Jiadi's Portfolio

What did I learn about Dystopian Fiction?

I learned about the different themes that are seen often in Dystopian Fiction: Totalitarianism, Social Control, Conformity, Constant Surveillance, Dehumanization, Control of Nature, and Illusion of Utopia. We used these themes to identify important details in the book The Giver, the book that we read to understand Dystopian Fiction.

How does Dystopian Fiction invite me to think about real life?

It lets us reflect on our life, our community, our world, by letting us think, “Is it better to have life like it is right now, or is it actually better to live life like it is in the book?” Sometimes we read a part of a Dystopian Fiction book, and immediately think, “Life in this book is so screwed,” or, “Life in this book is really an Utopia!” for example, when we realized that war was something long forgotten into the past, we think that it must be really good to live life in peace. But then, we start to realize the disadvantage of this. For example, we learned that to get rid of warfare, the community had to get rid of love too. This makes us think and reflect on our world, and makes us think deeply, about what can we change or improve in our own world.

I enjoyed The Giver because it taught me many important, deep, meaningful messages that other books couldn’t have taught me. It also really encouraged me to think, that is what I think Dystopian Fiction books want you to do: think. It is something a lot of people, including me, don’t like to do when reading. But, if you do, while reading Dystopian Fiction, it can lead you to so many interesting, deep, important thoughts that may never have occurred to you. For example, when our teacher, STP, was teaching us the deep connection between warfare and love, I never thought it would be an interesting one. But, after STP let us think about it deeply, and guiding us through it, I started to realize what Lois Lowry, the author of The Giver, wanted us to see through writing a chapter about warfare, and another chapter right behind it about love.

How have I improved my ability to write academic paragraphs?

I have improved my ability to write academic paragraphs by using strong transition words, having good conclusions, a precise claim, and by adding specific details and examples to support claims.

How am I better now interacting with others in Literature Discussions?

I am better at interacting with others in Literature Discussions because I now know how to validate and challenge someone, but also while doing it in a way that does not hurt their feelings. I can now also collect enough information and add on to others that is related to the topic.

Rollercoaster L4 Movie.MOV

What did I do?

Me and my partner, Yuan Yuan, calculated the costs, profit, income, unit cost, markup price, and sell price of our signature item that we were going to sell: Chocolate Mug Cakes. We used different strategies like ratio tables, double number lines, and proportions to calculate each cost. Then, we made our advertisement posters. Lastly, we prepared our stands and started to sell our baked goods.

What did I learn?

I learned that using these types of strategies to calculate costs and prices can help you with a lot of subjects and hobbies, even baking! I also learned that working with a partner can be really helpful, because not only can you ask for help when you don’t understand something, you can also work a lot faster and more efficiently than doing it by yourself.

What worked?

Something I am proud of was that Yuan Yuan and I worked really well together, because we were already ahead of most people. I am also proud that we were able to finish this big task in time, because I know math is not the subject we are the best at. Lastly, I was also proud that we sold out at the end. This is because at first, most of the high schoolers ignored our stand, but then, two high schoolers came and bought our goods, then more people came, and at last, we sold out.

What did not work well?

Something that I need to improve on is making my baked goods look and taste better. They smelled really nice, but they were all lop-sided. They were also a bit bitter, so I think next time we need to find a better recipe with more specific steps. Also, I think next time our markup price needs to be a bit lower, because a lot of high schoolers didn’t have a lot of money, so they were not able to buy our baked goods.

Personal Relevance

This project was relevant because it was a really fun and memorable experience. I also learned a lot of interesting stuff, for example, how to calculate markup prices, how to calculate sell prices, and how to incorporate math into baking!

What did I do?

Me and my partner Tony built an egg car out of scrap paper, straws, axes, tape, and wheels to understand Newton’s Laws.

What did I learn?

I learned that Newton’s Laws are very important in the real world, and can be shown in many different ways. For example, Newton’s 2nd Law, can be shown in the egg car. It shows tells us that an object will keep accelerating unless an outside force is acted upon it. This can be shown by the egg car because the surface is slanted, so the egg car will keep accelerating until it hits the concrete block.

What worked?

I am proud that the wheels worked fine, because unlike some of the others, the wheels rolled, and the egg car did not slide. I am also proud that the egg stayed in place, and didn’t roll out, or else the egg could have cracked completely and our egg car would become a slimy mess!

What did not work?

Our crumble zone didn’t work very well, because when we added a tiny crumble zone it was too late. We always thought the the concrete block hit the wheels, but once we added a real egg in, it became too heavy, accelerated to fast, and the egg car tilted forward a bit when it hit the concrete block. The concrete block also hit the egg because the crumble zone was not strong enough, causing the egg to crack a tiny bit.

Personal Relevance

I can now use this information to help me in my daily life. This can help me predict things very well when I am older and driving, and I now also know more about Newton’s Laws! I hope this will protect me better when I am older and driving as well!

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What did I do?

