on p. 159 in the text. I made sure to write the page number down and then summarized the information in the box before I even drew my picture, so I’d be sure to have enough room.

On p. 154, I found out a difference between water waves and light waves.  I made coloured illustrations to help me remember that information.

On p. 154, I also found an interesting diagram, so I added it to my workbook. Notice that I colour-coded as before: red = radio waves. As a result, I also learned that microwaves are sometimes categorized as a type of radio waves. This is a bit confusing, so I should really go online and do more research so I can better understand this.

7. Read all the review questions in the textbook and make sure you have the answers somewhere in your workbook.

I  discovered I didn’t have all the answers to the review questions in my workbook, so I added those answers before I drew my pictures.

8. Add coloured illustrations.

9. Now go do some additional research and fill in all the spaces left on your pages.

Use books from the library.

Check out the BC Science 8 website.
(Tip: do the practice quizzes!)

Check out World Book Online. (waf34 & pass34)

10. Go back and read through all your hard work.  Show someone who will be proud of your perseverance!

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