In this unit, we learned the fundamentals of badminton, covering various aspects such as backhand serves, forehand serves, and drop shots. I improved significantly throughout the unit, enhancing my game sense. My teammate was Martin, and he taught me additonal skills such as smashing. If I were to play badminton again, I would definitely focus on smashing and more advanced skills.
In this unit, we explored a specific mode of transportation or communication and created a model to demonstrate its societal impact.
I chose to research ancient papyrus boats, which turned out to be a significant challenge for me. Finding reliable articles was nearly impossible, and I struggled with constructing a model.
Ultimately, I decided to create a Minecraft model and produced a video showcasing my builds related to the papyrus boats. This decision was greatly beneficial for me, as I had a childhood passion for playing Minecraft and have recently developed an obsession with video editing.
One Thing That I Think I Did Well
I believe I did an excellent job constructing the Minecraft models of papyrus boats and ancient Egyptian society. I created multiple models of papyrus boats to showcase the evolution of how ancient Egyptians advanced over time. Additionally, I incorporated a variety of other builds, including trading posts, a dam, a well, a village, numerous deckboards, a sphinx, and much more.
One Thing I Think I Need to Work on
I think I have to work on my time management, because when building the model, I spent 3 classes building in Minecraft and 2 classes trying to edit a good video, just to realize that we only needed to showcase our world with a simple screen recording. If I have to do a project like this again, I would definitely plan out everything before I do it, so I don’t run out of time.
Initially, when I began writing this essay with limited evidence and research, I never imagined I could complete a well-crafted piece within just a few weeks. I started by focusing on the three main body paragraphs, highlighting the positive impacts of papyrus boats.
- Simplified trading processes
- Enhanced communication by making travel more accessible
- Transportation convenience
And then stating the negative impacts in a new paragraph:
- Caused pollution
- Fragile items made it easy to lose goods
- Only intended for calm water
One major issue when writing this is that my evidence is not relevant to the society I am researching. Although I am fully aware, I couldn’t go back and resubmit my graphic organizer, so I decided to continue working.
Ultimately, this led to weak evidence in my final CER.
One Thing I Did Well in My Essay
One of my strengths in this CER was my ability to provide an analytical explanation of my evidence, ensuring that the connection between my data and my claim was both logical and persuasive (regarding the bad evidence). I focused on emphasizing the significance of each detail by utilizing a wide variety of vocabulary and transitional phrases. This diversity in my word choice prevented repetition and also added a level of sophistication and clarity to my reasoning.
One Thing I Still Need to Learn to Do
Something that I still need to improve on is my ability to find relevant evidence. One significant challenge I faced while composing the CER was that my evidence came from an article about Modern Egypt, even though my research primarily focuses on Ancient Egypt. I need to pay closer attention during my research.
What do I understand in this unit?
Looking back at this unit on percentages, I have developed a solid understanding of how to compare different values and express those relationships as a part of a whole. At its core, I understand that a percent is always a representation of a value out of 100, and I feel confident using the percent equation to find missing information, whether I am looking for the part, the percent, or the entire amount.
What new information did I learn?
This unit introduced me to several pieces of new information that can benefit my daily life. I learned how to navigate financial concepts like simple interest, which is the extra money earned or paid on an original loan amount, as well as markups and commissions used in business. I also gained a better understanding of how taxes work, especially with tips.
What was interesting in this unit?
What I found most interesting was exploring percent change. It was fascinating to see how math can quantify growth or decline by comparing a new value to an old one. For instance, I practiced calculating how a collection of forty marbles increasing to sixty actually represents a 50% increase. It shows how a small change in numbers can actually be a huge percentage jump.
What was tricky for you in this unit?
Many parts of the unit were a bit tricky for me. Specifically, I had to be very careful when setting up the calculations for percent change. It can be easy to confuse the original value with the new value, which completely changes the result. I realized that for the math to be accurate, I always have to compare the difference back to the starting number. Once I could handle that, the rest of the unit became much clearer.
Essential Question and Standard Reflection
My EQ: How do our body systems work together when we play our
favorite sport?
