Some help with homework

0l33l · 05-23-2005, 02:51 AM

Yeh. I need to do this project to hopefully raise my grade from an A- to an A. Bascailly I'm gonig to be interviewing my grandma, who was a chemist in the Soviet Union. She has a few patents.
The problem is that I don't know what questions to ask. Like I don't know how to categroize questions, etc.

So, can anyone construct all the questiosn for me?

Thanks

lgbr · 05-23-2005, 02:59 AM

What is it you're stuck on? It looks pretty easy to come up with questions like that.

Bugbyte · 05-23-2005, 03:07 AM

She was a scientist in the Soviet Union! This is great stuff. The hook is to trace her early life and work alongside the cold war. Where did she work? What was it like? How did she get into chemistry? What was it like to be a chemist under Communism? When she first started working, who was the Premier? How did the Soviet Union view the U.S. during that time and how did it change over time? What did they think of the programs they were working on and being scientist in the USSR? How did she immigrate to the U.S.? Did she know many other scientists? If it was after Perestroika or the Berlin wall, what was it like during that time and how did it affect her work?

There's all kinds of really interesting stuff you can ask her. I'll bet there are some great things she can tell you that you never even knew about.

0l33l · 05-23-2005, 03:30 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by lgbr

What is it you're stuck on? It looks pretty easy to come up with questions like that.

I'm stuck on the organizational part.

Quote: Originally Posted by Bugbyte

She was a scientist in the Soviet Union! This is great stuff. The hook is to trace her early life and work alongside the cold war. Where did she work? What was it like? How did she get into chemistry? What was it like to be a chemist under Communism? When she first started working, who was the Premier? How did the Soviet Union view the U.S. during that time and how did it change over time? What did they think of the programs they were working on and being scientist in the USSR? How did she immigrate to the U.S.? Did she know many other scientists? If it was after Perestroika or the Berlin wall, what was it like during that time and how did it affect her work?

There's all kinds of really interesting stuff you can ask her. I'll bet there are some great things she can tell you that you never even knew about.

Those are all great questions, but from the worksheet I got that I needed to organize it into these categories:
Introductory
Personal
Science
Follow-up

ATXaccord05 · 05-23-2005, 02:34 PM

The introduction should be something like:
Durring the cold war chemists were employed to create biological weapons. We now have the opportunity to get an in depth look into what it was really like to work in the USSR durring the cold war.

1. (question one)

(answer one)

2. (question two)

(answer two)

etc.

categorize them by the kind of question, any question specific to her goes under personal, any question about the scientific work she did goes under the second category.

as for the follow up just write a sentence about how her work effected the world, while effecting her personal life as well.

Bugbyte · 05-23-2005, 04:53 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by 0l33l

I'm stuck on the organizational part.
Those are all great questions, but from the worksheet I got that I needed to organize it into these categories:
Introductory
Personal
Science
Follow-up

Do the interview first, then categorize the questions, like ATXaccord05 suggests. Thread the Soviet Union stuff like this:

1. Introductory

[Grandmother's name] was born in {Dunno, 1925?}, a child of the Russion revolution. She lived in [city], [describe city, pre-world war II conditions], later growing up to become a [insert occupation]

You'll have to embellish, but all the great details are there.

2. Personal

Find an event (probably World War II) that impacted her and her country significantly. Juxtaposition the hardship of the country with the hardships that Russia faced. Trace her employment alongside the rise of Stalin, Kruschev and what she was doing. If she really liked/hated the Communists, this makes for a nice patriotic/anti-patriotic discussion in the context of her life and occupation.

3. Science

Get down to the details of what she did, where she did it and how it contributed to the war effort. Stories about how the Russians so cleverly make do with little or no raw materials are legendary. See if she has a few of those for you.

4. Follow up

Move to the crumbling of the Soviet Union, how she left it, where she is now, what she sees as the future of mother Russia, her legacy, family etc.

0l33l · 05-25-2005, 12:03 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by ATXaccord05

The introduction should be something like:
Durring the cold war chemists were employed to create biological weapons. We now have the opportunity to get an in depth look into what it was really like to work in the USSR durring the cold war.

1. (question one)

(answer one)

2. (question two)

(answer two)

etc.

categorize them by the kind of question, any question specific to her goes under personal, any question about the scientific work she did goes under the second category.

as for the follow up just write a sentence about how her work effected the world, while effecting her personal life as well.

Quote: Originally Posted by Bugbyte

Do the interview first, then categorize the questions, like ATXaccord05 suggests. Thread the Soviet Union stuff like this:

1. Introductory

[Grandmother's name] was born in {Dunno, 1925?}, a child of the Russion revolution. She lived in [city], [describe city, pre-world war II conditions], later growing up to become a [insert occupation]

You'll have to embellish, but all the great details are there.

