Day Program September 2020
Oracle Tutoring will offer a day program to commence after Sept 1: Middle to high school levels Emphasis on math and academic subjects Help with online courses
Geography: altitude: the freezing point
Self-tutoring about snow and ice on mountains: the tutor wonders about the height of freezing. The temperature at height is approximated by T=Tsea_level – 0.0065h, h in metres, T in °C. In a tropical place let’s imagine a sea-level temp …
Bird watching and politics: Steller’s jay
Self-tutoring about provincial identity: the tutor mentions an issue about the noble Steller’s jay. I recently realized that the Steller’s jay is our provincial bird here in BC. To quote John Lennon, “I ain’t too surprised.” After moving to BC …
Geography: Earth’s average surface temperature
Self-tutoring about the Earth: the tutor begins about its surface temperature. Nasa suggests that Earth’s average surface temperature is 15.0°C, while space.com seems to suggest it’s 14.9°C.
Geography: why is desert uncommon along the equator?
Self-tutoring about geography: the tutor inquires why deserts exist mainly outside the tropics. The sun is most intense at the equator, so air rises most dramatically from the Earth’s surface along the equator. Rising air causes low pressure, which facilitates …
Geography: why is desert uncommon along the equator? Read more »
Physics: why is it cold in space?
Self-tutoring about thermodynamics: the tutor imagines the temperature in space and why it’s meant to be so cold. The temperature in space, away from any heat-producing features, is meant to be around 2.7K. By comparison, 0°C is 273K. Temperature, as …
Trades: aluminum welding
Self-tutoring about welding: the tutor mentions a fact check. I took a week of welding during a heavy-duty mechanics pre-app course, a lifetime ago. I learned a tremendous amount during that week of welding, as in pretty much every week …
Holidays: Thanksgiving
Self-tutoring about Thanksgiving: the tutor reflects…. My earliest memories of Thanksgiving are from the Maritimes, in elementary school. My elementary teachers loved to decorate their rooms to point to a coming occasion: cardboard cutouts of turkeys, cornucopia, and pumpkins went …
Canadian geography: mammals: striped skunk
Self-tutoring about mammals in Canada: the tutor mentions the striped skunk. The striped skunk lives in most of Canada, although not here on Vancouver Island. It can grow more than 2 feet long and reach over 7 pounds. Skunks eat …
Vocabulary: subsume
Tutoring English, new words, especially short ones, are always interesting. The tutor mentions subsume. subsume: to include in a set of similar cases, perhaps for the purpose of classification or unification. Source: Gilmour, Lorna (editor). Collins Essential Canadian English Dictionary …
Geography: deserts, part 1: world’s two largest
Self-tutoring about deserts: the tutor mentions Earth’s two largest ones. As I mention in my post from October 1, a desert is either 1) a place that releases more moisture than it receives, or 2) a place with less than …