The task was to choose a way to present about my topic, which was the bullet train’s impact on the Japanese society. There were many options such as Minecraft, mixed media and cardboard model. I chose to make a cardboard model, so I brought some materials from home and built my model during class time given. After building the model, I practiced the presentation like what I am going to say and how I am going to say it.
One thing that I think I did well during this project is practicing my presentation properly, so that I can tell the audience about my topic without hesitating in the middle.
One thing that I think I need to work on for next time is planning before making the model, because buildings and the house came out too big, which made half of the house to stick out of the bottom cardboard.
When I was writing this essay, I first went through the articles I found. After that, I wrote the beginning sentence of my first body paragraph. Then, I used some direct and indirect quotes from the articles for my evidences. Once I had my evidence ready, I wrote my reasoning and the last sentence. I repeated these steps for all of the body paragraphs, and then wrote the introduction and the conclusion.
One thing I did well in my essay is finding evidence. For me, it was really quick to decide what direct and indirect quotes to use.
One thing that I still need to learn to do is writing my reasoning. Next time, I will make sure that my reasoning connects well with the evidence I use.
The essential question that I chose to answer was “What happens inside our bodies when we get sick?”. What I learned about cells and human body systems helped me to answer this essential question. This is because the background knowledge I had helped me to figure out that ribosomes and Golgi bodies are related to hemophilia, which is a disease I chose. Also, I knew basic informations about each of the body systems, which is why it was easy for me to choose two body systems that interact inside a patient with hemophilia. This relate to the idea that the body is a system of subsystems made up of groups of cells because cell organelles make a cell function, then cells make up tissues, those tissues build up parts of the body such as blood vessels and heart, which form different body systems. In a patient with hemophilia, the ribosomes, Golgi bodies made the cells functions. Those cells formed organs such as heart and skin, which are parts of the circulatory and and integumentary system.
Part 2
The learning experiences that was the most impactful or memorable for me as a learner were the dissections and modeling activities. Dissections were memorable because I could see what the organs actually look like. The modeling activities were also helpful, because I could use my knowledge to make a model. These kind of activities worked really well with me, since I learn well with demonstration activities than just using laptop to read articles.
Part 3
If I could improve one aspect of my learning this unit, I would choose CER writing. Next time, I would try to write a better reasoning, because this time I think my reasoning wasn’t detailed very much. Also, I would make sure that the evidence is not included in the reasoning.
In this RC car project, we assembled a car and then replaced some of the parts to a new designed and 3D printed piece. We learned how to assemble a car. What was working is when I was assembling the car, because what I had to do is just look at the instruction paper. What was challenging was after I finished assembling my car, it didn’t work at first, so I needed to get help from teacher to make the wheels straight.
In this project, we each made a laser cut clock that is designed for the assigned client. I decided to make a pizza clock for my client, so I used different materials to be laser cut, such as plywood, acrylic, and cork. What we learned are some new skills in Inkscape, how to spray paint, and how to assemble a clock. What was working during this project is when I designed my clock in Inkscape, because the process was very smooth. What was a bit challenging was assembling a clock because I’ve never assembled a clock before, and I needed some teacher support.
I understand that the scaled copy and the original is proportional, but only the size is different. I also understand that the number multiplied to the original to get the scaled copy is called a scale factor.
Scale factor = Copy/Original, Dimensions of the Scaled Copy = Original x Scale Factor, Area of the Scaled Copy = Original x (Scale Factor)^2
N: What new information did you learn in this unit?
The new information that I learned in this unit is that the area of a scaled copy is original area multiplied by scale factor squared. Before, I was not really sure about the formula of calculation the area of a scaled copy, so I used to first figure out the dimensions, but now I learned the easier way.
I: What was interesting in this unit?
What was interesting in this unit was that we worked with different shapes and figures.
T: What was tricky for you in this unit?
Something that was tricky for me in this unit was that in some scales, the measurements were different and sometimes I forgot to convert them to the same measurements.
We did fitness swimming and artistic swimming. At the beginning of each class, we had 10 minutes to do fitness swimming and after that, we were divided into groups of 3-4 and planned our own routines for artistic swimming.
What are we learning?
We are mainly learning how to float in water and be confident. We learned about different techniques that can be demonstrated in water. What we also learned is how to communicate well, because we had to make the routines together with the teammates.
What’s working?
What is working is that our artistic swimming group really communicated well together with respect. The whole process was pretty smooth and there weren’t any conflicts. The final performance also went very well, better than what we expected.
What’s not working?
What is not working is that when we practiced our routines, the space in the swimming pool wasn’t enough since it is a shared space with other different groups. This made the practices a little bit challenging, because we often had to practice in the deeper part of the swimming pool when other groups were already at the shallow end practicing their routines.
Personal Relevance
This unit really helped me to be more confident in water floating. Also I could learn how to make sure that water doesn’t go in through the nose underwater. I think this experience will help me to not drown in future. Furthermore, communicating with teammates also helped me to improve my communicating skills.
3. What are some pieces of feedback that you received and then incorporated into your work?
Some pieces of feedback that I received was that the words I used in the product branding campaigns weren’t powerful enough. There was a feedback that it would be better if I use words with stronger connotations than just natural and fresh. So, I used words such as ‘experience’ to give a feeling that the product is valuable and ‘secret’ to make people curious about the product.
4. Explain 1 thing that you are proud of from this unit.
1 thing that I am proud of from this unit is the three campaigns I made. I am proud of them because I think my color choices of green and brown was very effective to make people think that the product is natural.
5. Explain 1 thing that you want to keep working on.
1 thing that I want to keep working on is my presentation skills. When I did the practice presentation before the final one, there were many feedbacks about more eye contact, so I want to improve it next time. Also, I want to be more confidents so that I rarely read from note cards.
6. In your own words, explain what Bias is.
Bias is having a strong feeling toward one side, either positive or negative.
7. Explain 1 positive outcome of people having the same perspective might be.
When people have the same perspective, people can agree with each other and dive deeper into that perspective. Also there will not be arguments because of different opinions.
8. Explain 1 negative outcome of people having the same perspective might be.
When people have the same perspective, the negative outcome will be that people can’t discuss between ideas because everyone will think the same and there won’t be anyone who disagrees. Also, there won’t be many opinions when people have the same perspective.
I understand what kind of relationships are proportional and what kind of relationships aren’t. I also understand the way to find out the CoP (Constant of Proportionality),
N: What new information did you learn in this unit?
The new information that I learned in this unit is that the k in the equation y=kx is called CoP (Constant of Proportionality).
I: What was interesting in this unit?
Something that was interesting in this unit was the fact that quantities aren’t proportional if they don’t start on the point (0,0) on the graph.
T: What was tricky for you in this unit?
Something that was trick in this unit was when problems asked to figure out the meaning of an equation because sometimes what x is representing and what y was representing was the opposite of what I thought.
We are doing our first unit in grade 7 PE, which is table tennis unit. We played singles and doubles matches during class.
What are we learning?
We are learning about the basic skills in table tennis such as serving and spins. We also learned the rules when playing doubles.
What’s working?
The thing that is working is that when I play singles, I know the rules of what is legal and what is illegal. I did a pretty nice job playing singles against other classmates.
What’s not working?
The thing that is not working is when I play doubles. I have less confident in playing doubles than playing singles. It came very challenging when me and my partner had to take turns hitting the ball. Sometimes the ball came to the person that is not supposed to hit the ball, which is the part that didn’t really work.
Personal Relevance
I think I should improve playing doubles in table tennis. I think teamwork is very important when playing doubles. It is also important to move back after hitting the ball so that my partner can hit the ball.