How did what you learn about cells and human body systems help you to answer this essential question?
Learning about different aspects of body systems, such as their organs and how they work together, allowed me to gain a deeper understanding of their functions and how they react to physical activity, including sports. For example, we learned how the muscular and skeletal system helps us contract our muscles, and how the circulatory and respiratory systems help us breathe. This information assisted me in writing a CER and constructing a model to answer the EQ.
How does this relate to the idea that the body is a system of subsystems made up of groups of cells?
This connects directly to the idea that the body is a system of subsystems made up of groups of cells because each organ system is built from smaller parts that depend on one another. Cells are the basic unit of life, and they specialize in performing certain tasks: muscle cells contract, nerve cells send signals, and blood cells transport oxygen. When grouped, these cells form tissues, which then build organs. Those organs combine into systems, and the systems work together to keep the body functioning, especially during complex activities like sports.
Which learning experience was the most impactful or memorable for you as a learner?
In my opinion, collaborative assignments, such as the VR project and dissections, were the most influential. They offered extensive insights through hands-on experimentation and research. The VR project greatly enhanced my comprehension of body systems, as it required extensive research for our model. Meanwhile, the dissections provided us with direct experience with real organs. Identifying these organs and understanding their roles in the animals’ lives greatly benefited my learning.
Improvements
If I could improve in one aspect of my learning, it would be my 3D cell model, because I could have used better alternatives, such as making a video explaining the functions of a cell or simply making a 3D clay model. I would also try to improve my construction speed and consistency, so I can have more time to work on the CER.
I am looking forward to making more models in the future!
I had no prior experience with 3D modeling, and it was much harder than I thought. When I first entered OnShape, I thought the software was extremely beginner-friendly, but the complex mechanics, especially the fillet and chamfer element overwhelmed me .
What Was Something I Am Proud of?
Something that I am proud of is how I persevered through challenges and solved issues online. Instead of giving up when things became frustrating, I learned to approach obstacles with patience and determination. Working through these issues also strengthened my ability to think critically and adapt to new situations. This experience gave me confidence that I can overcome difficulties in the future, and it showed me the value of persistence when facing uncertainty.
What is Something I Can Work On?
Something I can work on is being efficient while constructing the RC car. At times, I was distracted, losing valuable time that could’ve been invested in 3D modeling. I would definitely try to focus and finish my work as soon as possible.
What Was I Proud of?
My research and planning were characterized in depth, including comprehensive product analysis and stating design specifications development. When filling out the table, I meticulously documented each stage of the design technology process with precision, ensuring that every specification aligned with both functional requirements and aesthetic considerations from my client. I carefully mapped out the conceptual design phase, where ideas were sketched, tested, and refined, before moving into the development stage, which involved prototyping and iterative evaluation.
What Is Something I Can Work on?
Something I was lacking during the design process was consistency and dedication. I wasn’t cautious enough while spray painting, resulting in rough edges and penetrated paint. This discouraged me from making a second design, and I was unable to perform at my fullest. But I adapted and learned to persevere, eventually finishing the project.
How Have I Grown?
Another crucial takeaway from this project was how much I grew in problem-solving and adaptability. Even when setbacks occurred, such as the spray-painting difficulties, I learned to adjust my approach and remain focused on the end goal. This experience taught me that challenges are not failures but opportunities to refine my skills and strengthen my resilience. By embracing mistakes as part of the learning process, I developed a deeper appreciation for the importance of patience and persistence in design work, which will continue to guide me in future projects
Being completely new into the unit, I thought I was plunging into a hole of darkness that I didn’t know how to get out of. But from this unit, I learned a lot about proportional relationships. I understood the key concepts, like identifying proportional relationships, finding the constant of proportionality, writing equations, and creating graphs and tables. I also learned to implement the vocabulary learned in math class and use it when explaining my work. From the start of the unit to now, I’ve got a way clearer image of what proportional relationships are like.
Everything I learned was new, from knowing the basic terms, to planning a simulated version of a party. As said above, every single aspect of this unit was new information learned. I also learned how to use variables better in the case of proportionalities, like using them to find the constant of proportionality.
