QQC 5 2/21/12

Quote:  They showed that fit children had significantly larger basal ganglia, a key part of the brain that aids in maintaining attention and “executive control,” or the ability to coordinate actions and thoughts crisply.


Question:  What constitutes "fit"? If your fitness goes up and down, does your IQ and basal ganglia increase and decrease?


Comment:  We are reading this article at HTHMA, but we don't even have P.E. here and our sports are limited to 3 events per week. We have xblock instead of P.E., but a lot of the xblocks are not physical activity. Of course, some of them are, but a lot aren't. And even the kids here that play sports for HTH can't play any more than 3 times, while at other schools they play every day, PLUS they have P.E.. So i am just confused and wondering why we read this here at HTHMA, but do nothing aboutit. We are aware, but we don't provide a solution.

QQC 4 11/4/11

QUOTE:  "Astonishingly, despite our computerized world, we still use a method of counting that a prehistoric caveman would recognize."

QUESTION:  How come there have been no knew discoveries or better ways discovered to write numbers and count? Is there a better/faster/easier way?

COMMENT:  I think it is really amazing that people so long ago came up with ideas and solutions that have lasted such a long time. That even with our advancements in science and technology, we still count the same as people did when they were living in caves. We are living and acting so different than it was back then, yet we still use things they came up with. I think that is a great statement to their genius, that they were able to come up with such timeless ideas that have been able to last so long and stay current and alive and true after every advancement that has been made since.

QQC 3 10/12/11

Quote:  "...did [Mia] Hamm think she was the greatest player in the world? No. 'And because of that,' she said, 'someday I just might be.'"

Question:  Did she ever start to think she was the greatest? Or did she always think she wasn't the greatest, but could be, even though she was one of the best?

Comment:  I really like what Mia Hamm says about how not thinking that she's the best player in the world, made it possible for her to become the best player. In order to be the best you cannot think you are the best, because then you stop trying to grow and get better. You always have room to grow and the minute you think you are the best, you stop believing there is room to grow. And you can never be the best at something if you stop trying to get better. If you don't think you are the best, and you have the right mindset, you will always try to grow, and that, like Mia Hamm said, will make it possible for you to become the best. I also like that she believed in herself; believed that she had the potential to be the best and then worked at it and became the best. It is really inspiring to see, through her ad all the other athletes in our reading, how believing in yourself and working hard can make you anything you want to be.

QQC 2 6/17/11

Quote: "Nobody knows how many stars there are in the Milky Way-estimates range from 100 billion or so to perhaps 400 billion - and the Milky Way is just one of 140 billion or so other galaxies, many of them even larger than ours."

Question: Will we ever be able to travel through all these stars or maybe even the other galaxies? How can people estimate how many stars and galaxies there are if they can't even see them?

Comment: Wow. Its amazing how much of the universe we have never seen and how small a part of it we are. I can't even imagine how big it all really is and how long it would take to see everything. Also before this quote, the passage was talking about how there is a good chance there is life on other galaxies and stars, and just thinking about how large the universe is makes it seem silly to think that there couldn't be. I'm not really a huge believer in life on other planets, but I feel like if the universe is this big, (and we can't even see most of from where we are) it just seems like such a waste to have the rest of the universe and not have anything on it.

QQC 1 6/10/11

QUOTE: "I should say that everything is just right so far. In the long term, gravity may turn out to be a little too strong, and one day it may halt the expansion of the universe to bring it all collapsing in on it self... . On the other hand it may be too weak and the universe will keep racing away forever... so that the universe becomes a place that is inert and dead. The third option is that gravity is just right... and that it will hold the universe together at just the right dimensions to allow things to go on indefinitely."

QUESTION: Which one of these three options will be the one that becomes reality, and when will it happen?

COMMENT: I just thought it was really crazy how there is a 66% chance that gravity would destroy the universe because it was too strong or too weak. It was really scary to read that there is only a 33% chance that gravity is the perfect strength for the universe to never end. I guess I never really thought about gravity being "just right". Everyone talks about how if we were just a little closer to the sun or a little further from the sun we would die, or how if we didn't orbit the sun in just the position we do we would hit other planets, but you never hear about gravity not being right. Also the fact that it has been so long and gravity hasn't destroyed the universe yet could mean that it is just right, but it would also show how slightly it could be off. It could be just a tiny little bit too strong so it will take a long time for it to make the universe collapse on itself.