I made a balloon car with my partners Scarlett and Yuan Yuan. We used a piece of cardboard, two thin straws, four wheels, and two sticks that we put inside the straws so that the wheels could move. We used this balloon car to investigate Newton’s First, Second and Third Law.

What did I learn?

I learned that if an object is always moving without anything pushing against it, then it will keep moving. But if something pushes the object back, it will slow down or stop. Also, if an object like a rollercoaster is on a slanted track, it will continue to accelerate and move down unless the track acts upon it, making it either go up or stop. Lastly, I learned that if an object like the rollercoaster is turning in a loop, the opposite and equal force need to act together, or else the rollercoaster and the people with fall.

What worked?

Scarlett, Yuan Yuan and I worked well together. We talked about where the wheels should go and how thick the base should be. We also talked about how much tape we should use, and what was the best way to keep the air in the balloon in.

What did not work?

When we let the balloon go, the wheels kept on making the car go to the left, so it would always go a short distance. But, my partners and I decided to put the balloon car on the starting line facing a little to the the right. This made the balloon car go slightly farther.

Personal Relevance

I believe this is going to be very important in the real world, because when people ride rollercoasters and use other things, this is all true. Letting people know about this will help them predict things, for example, if the person was on a rollercoaster, the person would know how they were always accelerating down. They would know how they were still on the track even when they were in a loop.

Prompt: Write about an artwork of your choice that you are proud of having made. When you write about it, share what the project is, how you made it, what materials you used, which methods you applied.

I am proud of my final cardboard piece, Paris in Two Seasons. I made it using cardboard, paint and markers. The pieces I made were an Eiffel Tower I cut out and used sharpies to draw lines, two recycling trash cans to show that Paris is clean, two autumn trees with paint put on with cue tips, a background with two seasons, and a bottom piece with two seasons too. I used mostly hot glue to glue it together, but I also used the slot technique for attaching the trash cans.

I am proud of this piece because I think it was very pretty, and also because it shows a lot about me. I chose Paris because it is a very pretty and clean city, and I chose the two most rarest seasons in Shanghai: Spring and Autumn. I want people to realize that climate change is changing the world, and that these two seasons are slowly vanishing. These seasons are also my favorite too. I also discovered that while making this piece of artwork, even though it was difficult to make, I enjoyed the process a lot because when I finished it, I had a very strong sense of achievement, especially since I stayed after school for two hours to finish it!

What did I do?

I played with Indi Robot Cars and Gravitrax to strengthen my critical thinking skills.

What did I learn?

I learned that critical thinking is thinking before you act, and thinking thoughtfully. Critical thinking is my ability to solve problems and make the right decisions.

What worked?

When me and my teammates were building the Gravitrax, we made to think thoughtfully of how high each piece was supposed to be. If it was too high, then the marble wouldn’t roll, but if it was too low, then the marble might gain too much momentum and slide off the edge if there was a sharp turn. Me and my teammates thought about it a lot, and we got it working on the second try!

What did not work?

I struggled when I made the block too high for the marble, it would roll too fast and could roll of the edge on a sharp turn. This happened to me and my partners when we were building our Gravitrax, but we fixed it by making the sharp turns block higher.

Personal Relevance

Today’s learning will help me in the future whenever I need to solve hard problems. It will surely help me when I am solving a hard and tricky problem.

1. What did I work on? 

During this unit, Campaign for the Olympics, I worked on a presentation about why my country should be chosen to host the 2034 Olympics games in Innsbruck, Austria. We learnt about the history of the Olympic games. We worked on researching our country by using the SAS Databases and locating evidence about our country. We worked on using persuasive reasoning to convince the IOC to select our country to host the next Olympic games. I created a script and a PPT using images from the SAS Databases. I worked on practicing my script out loud and I used notecards. 

2. What did I learn? Why do global sporting events exist? 

Global sporting events exist to  

1. Unite different countries 

2. To rank country’s athletic performances 

3. 3.To update records 

4. To entertain people 

5. To increase economy 

6. To positively collaborate 

7. To showcase new sports 

8. To continue traditions 

9. To have recognition 

10. To showcase countries. 

3. What worked well? 

I am proud of memorizing my script very well, because it helped me to make more eye contact with my audience. It also helped me to not use any filler words, as well as making it easier to speak with a loud and clear voice.  

4. What did not work well? 

I found some things challenging, they were presenting in front of the I.O.C members, because I can get anxious when I need to present. 

5. Personal Relevance 

Collaboration and communication skills are important in my future because making friends and work partners are what lead me and help me to success in the future. For example, my dad has a lot of friends, just because his collaboration and communication skills were amazing. One time when we were at a concert in Singapore, both my mom and dad’s phones were almost out of battery. So, my dad urgently called his friend who lived in Singapore to help us call a taxi. He did, and that was what saved us from being stranded on the road for the night. 

6. This is a photo of my work about my city and country, Innsbruck, Austria.