Something interesting was the way we had our summative. Instead of taking an assessment, we were required to plan a party, with a limited budget (based on luck) and the resources given in the worksheet. My partner and I had to work our way around things. For instance, when choosing the food service, we looked behind the worksheet to realize that our first choice will be denied. So, we decided to put the most expensive food service in our first choice. I enjoyed working with a new partner that I never worked with before, and is looking forward to more group projects.
Something tricky was trying to write the correct equation. A few times, I messed up the y and x axis, which gave me the wrong answer. I hope that I can identify the variables correctly in the future.
In this unit, we learned multiple forms of media, and utilized many aspects of what we learned to make our own media piece. I decided to make an influencer video, since I wanted to use my editing skills and entrepreneurship experience to create a well-polished, high quality video promoting a product.
The link below is the video I made. In the start, I didn’t have good ideas for the introduction and was stuck on getting to the main point. But I asked many friends for feedback and added multiple factors of editing like VFX, SFX, and other motion graphics. Starting from 0:42, I used multiple non-language choices to support the purpose of my product.
Aditya Hung E1 Media Presentation Product Influencer Video.mp4
Creating and Implementing Feedback
My partner, Sean, gave me constructive feedback and different factors of my product to improve on. I incorporated the feedback, like increasing the volume of my voice, adding a variety of sound effects, and changing the soundtracks to fit the mood. I also added a white background, and made a simple animation so the viewers don’t stare into a plain, black, background. Another improvement I made was that I used less slide ups, not only because it looks repetitive, making the viewer not engaged, but also is inconvenient, since I have to animate the speed graphs every single time. After creating the video and incorporating the feedback, I made a high-quality video that can keep the audience entertained.
Presentation Feedback
When presenting for the first time, my peers told me to slow down my presenting pace and elaborate more on the purpose of the media. They also told me to speak more confidently, since I was mumbling a bit and didn’t speak clearly. Through the 45 minutes of lunch time, I practiced my speech with a friend, and attempted to put the feedback into use. In the afternoon, in a quieter environment, I was able to speak without looking at my notecards continuously, though I still choked on some words while trying to rephrase my sentences.
Presentation
Aditya Hung E1 Media Presentation (influencer).MOV
1 Thing I am Proud of
One thing that I am proud of is the video I made. Though I over-invested most of my time in my video, it was worth it. The video was clearly able to support my purpose, and when presented to the parents, teachers, and students, they were all engaged in the video. With this video, I was clearly able to demonstrate my content creation skills for the first time. This was like a milestone for me, stepping from your typical editor on a complex editing software, to a kid capable of creating a content creator level video in a few days.
1 Thing I Want to Keep Working on
If there was something I could work on, it would definitely be my presentation. Because I over-invested time into the video, and since editing is a time-consuming thing, it took up a great portion of time from me, giving me less time to work on the note cards. From this presentation, I also learned that writing a good script is not the most essential thing, but rather it’s using your main points and improvising. Sure, vocabulary can play a crucial role, but with the time I had I wasn’t able to add many details in my speech, causing me to stutter.
What is Bias?
Bias in media means when any form of media disseminate information in a way that favors one side or opinion. Instead of showing all sides equally, they might leave out certain facts, use emotional language, or show photos that only acknowledges one perspective instead of showing the truth. This can make people believe something is more vital than it really is, even if they aren’t getting the full picture.
1 Positive Outcome of People Having The Same Perspective
In most scenarios, when people are planning to agree on something, having the same perspective can create a positive outcome. This is typically like planning for a time to play, searching for a place to eat with your family, etc.
I wouldn’t consider debate in politics, cause when arguing about what to do, it’s good to acknowledge multiple perspectives. This would prevent whatever country from future issues related to the issue they are trying to solve.
1 Negative Outcome of People Having The Same Perspective
When people all agree on something quickly, they tend to not question the issues with their agreement. This limits critical thinking and can show bias while presenting media.
For example, when making a newspaper, people might just randomly blurt out the information they know, and the author might never consider the points. This might lead to false information, potentially showing bias.