Response to October Sky

Last week in class we watched a movie a movie called October Sky which was based on a true story. The movie was very influential and educational. It taught us many things about rockets as well as character education.
October Sky was about a high school boy, Homer, who after seeing a satellite shoot across the sky, is fascinated by rockets. With the help of his friends and teacher he overcomes many obstacles and finally launches their hand-made rocket, that will be entered into a science fair, even though his father disapproves because he wants Homer to work in the coal mine. Than one of their successful rocket lands on a place where a fire is started and Homer and his friends are accused of starting the fire. Because if this their dreams are crushed and they stop creating rockets. Homer also drops out of school to take over his Dad's position at the mine. However, after reading his teacher's, Miss. Riley's, book, he realizes that his rocket couldn't have started the fire because it couldn't have traveled that far. After calculating many solutions, Homer and friends find their rocket and conclude that the fire was started by a flare from a airport. Now that they know that they haven't done anything wrong, Homer and his friends continue building rockets and win first place in the science fair. From there, Homer goes onto the a big compititon in Indiana where he also wins and recieves many scholarships.
The movie connects to math and science in numerous way. Some obvious ones are how much October Sky talks about rockets and science fairs and less obvious ones like how it educates us about health dangers. Viewers of October Sky learn a lot about rockets after watching this movie because the movie revolves around it. Rockets connect to science because it follows Newton's Laws and teaches us a little about Physics. We also learn about Suptnik (the satellite that inspires Homer to start creating rockets) and that connects to science because from satellites we can get information about the solar systems from it. Additionally, we learn aboun health dangers from watching October Sky. When doing a lab in science class, Quentin throws something into the sink and when another girl puts a lit match into the sink, all the burners in the classroom catch on fire. This teaches us about health dangers because we should never do anything that isn't in the instructions or what the teacher has told us to do because than someone could get seriously hurt.
October Sky also teaches us about CARES. Homer and his friends all worked together as a team to build a rocket and only then they were successful. If they didn't show cooperation and assertion than maybe they might never have had a successful launch. Respect was also shown in this movie because Mrs. Riley respected the Rocket Boys and their dream to create a rocket even though no one else did. Homer's mom showed empathy towards her son and his friends because her husband didn't help with the creation of the rockets. Last but not least, Homer had self-control when his dad banned him from creating rockets and when he and his friends were accused of starting the fire.

Response to Fragile X Syndrome

Fragile X Syndrome is a disease that causes ADHD, mental retardation and behavior which is similar to the behavior of an autistic person. After reading my classmate's blog I felt really sad and shocked because, since this is a genetic disease, the victims of it have done nothing to deserve it and yet they are still affected by it. Even though, luckily, this disorder doesn't lessen the life span of people with the disorder, they still have a hard time because of the difficulties that occur the along with this disease. I feel really bad for the people who have this disorder because they have a hard time fitting in with the other people in our society and have done nothing to deserve it. I really hope scientists can find a way to prevent more poeple from getting affected by it.

Duchene Muscular Dystrophy

A French neurologist named Guillaume Benjamin Amand Duchene in 1860 first discovered duchene muscular dystrophy. It is caused y missing cells that make protein, which is needed for healthy muscles. The symptoms for this disorder are weakness in the muscles, hips, pelvic area, thighs and shoulder and calves start to enlarge. There is no cure for this disease but people with this disorder can attend physical therapy so that they can stay on their feet longer. Mostly young boys get this disorder and the ones that do have it die before or in their early 30s. Unfortunately, 1 out of every 3600 male infants get Duchene muscular dystrophy. To develop a cure or treatment for this disorder, scientists need to learn more about the genetic disorder leads to muscular dystrophy and help the kids with it survive longer. After researching about duchene muscular dystrophy, it made me feel empathetic towards the people with this disease because they don’t have a long time to live and even when they are alive, they have respiratory problems and have to use a wheelchair to move around.

I got my information from:
http://kidshealth.org/parent/medical/bones/muscular_dystrophy.html
http://www.yourgenesyourhealth.org/dmd/whatisit.html
http://www.genome.gov/19518854
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070129164916AAs1WL1