Thank you for taking the Mr B's Silly Quiz.
Here are the answers and discussion
1 - Do penguins have fur or scales?
Neither, they have feathers, they are birds!
This question is to find out if
students a> know the correct answer, and b> will be willing to
write the correct answer when presented with 2 incorrect options.
In addition, stuffed toy penguins and baby penguins look fuzzy, so
students are "convinced" they have fur.
Others, knowing that penguins look sleek and swim, think they have
scales
2 - Do bats have eyes? (that's the flying bats, not baseball bats)
Yes they have eyes! In fact, they even use them! The echolocation is good for getting around and catching some bugs, but fruit eating / nectar sipping bats use their eyes when they are getting close to their food. Fruit bats living in Samoa fly around by day and use their eyes to navigate, on other Pacific islands, where fruit bats are a delicacy, they only come out at dusk.
3 - How many people have landed and walked on the moon?
12 - on Apollos 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, and 17. Two people on each mission went to the lunar surface to take pictures, pick up rocks, and perform a number of other experiments. Only one of the people to go was a geologist, all the others were pilots. The last visit to the moon was 30+ years ago. (and that's a depressing thought - I was hoping for moon bases, lunar astronomy centers, and trips to Mars by the 1990's - Actually, that was the official plan in the late 1960's and early 1970's)
Unfortunately, many people have seen the Fox broadcast that suggested the moon trips were made up. More distressingly, most don't even analyze the problem with the hoax "facts" and just accept them. If you believe in the hoax, please go to the hoax pages of www.badastronomy.com
4 - You are standing on the moon holding a pencil. You let go of the pencil, what happens to it?
It gently falls to the surface of the moon! There is gravity on the moon (otherwise, how could you stand there??), though the gravity is only one sixth the gravity on earth. Things fall slower, and you can jump higher.
Many students write - It Floats - thinking that there is no gravity on the moon. I think they have seen more video of people on the Space Shuttle or Space Station than video of people on the moon, thus, they think it is all the same.
5 - What Causes the Phases of the Moon?
Many people will respond with "The shadow of the Earth on the Moon". While the shadow of the Earth does fall on the moon during a Lunar Eclipse (which only happens during a FULL Moon!!) the correct answer is the relative positions of the Sun, Earth and Moon. When the Moon is between the Sun and the Earth, it is a New Moon (and occasionally a Solar Eclipse will Occur), one week later, the Moon is 90 degrees away, and we can see a "half moon" - confusingly, this is called the First Quarter Moon, as it is one quarter the way around the Earth. The next week, the Earth is approxiamately between the Moon and Sun, and the entire Moons surface that is facing us is illuminated by the Sun. This is called the Full Moon. The following week, the Moon is again 90 degrees away from the Sun, though on the other side. Again, it is half lit and this is called the Last Quarter Moon. One more week completes the cycle to New Moon again. The Moon has gone through all its phases, and has completed one revolution around the Earth. It has also completed one rotation on its axis to make one Lunar Day!
6 - Imagine there is a ball sitting on the front desk. Any kind of ball is fine, soccer, baseball, tennis ball, ping pong ball. Draw and label a front view of the ball, a side view of the ball, and a top view of the ball.
Most people (95% or more) will draw 3 circles, labeling one Front, one Top, and one Side.
Some will produce some fascinating alternatives. Here are some samples from students in the 10th-12th grade
The origin of this question goes back to the frustrating experiance of a friend of a friend who was teaching college level mechanical drawing in Togo, in western Africa. His students were "just not getting it". In desparation and frustration, he brought in a ball and told them to draw a 3-view of it. To his amazement and finally understanding, they typically produced something like:
|
Front O |
_ Top
|
Side | |
He figured out that his students did not have an appreciation of the third dimension. My friend found out about this and tried it in his high school in Benin, West Africa, with similar results. I have tried this with students between grades 6 and 12 in Hawaii.
7 - Write down the names of the 7 continents on planet Earth, a country on each continent, and a city on each continent. (the city does not have to be in the country, but does have to be on the continent!)
Here is one example:
Alas, they often mix up states with cities or countries, and think that Hawai'i and Honolulu are in North America! Actually, most students are only getting 3 to 5 continents, 1 or 2 countries, and a city or two....