Zichen's Portfolio

TTG Goal – Critical Thinker

January 15, 2026 /

I want to improve on creative learner (TTG Goal)

My goal: I want to work on is I will ask ‘What if…’ questions to explore different possibilities

SubjectWhat I’ll do
MathWhen solving problems, I will try to think of multiple solutions to solving it and try to model and show my answer the best I can. This will allow me to critically think on my solution.
ScienceWhen inquiry lesson come up, I will try to ask more questions and think deeply about my thoughts. Then I can also critically think about how my learning connects to other things.

Social Studies Unit 2: Visual Presentation  

January 10, 2026 /

The task we were given was to create a digital or physical model that represented the mode of communication or transportation we chose. I chose to create a small physical model of the Chinese High Speed Trains and a cardboard scenery board to match my model. I did this because I thought it would be cool to do a physical model instead of digital as it could test my design skills.

One thing I think I did well was using my time wisely to create my piece. I used every class to my advantage and managed to finish everything on time. Every class I planned which features of my model I would complete and made sure I did complete them or try to finish it at home.

One thing I need to work on is trying to do my best and neatest work when I can. The project I made came out okay but I didn’t have that much details and it looked very messy. I hope I can try to make it more clean and visable to the audience next time I try to complete a physical model.

Photo: IMG_0317

Video: IMG_0378 (1).MOV

Social Studies Unit 2: Essay 

January 7, 2026 /

Writing my Social Studies Unit 2 Essay about High speed rails was a clear step towards improving my writing but it was also a huge struggle. Not being able to write freely and having detailed steps on citations, sources, and word choice made it hard for me to express my creativity within my writing. We had to start by collecting information from credible sources. Using the information, we pilled it onto the 3 different graphic organizers that were provided, giving us a variety of choices. Next, we learned about using citations in our writing and I used that knowledge to produce the first 3 body paragraph. Then, we learned about writing conclusion and intro paragraphs and after finishing those, our teacher gave us feedback. Finally, the final draft was produced and we received an according grade.

What I think I did well on my essay was remembering how to write the citation of the sources correctly. I was able to utilize my learning from the classes to write citations in the APA format. I searched deeply in the sources I chose to find key components like author name, date published, and last updated date.

One thing I still need to work on is connecting my reasoning back to the evidence. The word choice and language I used in my reasoning didn’t really resonate with my evidence, and there were huge logic gaps that made my writing confusing. Even though I could understand what I was trying to say and explain, the reader could be confused because I jumped a lot from topic to topic.

ChenChen Zhao – Essay How does technology have an impact on society – 4130603.docx

Unit 3 Math Proportionality and Percentages Reflection – G7

January 4, 2026 /

UNIT Reflection:

U – I understand many different elements of buying and paying in real life situations. For example, tax is the money paid to the government so they can use the money to fix roads, make cities more advanced, etc. Using this knowledge, I can apply taxes and discounts to shopping and dining so in the future when I am faced with these situations, I can easily solve them. I feel much more prepared for the future now that I can handle these everyday situations. Being able to do the math myself makes me feel much more confident in real life situations related to money.

N- New information I acquired throughout this unit is how calculating discounts and tips are based of the total and you need to think carefully about how to use the original price multiply the tax, tips, and discounts to find your final price. This information is very helpful because it shows me how prices actually change at the register. Learning these steps made the math behind shopping and dining a lot easier to understand.

I- Things that are interesting to me personally is how commission works because I didn’t know many salespeople receive payments like this and it is interesting how the company may pay extra “tips” for selling amounts of product. I enjoyed learning about this because it explains why some salespeople are so helpful when you visit a store. It was definitely the most interesting part of the unit for me.

T- What was tricky for me was remembering some formulas for calculating the final price and remembering that you have to multiply the original cost multiple times if you have discount, tax and tips.  To get better at it, I had to practice doing the steps one by one until I felt more confident. Even though it was tough at first, I am getting much better at solving these long problems.

DT RC Car Unit – Reflection

December 12, 2025 /

In this unit we built RC cars and learned 3D modeling to design new pieces. I started by following the kit provided to create a fully functioning “car” which played with my friends.

In the 3D modeling part, I used ONSHAPE to create different pieces to make my car more functional and better for driving, navigating, and look better. I designed a star to put as a tailfin and it looked really nice. Next time I will try to design more pieces with the time given.

DT Clock Unit – Reflection

December 12, 2025 /

In this unit we were learning to create clocks using different materials and planning the process. We used various steps and methods including the ACCESSFM and the GIBBS reflection cycle to demonstrate our learning.

