Stephanie's Portfolio

I chose Question 7d as evidence of my best thinking because it was part of the extension that I chose to do. The question was asking if a researcher believes that students who practice more than 15hours a week are outliers. The task was to create a clear argument, use mathematical language and context, about whether this claim was accurate or not. When answering this question, I had to think more about how this is applied in real life. The question was extended beyond just math in class, about graphs and outliers. I thought of many different scenarios. How, there could be another group of people that also practiced that amount per week, how different data should be shown in order to say if people who practiced that long are actually outliers. My response consisted of the r value that was given. The r-value was 0.91, and any values from 0.8 to 1.0 are already considered very accurate. Since it was 0.91, it meant that it had a really strong association, and that knowing that correlation coefficients are determined by data, students who practice 15 or more hours would not be outliers due to such a strong association. This questions showed by thinking beyond the problem, which is why I chose it.

For my second question, I would choose would be 7b. The questions said that the researcher stated how because the correlation is 0.84, practicing more piano definitely causes highs scores. The task was to explain why the statement would be misleading. While I was answering, I talked about how the researcher was using the word definitely. It implied that everything would 100percent be caused by this, which is most definitely not true. While practicing could cause beter scores, there are always outliers in data. Another reason that I provided was that practicing was s not directly in connection with the test. Other factors should’ve also been considered, like how focused the students are, how much sleep they got the night before etc. The researcher had only thought of one possibility. This question also made me think beyond the problem, and also think of different reasons on why data sets might not always be directly connected within the x and y axis’.

Throughout Unit 2, I improved the most at residual plots and correlation coefficients. Those were two things that I wasn’t really introduced to before. Especailly residual plots. I’ve always ever seen normal scatter plots, that had a line going throguh the middle. I never thought that they could also be graphed in another way that coudl help you see if that line created was appropriate or not. Another thing were correlation coefficients. Those were also seomthign that I was never introduced to before. Now, I know that they can help people determine if a graph has a strogn association or not, rather than by just lookign at the line seeing if it’s connected dots.

One skill from this unit that I still need to work on is whether a linear model is always appropriate. This was shown in question 7c, where it asked based on the residual plot, determine if a linear model is appropriate. We needed to support our answer with a least two pieces of evidence from the residual pattern. When answering the question, I thought of using a parabola to plot the data. However, now, that I think more about it, a linear model does make sense. I should work on thinking more about how different lines can represent data sets, and sometimes, the one that’s shown is the best fit.

The biggest challenge for me on this assessment was question 7c. I explained above on what the question was asking me, and my answer included how a linear model may not be appropriate. I thought that based on the residual plot, a parabola could offer a better representation of the data. In the plot, there was a part where it actually showed a parabola going up and down, which was also curved. I don’t think I thought of how that would look on an actual scatter plot. I was too focused on the residual plot, and since that a residual plot looks completely different from an actual scatter plot, my answer was wrong.

One strategy that helped me was looking through the l4 extension before i actually wrote anything down, I knew that I was going to take a lot of time on the first question, because it wasn’t something that I first understood when I looked at it. I made sure to do the back page first, making sure that I would get that done as soon as possible before working through the first page again. In the end I had enough time to do the first page and managed to get through the entire test.

Goal Reflection & End-of-Semester Check-In

Last goal:

In the next unit, I want to pay more attention to my work, and the the question itself, to make sure I have the complete and correct understanding of what it’s asking me to do. 

I worked well towards this goal, and something that helped me make progress towards this was reading the question properly, making sure that I understood what it was asking. Time constraints got in the way of this goal this time, since I was back from the U.S, and part of it was due to the jetlag I had. For the first L3 assessment, it was also really long, and I felt time passing by really quickly.

End-of-Semester Self Reflection

3 Strengths that I have shown last semester is turning my work on time, always trying out for the L4 extensions, and making sure I understand everything that I’m supposed to accomplish. My homework is always turned in on time, even when I was in the U.S, I still checked schoology and made sure that I was doing the required homework and class work. I also always try to improve my understanding of topics, thinking deeper into not only what’s on the surface level but deeper, and how they connect to real life situations. I also made sure that I understand everything that I’m supposed to get done. Whenever, I have a doubt or question, I’lll always reach out to peers or the teacher for support.

3 areas that I still want to improve on would be thinking more detailed about the questions, since there was a question I got wrong where I forgot the scatter plot was actually in residual plot mode and not the normal one. I will also continue to write detailed explanation for questions, making sure my test paper is neat and organized. Furthermore, I will continue to implement my math knowledge to real world situations.

C. New Academic Goal Moving Forward

In the next unit, I want to make sure that I read each graph really carefully, making sure that I don’t get things mixed up with similar things like I did in the L4 extension this time.

Something that might get in the way of my goal would be the time limit on the tests we have, since if I don’t have enough time, I might not be able to check my work thoroughly and reread all the graphs and specifically what the question is asking.

