Mystery Class Update: February 16, 2001 Today's Report Includes: Notice Any Changes? Dog Eat Your Newspaper? Carpe Diem! Discussion of CQ #1 This Week's Sunrise/Sunset Times Notice Any Changes? Thanks to our 10 secret Mystery Classes for providing the second set of sunrise/sunset data from around the world! Remember this information was recorded on Monday, the same day you collected your sunrise/sunset data. As you plot this week's data on your graph, ask yourself the following questions. Can you determine. . .: Where is photoperiod changing the most quickly? In which places is it increasing? In which places is it decreasing? What might these things tell you about the location of each site? Dog Eat Your Newspaper? No problem! You now have another excellent research tool to look up your own hometown sunrise/sunset times, courtesy of Professor Joan Berger, Internet Educational Consultant, and the U.S. Naval Observatory. Prof. Berger tells us that by using this Internet resource with your latitude and longitude coordinates, you can find your own sunrise and sunset times. Just go to: Worldwide U.S Only Carpe Diem! Discussion of Challenge Question #1 Last week we asked about the meaning of two expressions that most people use everyday, but probably never stop to think about: "What do the initials 'A.M.' and 'P.M.' stand for anyway?" We had many correct answers from students from New York, Michigan, Florida, Delaware and other locations. Three answers really "seized the day" using the latin origins of these expressions: "'A.M.' comes from the latin 'ante meridiem' which means 'before noon'. 'P.M.' comes from the latin 'post meridiem' which means 'after noon'." Deborah from Raleigh, NC "AM stands for the time from midnight to noon. The letters A and M are the abbreviation of ante meridiem, the Latin phrase for 'before noon'. PM stands for the time from noon to midnight. The letters P and M stand for post meridiem." Students from Kathy Donohue's Marlboro, NJ Middle School. "We asked Mr. Frazier, the 8th grade Earth science teacher, and he led us to Mr. Webster's book (the dictionary in his room) for the answer. The initials A.M. stand for Ante Meridiem a Latin adjective meaning 'being before noon.' The initials P.M. stand for Post Meridiem meaning 'being after noon.' Gayle Kloewer's students, York Middle School, York, NE Miss Bailey's third grade class at Citrus Elementary School, Vero Beach, FL really showed how to seize a broad range of research sources: "Kristina found out by asking her mother. Steven B., Jamie, Stephen H. and Samantha discovered the answer by looking it up on the Internet. Ginny and Tyler asked Mr. Arms, our student support specialist, at school. Megan said she looked it up in the dictionary. Lauren called her grandma to find out, and Katie said she asked her 17 year old brother." Our thanks and congratulations to all the students who answered Challenge Question #1. Nice job everyone! This Week's Sunrise/Sunset Times Remember, the secret Mystery sites recorded their times last Monday, the same day you collected your own local sunrise/sunset data. Journey North Mystery Class Sunrise/Sunset Data Data For: Monday, February 12, 2001 MYSTERY CLASS SUNRISE SUNSET #1 07:31 18:11 #2 07:27 19:28 #3 06:16 19:42 #4 07:11 18:40 #5 00:00 00:00* #6 07:20 17:10 #7 06:48 20:21 #8 06:57 18:19 #9 06:27 19:07 #10 07:11 17:46 * Journey North Mystery Class #5 reported 00:00 for their times and said "Hey Dudes--No sunset or sunrise yet--have fun finding us!" Note: Military time is usually expressed without any punctuation. We have used a ":" between the hours and minutes for clarity.) The Next Mystery Class Update Will be Posted on February 23, 2001 Copyright 2001 Journey North. All Rights Reserved. Please send all questions, comments, and suggestions to our feedback form