Before, I was kind of nervous that the clock would fail, and I wouldn’t be able to complete it. The whole project was very tight woven and we didn’t have much time to think and plan. We had to just jump into it and start creating.

At the end when I finished, I realized that if I put my heart into it and tried my best, I could do it. Next time, I will try to be more creative.

https://www.canva.com/design/DAGxy9e6ub4/Dv3WSPhQizT2Zbq45PJUhg/edit

Science Unit 2 Reflection – Human Body Systems + Cells

December 11, 2025 /

I chose to answer the question of “What happens inside our body when we get sick?” because I was interested in something that may affect all of us around us. I used the knowledge of cells and human body’s that I learned to create models and write CER’s about the topic I chose, which is Alzheimer’s disease. This also connects to our topic of how the body is made up of different systems, subsystems, etc. When our body gets sick, many different systems and subsystems gets effected because of the connectedness of different systems. It also affects a lot of cells and tissues which affects the whole bodies main function. Just like the ones I was researching, the nervous, respiratory, and immune systems clashing with nerve tissues and mitochondria and ER.

The learning experience that was most memorable to me was the review games, modeling activities, and the mini lessons that you could do yourself. This is because going by my own pace worked really well for me and I was able to learn a lot. The review games were really fun and really connected the class into many discussions. The modeling (which I used clay) was a memorable experience to me because I didn’t use clay much in the past and it was a new experience.

I could improve on working towards more L4 extensions when I understand the classwork. This way, instead of being limited I would be extending my thinking more. I need to expand my thinking in cell models and especially CER writing.

Unit 2 Math Reflection – Proportionality and Scale Drawings

December 3, 2025 /

U: I understood how to effectively use the scale factor and change the sizes of scale drawings without changing the proportionality between figures. I also understand to calculate the scale factor to find the area, the scale factor needs to be squared.

N: The new information that I acquired is my ability to use the Scale given to calculate the area or length of a new figure. Weather its larger or smaller, I am now able to effectively use the scale to find solutions.

I: The information that was interesting to me was how you can use the scale to calculate the sizes of different figures. Even if there is only one figure, you can still calculate the different sizes of different shapes.

T: The tricky parts of this unit is unit conversions. Sometimes the scale is 1cm to 5 meters, and in order to find the centimeters in total, you have to first convert it to cm before calculating or the answer would be a mix of different units. Sometimes you gave to convert the scale and other times you have to convert the given length.

Social Studies Unit 1: Media Presentation!

October 12, 2025 /

One thing that I am proud of is I was able to write and condense my information into notecards that I can read and present. Based on the information written on my Media Analysis paper, I can write it into an effective pack of notecards that I use when preparing for my presentation.

One thing I think I can work on is improving my skill to check and review my notes. Sometimes I will forget to check for mistakes and miss a lot of information that is required to succeed. I needed to write my purpose and explain it to my viewers because instead of stating my purpose directly, I only explained words that support my purpose. In simple words, I didn’t say my “one word purpose”.

Some pieces of feedback that were given to me was making more eye contact to the audience and improve my stance by being more confident. I have to face the audience and direct them while speaking to keep the viewers engaged. I can use hand gestures and memorize a bit more of my notecards to be able to have more eye contact.

The word ‘bias’ means when someone favors or dislikes another for a personal reason. Most of the times, bias is not good because it spreads false information among different types of medias.

The positive outcome of people having the same perspective is there are no arguments within people. There will be less fighting between people and more likely to bond easily due to the similar opinion.

The negative outcome of people having the same perspective is there are no new thoughts added to our “collection” and no progress will be made with humanity because there are no other opinions to argue against the majority. People can’t advance in technology and innovations easily because there would be no arguments leading to new ideas.

PRESENTATION VIDEO:

ChenChen Zhao Gold C2 LA Media Project.MOV

FEEDBACK FORM FROM PEERS:

zichen01px2031_10-7-2025_10-36-02

Math Unit 1 Reflection – Proportional Relationships

September 21, 2025 /

“UNIT” Reflection

U: I understand how to find proportional relationships using different methods including graphs, tables, and equations. I am able to use and solve ratios by comparing ordered pairs and defining them as variables.

N: I learned how to find the Constant Of Proportionality using tables and charts that represent real world situations.

I: It was interesting that you could multiply by the reciprocal and divide by the original number to get same products and you can use that information to get the COP and write equations based on it.

T: The things that were tricky were when we had to think of ways to solve it and explain our steps because sometimes I just went along with the algorithm without thinking about HOW I actually thought of my thought process.

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