2. Personal

Find an event (probably World War II) that impacted her and her country significantly. Juxtaposition the hardship of the country with the hardships that Russia faced. Trace her employment alongside the rise of Stalin, Kruschev and what she was doing. If she really liked/hated the Communists, this makes for a nice patriotic/anti-patriotic discussion in the context of her life and occupation.

3. Science

Get down to the details of what she did, where she did it and how it contributed to the war effort. Stories about how the Russians so cleverly make do with little or no raw materials are legendary. See if she has a few of those for you.

4. Follow up

Move to the crumbling of the Soviet Union, how she left it, where she is now, what she sees as the future of mother Russia, her legacy, family etc.

Why does everyone focus on the USSR part so much

The soviets wouldn't let Jews do weapons and stuff. My grandpa had to go through hell to get hired to make a radar station there.

I remember her talking about some process that she designed that sped up reaction for chroming engine parts by 20 times. Or something close to that.
Its just that I do'nt think that the MAIN part of the project is focusing on their life, but more of how they contributed to the science. Am I wrong

Bugbyte · 05-25-2005, 01:10 AM

No, you're not wrong. If you write it and focus on the science, you'll do fine.

It's just a much more interesting read when you include the Soviet angle. Your teacher will grade paper after paper of dry, meaningless pap. But if you write an interesting paper that he/she enjoys reading, you may get that grade you're looking for.

You may not have an appreciation for the intensity of the cold war but your teacher probably does.

0l33l · 05-25-2005, 01:28 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by Bugbyte

No, you're not wrong. If you write it and focus on the science, you'll do fine.

It's just a much more interesting read when you include the Soviet angle. Your teacher will grade paper after paper of dry, meaningless pap. But if you write an interesting paper that he/she enjoys reading, you may get that grade you're looking for.

You may not have an appreciation for the intensity of the cold war but your teacher probably does.

I'm interested in the cold war... but not for a chemistry presentation

I know what you mean by the soviet angle. I asked the question because I was having trouble coming up with the questions about the science, like the probing, follow-up, etc

Thanks

ATXaccord05 · 05-25-2005, 01:38 AM

Whenever I got assignments in school I would always change the subject. I get a paper about how the terrain changes crop production and I end up with an analysis of the farmer. good papers, just never stayed on topic

0l33l · 05-25-2005, 01:58 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by ATXaccord05

Whenever I got assignments in school I would always change the subject. I get a paper about how the terrain changes crop production and I end up with an analysis of the farmer. good papers, just never stayed on topic

Our teacher says that she's great at figuring out whats BS. I don't really feel like trying to see if she finds it on an extra credit paper

ATXaccord05 · 05-25-2005, 03:45 AM

very true. I never did "extra credit" or "papers" or "work" for that matter. just got amazing grades on tests and did a few in class assignments. not the best way to get through highschool though. I have gotten less lazy since then, though.

shizzle · 05-25-2005, 03:48 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by ATXaccord05

very true. I never did "extra credit" or "papers" or "work" for that matter. just got amazing grades on tests and did a few in class assignments. not the best way to get through highschool though. I have gotten less lazy since then, though.

Wow, we have a lot more in common than our cars.

My IB/AP History (european and american) teacher called BS BSG's. He would automatically give a bad grade if a paper had a single BSG in it.
The crappy part was, I was so good at broad sweeping generalizations!

EDIT: BTW, ATX the site in your sig doesnt work... do you have an install?
I haven't started a log yet because it hasnt gotten intersting, but I will as soon as I get a few things fixed on my car. I'll probably get to the fabbing and permanent install the beginning of july.

0l33l · 05-25-2005, 03:56 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by ATXaccord05

very true. I never did "extra credit" or "papers" or "work" for that matter. just got amazing grades on tests and did a few in class assignments. not the best way to get through highschool though. I have gotten less lazy since then, though.

I know what you mean. Practically the whole school is like that. Probably why I'm in the top 5% of my class

I need to get an A in this class because we've got a ***** of a math teacher. She tries to make the whole ******* room a freezer and refuses to set the AC above 70ºF

shizzle · 05-25-2005, 04:16 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by 0l33l

I know what you mean. Practically the whole school is like that. Probably why I'm in the top 5% of my class

I need to get an A in this class because we've got a ***** of a math teacher. She tries to make the whole ******* room a freezer and refuses to set the AC above 70ºF

That is a strange reason to want an A!

That is funny, though, cause in my high school the ac was centrally controlled, yet there was a very high-tech looking dummy thermostat in every classroom, so the teachers would think they were in control. Ironically, my math teacher was the only one who knew the truth. It was so strange though, cause the dummy thermostats controlled the lights in the classrooms... and would go off based on motion detection...no movement for ten minutes, like during a test, and the lights would go off.

Teacher said it was possible to control the temp as well, but the school had them all disabled for energy conservation purposes, the same reason the lights would auto shut off.
They probably wasted more money on that stupid, pointless system than they would have spent to put five computers in every classroom. (They only put one in every classroom, a few in some.)

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