Emma's Portfolio

A. Evidence of Your Best Thinking

I chose Question 2 as evidence of my best thinking because it clearly demonstrates my understanding of slope, and how to solve for it.I chose Question 3 as evidence of my best thinking because this question shows that how I understands statistics

B. Skills Reflection

Throughout Unit 2, I improved the most at functions, especially piecewise models, interpreting graphs, and writing clear equations. My numerical work became more organized and complete.One skill from this unit that I still need to work on is know clearly between correlation and causation in statistics, and creating accurate scatter plots from the given data.The biggest challenge for me on this assessment was writing explanations clearly and legibly so my reasoning could be fully understood by the teacher so she could give me a clear mark for my work.One strategy that helped me on this test was showing all my steps when solving function problems, which kept my work organized and made it easier to check.

Part 2: Goal Reflection & End-of-Semester Check-In

A. Looking Back at Your Last Goal

Last unit, I set this goal:I want to read more carefully of what is needed.  Rushing to finish might get in the way of this goal.I did very well towards achieving this goal. I underlined key words in questions before starting helped me slow down and focus on what was really being asked. I also began checking my answers against the question prompt before moving on.

B. End-of-Semester Self Reflection

My strengths included completing numerical work in functions, create problems in projects, and a strong understanding of equations, graphs, and real-world situations and slopes. Areas I want to improve are writing explanations more clearly and legibly, distinguishing between correlation and causation in statistics, and slow down when answering questions.

C. New Academic Goal Moving Forward

In the next unit, I want to write all my explanations and steps clearly and in complete sentences, so my thinking is easy for others to follow . When I feel stresses, I will rush my work, making my writing unclear. If I get stuck, I will ask my teacher for help during class or office hours, and refer back to class examples 

 Describe your story and what real-life situation it modeled?
This story is about a hiker named Mia climbing a mountain. It asks questions like when she’ll reach the top, how hard different parts of the trail are, whether she’ll run out of water, and if her friend can catch up.

2. What part of your project are you most proud of? Why?
I’m most proud of my problem design and mathematical thinking. I created a detailed hiking story with changes that made the piecewise function realistic. I had questions that required interpreting slopes, connecting intervals, and applying math to a real-world situation. My explanations showed I understood what each part of the function represented.

3. What was the hardest part of creating your piecewise function?
The hardest part was making sure all the description connects correctly with each elevation. I had to carefully calculate the time and elevation at the end of one interval so it matched the start of the next, especially after including a rest break where the elevation didn’t change.

4. If you could revise one part of this project, what would you improve and how?
I would improve the clarity and organization of my handwritten calculations. Sometimes I write numbers quickly and didn’t clearly label which slope or equation belonged to which interval. Next time, I would write neatly or separate boxes for each piece so anyone reading it can easily follow my steps.

5. What did this project help you understand better about piecewise functions?
This project helped me see how piecewise functions can model real‑life situations. I understood that each piece has its own domain, and that the overall function tells a complete story.

Our VEX IQ robotics project was about building and programming a robot. The goal was to make it fast, able to follow commands, and complete tasks like racing and stacking. The process was a cycle of building, testing, and fixing.

First, we built the robot. We put in a gear system to make it go fast. But when we tested it, things went wrong. The robot spun in circles because the back wheels slipped. We replaced them. Then it couldn’t turn. We kept changing parts and fixing the code, like making the bumper sensor actually work when it hit a wall. We also had to add weight to the claw so it could grip boxes better. We kept testing and fixing until things worked.

We did well at solving problems and not giving up. When something broke or didn’t work, we found the reason and fixed it. This helped us get much better. Our best success was in the speed challenge. We improved our lap time from 29.75 seconds to 22.73 seconds and got second place. In the stacking challenge, we also improved, going from delivering five blocks to six by the final round.

The main things to improve are making the robot stronger and practicing driving. Our robot was sometimes too fragile and broke when it hit things. Next time, we need to build it tougher. Also, we realized that being a good driver is just as important as having a good robot. We need more practice controlling it smoothly to do our best in competitions.

The recent project for the Grade 8 Design Class was to design and build a tissue box. Mr. Hatt gave the class a major design movement theme. The finished work will be displayed inside the PAC at SAS Puxi, a moment that truly celebrates his individual creativity and technical skills.

We managed the entire design process by himself, from the initial sketches to the final prototype. We used Inkscape to create his digital design files, and then using a laser cutter to cut out design with specific materials. We selected 4mm plywood for the main structure, and might also use acrylic, paper, and cork to create interesting textures and visual layers. Afterwards, applying spray paint and ink to the design to add the final touches and perfect the piece.

