We finished the final topic Exponential & Logarithmic Functions tying in some of the work done in Unit 1 – Straight Line. The work deals with the logarithmic graph, the laws of logarithm and relating these to gradients & straight line graphs.
The work can be found on the MyMaths website under Library – A Level – Core 2 – Logs – Exponential Graphs; Rules of Logs & Log Equations as well as Library – A Level – Core 3 – Exponentials – Exponential Function; The Natural Log; Graphs and Growth & Decay.
Pupils were directed to a succession of videos amounting to an hour in duration to further their understanding of the exponential function on the website http://www.albartlett.org/presentations/arithmetic_population_energy.html which was given by Albert A. Bartlett (1923-2013) who was Professor Emeritus in Nuclear Physics at University of Colorado at Boulder. He gave his celebrated one-hour lecture, “Arithmetic, Population and Energy: Sustainability 101” over 1,742 times to audiences from junior high school and college students to corporate executives and scientists, and to congressional staffs. He first gave the talk in September, 1969, and subsequently has presented it an average of once every 8.5 days for 36 years.
Professor Bartlett gave a basic introduction to the arithmetic of steady growth, including an explanation of the concept of doubling time. He explained the impact of unending steady growth on the population of Boulder, of Colorado, and of the world. He then examined the consequences steady growth in a finite environment and observed this growth as applied to fossil fuel consumption, the lifetime of which is much shorter than the optimistic figures most often quoted.
The class had been issued with a Practice NAB to have been completed by Thursday 27th March, and we then went through this detailing where the marks are awarded and the threshold scores required for each outcome before sitting the actual NAB on Friday 28th March.