If I get stuck, I will reach out to my peers or teachers and ask them questions to remove my doubt from situations like these. I’ll make sure I understand everything fully if I’m not sure of anything.

My story was about a video game character and it’s energy levels. There’s a game designer that created n enemy whose attack strength depended on how long Wonka has been fighting it. There were six phases os the entire video game. The first phase was when Wonka is facing the enemy the Jabberwocky. In the second phase, the enemy starts to become annoyed, and emotions gradually become more powerful and aggressive over time. However, starting from phase 5, the enemy starts to get tired. It’s energy level is starting to decrease starting from then, and in the middle of the game, an ad starts playing since the player didn’t buy the premium version of the game. The real life situation that it modeled was people playing video games in real life, and many of them include trying to defeat the enemy, which is why we created this real life situation.

The part of my project that I’m most proud of would be the graph and the calculations. For our game, there was 2 phases where it was using an exponential graph. This is because we wanted to challenge ourselves in this unit, not only complete the linear part but also extend our thinking to creating exponential lines and graphs. At first, it was really hard to create the right line, but in the end, it was able to touch onto all of the points, and we also were able to simplify it to the best version. I’m also really proud of the graph, since I color coded it, and it was a really clear graph.

The hardest part of the project was creating the functions for the exponential parts. We went through lots of ups and downs when creating the formulas, testing out each and every one of them in Deimos, until we came to final versions that worked in the end. We also had to make sure that the functions were in the most simplifies form so that it was easy to understand, making sure that each part was correct and accurate.

If I could revise one part of this project, it would be improving the questions that we asked. In my opinion, the questions we asked were more on the shallow level, and I sort of wanted a question that would make readers think to the next level. Next time, I would improve it by brainstorming more, thinking about it with my partner, and also taking suggestions and inspirations from other poeple to see what we could come up with.

This project helped me understand how piecewise functions are used in daily life constantly. Before learning this unit, I always thought about these functions as things we would just learn and use in math. I didn’t think about connecting them to real life, seeing how shopping, or playing games are when these functions are all incorporated into our lives. Creating this real life situation, I got to really think about these functions, and now, they strike me as a lot more interesting.

Softball was a simple sport, where I just played it building off of my knowledge from golf. It was a fun sport, and I played pretty well in it.

I learned how to dribble and shoot properly in soccer. I wasn’t a big fan of the sport before, however, after learning it properly it wasn’t that bad. I improved especially on dribbling and passing it to my teammates in order to reach success.

I learned how to play Water Polo in this unit, learning how to catch balls and pass them to my teammates. In the unit, I improved on water treading, which was crucial in water polo, since we didn’t have the floaties strapped onto us. The unit was fun, and I was introduced to a sport I’ve never done before.

Current Goal:
This unit, I will do more research on class topics, especially for my 3 for 3’s. The days before class, I will make sure to review the topic we’re getting tested on, so I can get more consistent 3’s. I will also work more towards a section of my previous goal, of connecting classroom concepted to the real world. I will remind myself of my science goal, especially before writing CER’s, so I’ll be able to accomplish this goal.

Progress made:

So far, every time before class, I review my notes from the previous class, and what we learned the last class. This has shown to be very useful, since so far in Unit 2, once I started reviewing the class materials, I’ve gotten 3’s on my 3 for 3’s ever since. I will continue to do this, making sure I understand what we talk about in class fully, and come to each class prepared.

Most proud:

I’m most proud of my science L3 model from Unit 1. This showed improvement and persistence. Before this unit, I knew nothing about space, asteroids and meteors, I showed persistence by doing research on my own, looking at different credible sources to help me gain a deep understanding on the topic. After completing this project, my knowledge on space and the earth has expanded.

Challenge:

My biggest challenge last unit was reviewing for my 3 for 3’s at home, this was related to understanding a concept. I didn’t get consistent scores on my 3 for 3’s last unit, since I didn’t review what we learned last class at home, and I wouldn’t do research on my own to understand more about a topic. However, this has been my goal since, and so far in Unit 2, I’ve been getting consistent 3’s.

Active Learner:

I demonstrated the qualities of active learner, by reflecting to improve and participating fully. I reflected to improve on my 3 for 3’s when I would meet up with Mr.Tafel to talk about the quiz, and my general understanding of the topic. I would then go home, and review, using Mr.Tafel’s suggestions to help me gain a deep understanding on the topic. I also participate in class discussions, giving my opinion or suggestion with the questions asked.

Something I liked about this unit was how we could take inspiration from our own personal life and incorporate it into a school project. As a creative person, I’ve always loved to make the things around me beautiful and aesthetically pleasing. This unit, allowed me to express my creativity and design my own sticker. I designed a sticker about something I love, Jellycat. I loved how everyone had their unique vision for their stickers.

Something I didn’t like about this unit was how the instructions were written. In my opinion, the instructions were unclear, and I wasn’t that sure of what I was supposed to do, or what the purpose of this project was. While doing the project, I felt like I was writing down random transformations, and there wasn’t any connection to all the steps I was writing down.