The goal was to create something both beautiful and genuinely useful. The design of this tissue box is to help prevent the spread of germs by making tissues easily accessible. But more than that, the design will raise awareness, such as educating others about the importance of hygiene—and to showcase how historical art movements can inspire functional, high-quality products in daily life.

I liked the way that we could design our project freely and have enough time for deeply explain our stickers. We could improve next time by giving more clear instructions as some of the instructions are confusing.

 I chose question 2 which is a question of dialation as evidence of my best thinking because it demonstrates that I have a clear understanding of how to dilate an image correctly.  I chose 6, a question asking to determine if the two triangles are congruent as evidence of my best thinking because it shows that I understand the concept fully, but I missed the congruency statement which shows that I need to be careful of what is needed next time. 

 

In the next unit, I want to read more carefully of what is needed  rushing to finish might get in the way of this goal.  I will ask for a teachers help if I get stuck or need help

 Throughout this unit, I improved the most at proving triangles are congruent  I feel that I still need to work on not missing small details that is needed in the answering. My understanding of transitions, angles and triangle congruency statement are things that I mastered. I could improve on my reading carefully of what is needed for me to provide.

In the probability fair, we created a game that involves probability for grade 5 and 6 to play. It is a game when there are 50 pieces of string hanging out a box and 50 slips of paper with letters form A~E attached on the strings. The player has to simply pick a string and open the slip f paper to win a prize. I worked well with my partners and no conflict arose. We all contributed the same amount as we split our work beforehand on the planning sheet. I think during the probability fair went quite smoothly, we got a lot more data than we expected. Because a student cheated during our game, I think to improve, we will make sure everyone will close their eyes during the game making it fair for everyone. Comparing the experimental probability and the theoretical probability, the experimental probability overall has a more greater percent of students winning prizes then the theoretical probability especially D prize during the experimental probability. Also we noticed that during the game, more students won D prizes than E prizes when the probability ( theoretical) of winning E is greater than D.

Apple varieties vary in taste, color, and texture due to genetic and environmental factors. Genes decide sugar and acid levels, so that makes some apples sweet and some are sour. Environment matters as well. Sunlight helps with color and sugar. More sunlight means richer – colored and sweeter apples. Temperature affects the growth . Reproduction also plays a part. Asexual methods like grafting make apples exactly like the parent, and it is great if you want a consistent taste. Sexual reproduction creates new traits. In sexual reproduction, genes can be either heterozygous or homozygous. Heterozygous genes have one dominant and one recessive allele, while homozygous genes have two dominant alleles or two recessive alleles. Genes and the environment factors work together to give us different kinds of apples.

The rabbit genetics activity helped me learn about gene inheritance. By changing traits like the fur color and ear length the rabbit on the ppt, I saw how dominant and recessive alleles act. This taught me about sexual reproduction in animals. I realized that combining genes from two parents can have a result in a wide range of genetic outcomes in the offspring. For the clothespins activity, we used clothespins to represent alleles. We had a bunch of random cloths pin mixed and paired them in order according to our traits. Then we gave our paired up “genes” to another group that is not on our table. This activity helped us have a simple understanding for punnet squares. I understood that for example, when crossing two heterozygous individuals, I could calculate the likelihood (percentage) of getting offspring with lot of various genotypes. This activity made me understand that in sexual reproduction, random allele combinations from parents can have many possible genetic combinations in the offspring.

During an activity in the stations activity, we focused on the structure of flowers.We examined the reproductive parts of a lily flower. The flower contains the ovary, pollen, and stigma. We observed the flower really closely.The stigma was sticky, which is easy for catching pollen (from bees or birds).The anthers, which are part of the stamen, were releasing pollen. We understood  how the structure of the flower is designed for reproduction. The special flower structures help the male gametes (pollen) reach the female gametes (ovules) in the ovary easily, making sure fertilization and reproduction happen. 

If I could do something differently to support my learning in Unit 4, I would have spent more time researching and planning for the Franken – fruit project. During the project, I didn’t come up with a that unique combination of fruit traits. I choose a rather simple combination.If I had used my time more efficient, I could have studied different fruit in more detail. I think it would have made me create a more complex and scientifically – accurate Franken – fruit. By spending more time planning, I could have designed a better structured presentation to explain the genetics and environment factors of my fruit’s traits. This could improved my understanding of the genetic covered in the unit but also helped me speak my ideas more effectively.

I think this unit is really great, interesting and I learned a lot!